Managing Free-Range Laying Hens–Part A: Frequent and Non-Frequent Range Users Differ in Laying Performance but Not Egg Quality

Animals

Johan Boshoff¹  Derek Schneider²  Mitchell Welch²  Manisha Kolakshyapati³  TerenceZimazile Sibanda³  Isabelle Ruhnke³ 

[1] Computation, Analytics, Software and Informatics, University of New England, Armidale NSW 2351, Australia;Precision Agriculture Research Group, Faculty of Science, Agriculture, Business and Law, School of Science and Technology, University of New England, Armidale NSW 2351, Australia;School of Environmental and Rural Science, Faculty of Science, Agriculture, Business and Law, University of New England, Armidale NSW 2351, Australia;

关键词: behaviour;    economics;    efficiency;    husbandry;    movement;    non-caged;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ani10060991

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Little is known about the impact of ranging on laying performance and egg quality of free-range hens. The aim of this study was to characterise egg production of commercial free-range laying hen sub-populations of low-, moderate- and high-range use at an early age. A total of five flocks with 40,000 hens/flock were investigated where 1875 hens/flock were randomly selected at 16 weeks of age, monitored for their range use and subsequently grouped into “stayers” (the 20% of hens that spent the least time on the range), “roamers” (the 20% of the hens that used the range more than stayers but less than rangers) and “rangers” (the 60% of the hens that spent the most time on the range). Eggs from the individual groups were collected in 10-weekly intervals until hens were 72 weeks of age, commercially graded and tested for several quality parameters. Significant differences were noted for hen-day production. For example, at 22 weeks of age, rangers enjoyed a laying rate of 88.0% ± 1.1%, while stayers performed at 78.2% ± 1.9% but at 72 weeks of age egg production of rangers was 85.1% ± 0.9% and of stayers was 95.5% ± 0.9% (p < 0.05). Range use was of minor importance to the egg quality.

【 授权许可】

Unknown