Broiler breeder hens are typically provided a restricted amount of feed once a day. This feed is rapidly consumed; therefore, the hens fast for an extended period of time before their next feeding. In the current research, the effects on reproductive performance of implementing a twice-a-day vs. a once-a-day feeding program after photostimulation were investigated. Pullets and cockerels were re...

this experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of different levels of dried lemon pulp in corn- soybean meal diets on egg production, egg traits and as well as blood metabolites of laying hens. throughout the experiment, 144 hi- line (w36) laying hens from 65 to 76 weeks of age were assigned to 4 treatments of 3 replicates each, with 12 hens per replicate. a completely randomized design ...

Venous blood gas and chemistry reference ranges were determined for commercial Hy-Line W-36 pullets and laying hens utilizing the portable i-STAT®1 analyzer and CG8+ cartridges. A total of 632 samples were analyzed from birds between 4 and 110 wk of age. Reference ranges were established for pullets (4 to 15 wk), first cycle laying hens (20 to 68 wk), and second cycle (post molt) laying hens (7...

This study was designed to investigate the in vitro and in vivo antioxidant activities of inulin. The in vitro assays demonstrated that the antioxidant activities of inulin, including the DPPH radical scavenging activity, ABTS scavenging activity and ferric reducing power, were weak and significantly lower than those of Vitamin C (P < 0.05). The influence of dietary supplementation with inulin ...

the effect of yeast culture (saccharomyces cerevisiae) supplementation on laying hen diets was tested against flavomycin supplementation during 12 weeks, using 112 brown bovans laying hens, 52 week-old, divided into 7 equal groups fed on a basal diet containing 18.8% crude protein and 2810 kcal/kg me (metabolizable energy) feed. three groups were supplemented with 3 different levels of commerci...

Common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) hens kept in different housing systems during laying period were exposed to a tonic immobility test. At the end of the laying period, the shortest duration of the tonic immobility, and thus the lowest fear level, was found in birds kept in enriched cages, i.e. cages equipped with 2 perches and a hiding place. The duration of the tonic immobility in hens kep...

The faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is a potential source of proteins for poultry, mainly for laying hens whose protein requirements are lower than those of other birds such as growing broilers and turkeys. However, this feedstuff contains anti-nutritional factors, that is, vicine (V) and convicine (C) that are already known to reduce laying hen performance. The aim of the experiment reported here wa...

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary supplement-ation of rosemary essential oils (REO) and zinc (as zinc sulfate) on performance, egg quality traits, and some serum biochemical metabolites of laying hens. A total of 144 44-weeks-old Lohmann LSL-Lite laying hens were randomly allocated into four treatments, each comprising six replicates of six birds. The first group was s...

Colibacillosis is one of an economically significant disease in the poultry industry, especially for meat breed chickens. Recently it has become a serious problem for layer especially when the birds start laying and also at the later stage of laying. In Japan, the productivity of field laying hens improved when the Δcrp avian colibacillosis live vaccine ("Gall N tect CBL") was used. The surviva...

Studies performed in vitro suggest that a novel 12 amino acid RF amide peptide, isolated from the quail hypothalamus, is a gonadotrophin inhibitory hormone (GnIH). The aim of the present study was to investigate this hypothesis in the domestic chicken. Injections of GnIH into nest-deprived incubating hens failed to depress the concentration of plasma luteinizing hormone (LH). Addition of GnIH t...