OVIPOSITON IN LAYING HENS: AMENABILITY TO OPERANT CONDITIONING

1988 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 549-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
U. A. LUESCHER ◽  
J. F. HURNIK

Laying hens were rewarded for oviposition with 20 min access to feed under continuous and multiple reinforcement schedules. Oviposition times, laying performance, egg quality traits and behavior did not differ between experimental birds and yoked controls. Results are discussed in terms of associative and system constraints, as well as experimental procedures. Key words: Operant conditioning, oviposition, laying hens, behavior

2021 ◽  
pp. 101312
Author(s):  
Dima White ◽  
Roshan Adhikari ◽  
Jinquan Wang ◽  
Chongxiao Chen ◽  
Jae Hwan Lee ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
pp. 101211
Author(s):  
R. Scappaticcio ◽  
J. Garcia ◽  
G. Fondevila ◽  
A.F. de Juan ◽  
L. Cámara ◽  
...  

2008 ◽  
Vol 53 (No. 8) ◽  
pp. 345-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Sarica ◽  
S. Boga ◽  
U.S. Yamak

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of cage stocking density on egg yield, some egg quality traits and plumage condition in laying hens. Eighteen weeks-old 264 ISA-Brown pullets were divided into four cage density groups. The densities were 2 000, 1 000, 667 and 500 cm<sup>2</sup> per hen (by allocating 1, 2, 3 and 4 hens per cage; floor area 40 × 50 cm) with 48, 30, 24 and 21 replicate cages, totally 123 three-tier battery cages. During the experimental period from 18 to 53 weeks of age, all birds were provided illumination for 16 hours a day. The hens were fed a diet containing 11.7 MJ ME/kg and 180 g CP during the period of 18 to 40 weeks of age and 11.3 MJ ME/kg and 170 g CP during the period of 41 to 54 weeks of age. Feed and water were available for <I>ad libitum</I>. Egg yield, mortality, live weights at 50% egg production age and at the end of experiment, pecking related mortalities, some egg quality traits and plumage condition were recorded weekly. Hen-housed egg production, egg mass, viability, and live weights were significantly decreased by higher densities. Most of the egg quality traits were not affected by cage densities. Pecking related mortalities increased in cage densities of 667 cm<sup>2</sup> and 500 cm<sup>2</sup> per hen compared to the other densities (<I>P</I> < 0.05) while plumage scores were higher in all body parts of hens kept in cages of 2 000 cm<sup>2</sup> and 1 000 cm<sup>2</sup> densities compared to the higher densities. The results showed that brown laying hens should be kept in cages having 1 000–2 000 cm<sup>2</sup> densities in order to improve their welfare and performance.


2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (8) ◽  
pp. 1553 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. S. Diarra ◽  
I. Wamekeni ◽  
A. Vunagilee ◽  
H. Lavaka ◽  
T. Finau

The effects of peeling and limestone flour level on the utilisation of Alocasia macrorrhiza corm meal (ACM) by laying hens were investigated. Maize-based diets with two concentrations of limestone flour (40 and 60 g/kg) and diets containing 200 g peeled and unpeeled ACM meal/kg with the same levels of limestone flour were fed to five replicate pens containing 10 20-week-old Shaver brown pullets (1635 ± 148 g), each for 105 days. Results showed no interaction or main effects of ACM or limestone concentration on feed intake, egg weight, egg mass, feed conversion efficiency, egg shape index, surface area and Haugh unit (P &gt; 0.05). Feeding whole ACM with 40 g limestone/kg diet reduced hen-day production and shell thickness (P &lt; 0.05) but this was overcome by increasing limestone concentration to 60 g/kg diet. Peeled ACM with both concentrations of limestone flour maintained laying performance and egg quality. We concluded that feeding 200 g whole ACM depresses egg production and shell quality in laying hens, but increasing dietary limestone concentration overcomes this adverse effect. The concentration of limestone flour in the diet has no effect on laying performance. Higher inclusion levels of ACM, calcium source and level that will maintain laying performance and reduce feed cost need to be investigated.


Animals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 857 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen ◽  
Gu ◽  
Tao ◽  
Cheng ◽  
Wang ◽  
...  

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of ginger extract (GE) as a dietary supplement for laying hens. A total of 40-week-old 288 Hyline Brown laying hens were randomly divided into two groups with six replicates, and fed a basal diet with or without 100 g/t GE for eight weeks. Dietary GE supplementation increased egg weight, albumin height, and Haugh unit of eggs, and decreased yolk cholesterol content and activities of alanine transaminase and aspartate transaminase in serum at eight weeks. Moreover, GE resulted in higher total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) activity and lower malondialdehyde (MDA) content in yolk at four and eight weeks and in serum. It was concluded that GE was effective in increasing egg weight and improving the egg quality and antioxidant status of laying hens.


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