Effects of sand versus sawdust as a litter bath substrate in furnished cages for laying hens were studied. The study used 112 Hy-Line White (HYW) and 140 Hy-Line Brown (HYB) layers housed in 18 furnished cages with 14 hens in each cage, generating 4 or 5 replicates per combination of genotype and litter substrate. Traits studied were mortality, feather cover, hygiene of hens, pecking wounds, he...

A study was conducted to evaluate the effects of alfalfa-based molt diets on molting performance and bone qualities. A total of 36 Single Comb White Leghorn hens were used for the study. There were 6 treatments: pretrial control (PC), fully fed (FF), feed withdrawal (FW), 90% alfalfa:10% layer ration (A90), 80% alfalfa:20% layer ration (A80), and 70% alfalfa:30% layer ration (A70). For the PC t...

Ammonia (NH3) emissions from laying hens are affected by nutrient content of the diet, manure quantity, and manure properties such as moisture content, nitrogen content, and pH. These production traits may vary with strain of the hen. However, limited information is available concerning the effects of laying-hen genetics on manure properties and NH3 emission. This study was conducted to compara...

Free-living hens roost on branches in trees at night, and laying hens in aviary systems or cages provided with perches also make extensive use of these for night-time roosting. It is therefore suggested that roosting on perches is important to the hens and that domestic hens should be provided with perches in order to promote welfare. However, no study has addressed the question of motivation f...

Laying hens are strongly motivated to use nests for egg laying, and alternative production systems (e.g., aviaries) provide artificial sites to meet this need and ensure efficient collection of clean, undamaged eggs. However, nests are typically not provided to allow simultaneous use by all hens; therefore, competition or mislaid eggs can result. To understand the influence of strain on laying ...

The study aimed to evaluate the potential effects of feeding with phytase transgenic corn (PTC) on organ weight, serum biochemical parameters and nutrient digestibility, and to determine the fate of the transgenic DNA in laying hens. A total of 144 50-week-old laying hens were grouped randomly into 2 treatments, with 8 replicates per treatment and 9 hens per replicate. Each treatment group of h...

1. The aim was to test whether provision of foraging material and food form influence feather pecking and feather damage in laying hens. 2. From week 19 of age, 16 groups of 11 hens (white Lohman Selected Leghorn hybrids) were kept in pens with or without access to long-cut straw as foraging material and fed on either mash or pellets. 3. Foraging behaviour was increased in hens with access to s...

Many laying hen producers are transitioning from conventional cages to new housing systems including multi-tier aviaries. Aviary resources, such as litter areas, are intended to encourage hens' expression of natural behaviors to improve their welfare. Little research has examined the influence of laying hen strain on distribution and behavior inside aviaries, yet differences could influence a s...

Tonic immobility reaction and heterophil:lymphocyte ratio were studied in hens laying pink eggs from three brown egg Spanish breeds (Barred Red Vasca, Red Vasca, Red Villafranquina). There was no significant difference among breeds in terms of tonic immobility duration or heterophil:lymphocyte ratio. Tonic immobility duration was significantly shorter in the pink (220 + or - 23 s) than in the n...

An experiment was conducted to determine whether a commercial strain of turkey hens exhibits relative photorefractoriness (rPR) during a reproductive cycle and to ascertain whether plasma levels of certain hormones early in the reproductive cycle might be associated with subsequent expression of rPR or absolute photorefractoriness (aPR). Twenty-seven percent of hens maintained on a stimulatory ...