An experiment was conducted using 504 Hy-Line W-36 Single Comb White Leghorn hens (69 wk of age) randomly assigned to 1 of 7 treatments. These treatments consisted of a 47% corn:47% soy hulls diet (C:SH) fed ad libitum; a 94% corn diet fed at a rate of 36.3, 45.4, or 54.5 g/hen per day (CORN 36, CORN 45, and CORN 54, respectively); and a 94% corn distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) die...

Recent studies have indicated that egg yolk immunoglobulins (Ig) can be used for therapeutic purposes and that yolk Ig levels are increased after molting of laying hens. The present study was performed to compare between the effects of two methods of induced molting namely alfalfa and zinc methods on serum and yolk IgY concentrations as well as their effects on the egg quality and immune status...

Hormonal profiles of hens in curtain side-walled high-rise deep pit and flush-waste layer houses were initiated at placement of hens in cages in August and continued through a 50 weeks long laying trial. In mid-January, a cold weather-related incident caused the rupture of water lines and flooding of the manure pits in the deep pit layer house, allowing atmospheric ammonia to rise to a high of ...

Maintaining suitable balance of naturally synthesized nutrients by nutrient producer microorganisms is very critical worldwide. In this study, the effect of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) was tested on the cholestrol, vitamin and amino acid content of eggs of Hisex brown and Hisex white layer hens. The strains tested were Lactobacillus plantarum (ATCC 8014), Lactobacillus casei ( ATCC 393), Lactoba...

Welfare issues surrounding intensive farming of layer hens have long been a point of contention for producers and consumers of chicken eggs. These concerns centre mainly on whether the production advantages of conventional cage-based systems can justify the lack of environmental enrichment provided to layer hens. These issues came to a head with the 1999 announcement that conventional cages wil...

In this experiment 144 Hy-line (W36) laying hens, 65 to 77 weeks of age were separated into 4 treatments with 3 replicates (12 birds per replicate) in a completely randomized design experiment. The grass clipping wastes incorporated into a complete formulated layer diet, consisting on a corn and soybean based diet, were 0, 1.5, 3.0 and 4.5% in 1 to 4 experimental groups. The results showed that...

This study was aimed to determine abundance and body distribution of PRM in laying hens of Arak. A total of 1400 laying hens were randomly examined from January to June 2008. Of those, 26 (92.86%) layer farms were found to be infested with Dermanyssus gallinae (39.3%). There was significant association between prevalence and climatic conditions of the region. The most common predilection site o...

Background: Ca is the most important minerals in the body that plays a key rols in the physiological activities, anzymatic reaction and the regulation of myocardial contraction and relax-ation. Ca deficiency causes the heart failure and decrease cardiac contractility. OBJECTIVES: To determine the effects of long-term dietary calcium deficiency on the heart function of layer hens based on the el...

Probiotic bacteria are used to balance a disturbed intestinal microflora and dysfunctions of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). They could be an effective alternative to the use of synthetic substances in nutrition and medicine. We investigated the effect of probiotics and potentiated probiotics on the productivity of laying hens. An experiment was carried out on 30 hens of the Hyssex layer hybr...

introduction: induced molting is a process that stimulates natural molting events. when birds return to full feed, a new plumage develops and the birds resume egg peroduction at a higher rate with better egg quality. induced molting extends the productive liffe of commercial chicken flocks and results in substantial reduction in the number of chickens needed to produce the nation's egg supply. ...