Influence of front curtain design on nest choice by laying hens.

Nest use and patterns of egg laying and damage by 4 strains of laying hens in an aviary system1

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 ...

Interactive Influence of Formycine® Gold and Pigment on Egg Quality and Performance of Laying Hens

Sodium bentonite can bind to dietary pigment and decreases yolk color scale. Sodium bentonite is one of the main parts of Formycine® Gold, the effect of different levels of Formycine® Gold and dietary pigment on egg quality, egg yolk color and performance criteria of laying hens from 26 to 34 week of age were studied. One hundred ninety two Hy-Line hens were divided into 24 groups of 8 birds ea...

Influence of combined usage of garlic powder and copper on egg yolk cholesterol concentration in laying hens

Development of a Machine Vision Method for the Monitoring of Laying Hens and Detection of Multiple Nest Occupations

Free range systems can improve the welfare of laying hens. However, the access to environmental resources can be partially limited by social interactions, feeding of hens, and productivity, can be not stable and damaging behaviors, or negative events, can be observed more frequently than in conventional housing systems. In order to reach a real improvement of the hens' welfare the study of thei...

An RFID-Based Smart Nest Box: An Experimental Study of Laying Performance and Behavior of Individual Hens

This study designed a radio-frequency identification (RFID)-based Internet of Things (IoT) platform to create the core of a smart nest box. At the sensing level, we have deployed RFID-based sensors and egg detection sensors. A low-frequency RFID reader is installed in the bottom of the nest box and a foot ring RFID tag is worn on the leg of individual hens. The RFID-based sensors detect when a ...