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...

The aim of this study was to investigate the differences in production performance, use of nest box, and external appearance of 2 strains of laying hens kept in conventional and enriched cages. Lohmann Brown Classic (LB, n=532) and Lohmann LSL Classic (LW, n=532) hens were housed from 16 to 73 wk in either conventional cages or enriched cages. Enriched cages had a nesting area, scratch pad, per...

Two experiments were conducted to determine the effect of offering a multi-material innovative (MMI) feed including: Vitex agnus-castus, Thymus vulgaris, Lavandula angustifolia, Marigold (Calendula officinalis) on curtails molting and sex hormone concentrations in canaries and laying hens. In the first study, a total of 120 female molted canaries were allotted in to 12 cages of 10 birds with 4 ...

Various methods have been used to economically design wastewater and stormwater collection systems. In this article, Discrete Differential Dynamic Programming (DDDP) which is a subsection of dynamic programming (DP) was used. For each pipe network, various alternatives such as depth and slope of pipe laying and various diameters could be considered to satisfy hydraulic and engineering constrain...

Different stocking densities (SDs) or space allocations are being practiced in commercial laying-hen operations as an attempt to improve hen welfare. Information concerning the impact of SD on accumulated manure properties (e.g., moisture content) and thus ammonia (NH3) emissions is limited in the literature. Bird SD affects the amount of manure per unit of accumulated manure surface area, whic...

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of different levels of dried lemon pulp (DLP) on performance of broilers and laying hens. In first experiment, 240 of broilers (Ross-308) were used in a completely randomized design with 4 treatments and 3 replicates (with 20 birds in each replicate) from 1 to 42 days. The amounts of DLP in diets were 0, 1.5, 3 and 4.5 percentage. In the se...

The quality of parts produced by a composite tape-laying process is sensitive to the contact force exerted and the abutment of adjacent tape courses kept when the tapes are laid. Thus, a prerequisite for a high performance laying process automated by means of industrial manipulators is the ability to regulate laying force and position precisely in the presence of robot motion inaccuracies and l...

this experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects using of different levels of rosemary hydro-alcoholic extract (rosmarinus officinalis l.) on productive performance and egg quality indicators, in laying hens. the levels of rosemary hydro-alcoholic extract in this experiment were 0, 500, 1000 and 1500ppm. this experiment was conducted in a blok completely randomized design with 160 “hy-line...

Seasonal decline in clutch size is common in birds, but the proximate mechanisms for this phenomenon have not been elucidated. The most credible model to date posits that late-laying females lay fewer eggs due to a seasonal increase in the tendency to incubate during laying, which inhibits egg production. We tested this model with free-living and laboratory American Kestrels (Falco sparverius) ...