Fatty liver is a common energy metabolic disorder in caged laying hens. Considering that the egg industry is shifting from conventional cages to alternative housing systems such as enriched cages, the objective of this study was to determine the effects of perches on fat deposition and liver health in laying hens. Three hundred twenty-four 17-wk-old White Leghorn hens were housed in 1 of 4 trea...

Individual identification is a common method used in animal research. This study was designed to examine if commonly used identification systems (i.e., leg bands, wing bands, neck tags, and livestock markers) have different effects on hens' behavioral and physiological homeostasis. At 18 wk of age, hens were paired in all combinations of treatments and control (unmarked hens; n = 10) in a novel...

Non-cage housing systems, such as the aviary, are being implemented by the laying hen industry, including in North America, in an attempt to improve the welfare of hens. Perches are a resource that is consistently included in aviaries. Hens are strongly motivated to perch, and perching can improve leg bone strength. However, hens may prefer elevated perches, particularly at night, and thus simp...

Onion and its flavonoid component, quercetin, increase bone density in rabbits, rodents, and humans. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a similar effect of onion on laying hens. Thirty-two Hy-line W36 White Leghorn hens at 30 weeks of age were randomly divided into 2 groups, i.e., control and treatment (n = 16). The hens were kept at 2-hen cages, each cage providing 658...

This study aimed to examine the nutrient utilization of rump round meat and lotus root using young (32 wk) and aged hens (108 wk) as an animal model. Rump round meat and lotus root were prepared with or without enzymatic treatment. For each age group of laying hens, a total of 24 Hy-Line Brown laying hens were randomly allotted to one of two dietary treatments with six replicates. For rump roun...

For evaluation of the filling and emptying of the alimentary tract, broiler breeder hens were cooped and processed over a 2-d period. Hens were fed at 0600 h on d 1 and after access to feed for 0, 2, 4, and 6 h were placed into coops. Half of the hens from each pen were either immediately processed or were held in coops over-night and processed the following morning, d 2. The alimentary tract w...

Turkey hens can rapidly shift from a laying condition to one characterized by ovarian regression, incubation behavior, and hyperprolactinemia. Although remarkable changes occur in hormonal profiles as turkey hens pass from a laying to an incubating state, studies have not been undertaken to examine histochemical alterations of functionally relevant pituicytes in the adenohypophysis. The objecti...

Free range feeding pattern puts the chicken in a mixture of growth materials and enteric bacteria excreted by nature, while it is typically unique condition materials and enteric bacteria in commercial caged hens production. Thus, the gastrointestinal microflora in two feeding patterns could be various. However, it remains poorly understood how feeding patterns affect development and compositio...

The tiered aviary for laying hens includes a floor litter area to promote foraging and dust bathing. Data are needed on hens' use of different litter substrates and effectiveness of substrates in removing excess feather lipids to ensure a suitable litter area. Bovans White hens were housed in commercial-style aviaries with access to one of 3 litter substrates (wood shavings, straw, or plastic t...

Specific anti-Salmonella enteritidis (SE) and natural anti-alpha-gal epitope (Galalpha1-3Galbeta-1-4GlcNAc-R; anti-Gal) antibodies were measured in plasma sample pools and individual bile specimens obtained from hens differing in diet efficiency. More SE somatic (O) and flagellar (H) antibodies were found in plasma pools from efficient hens (R-) compared with nonefficient hens (R+) after oral c...