Production performance of commercial brown layer under cage-free production system

Cage-free systems for laying hens offers better animal welfare, higher-quality eggs, and premium market opportunities, it also poses economic, disease management, and consumer affordability challenges. In the present study, the production performance of birds under cage free system (in EC house) from start of first lay till 70 weeks of age is analysed and compared with standard production as per commercial standard. The overall HHEP till 70 weeks is around 292.35 numbers per hen irrespective of the mortality pattern. The prescribed standard for HHEP by 70 week is 298.5 eggs per hen till 70th week and 308 numbers by 72 weeks. The cumulative mortality percentage during the laying period was at 3.13% which is on par with the commercial standard. Considering the positive impact of cage free system on welfare of the birds and increasing awareness of consumers on products from caged birds, this system offer considerable advantages for the farmers.

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Comparison of Housing SystemsClose ×

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Realised HDEP % and Standard HDEP % *: Till 20 weeks vs 21-25 weeks vs 26-30 weeks vs 31-35 weeks vs 36-40 weeksClose ×

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Introduction

Egg production in India is highly mechanised wherein egg production is from layers reared under battery cages. Cage rearing of layers offers various advantages such as cost reduction, space reduction, low labour cost and better disease management etc., are the primary reason for mass production of eggs. The battery-type caging system where a massive number of chickens are piled up draws the consumers' reaction; therefore, facilities with furnished cages, deep litter, free-ranging areas, or cage-free rearing systems have become widespread in layer poultry farming (Blatchford 2018) [1] . Currently there has been a shift in the poultry industry from the use of battery cage production systems to the use of cage-free egg production systems globally. Cage-free systems for laying hens can be floor housing systems or aviary systems with multiple tiers. These systems offers better animal welfare, higherquality eggs, and premium market opportunities, it also poses economic, disease management, and consumer affordability challenges. Consumers tend to believe that eggs produced in cage-free systems are of better quality (Vits et al. 2005) [6] . Rodriguez-Hernandez et al., 2024 [4] , reported that the Haugh unit of the eggs of cage-free systems was higher than that of caged systems. In the present study, the production performance of birds under cage free system (in EC house) from start of first lay till 70 weeks of age is analysed and compared with standard production as per commercial standard.

Materials and Methods

The present data was recorded from a flock of 10000 commercial brown shelled egg layers. Day old chicks were procured from commercial supplier and were reared under standard managemental conditions. Standard feeding, lighting and vaccination protocols were adopted stringently without any deviation. Birds were shifted to cage free house (EC House) at 17 th week. Commercial layer feed was offered to the birds as per available standards. The egg production was recorded from start of lay on daily basis up to 70 weeks. Mortality numbers was recorded daily to arrive at overall mortality over the laying period. Hen housed egg production (HHEP) and hen day egg production (HDEP) was recorded using the following formula. HHEP = Average daily number of egg production per day or period /No.of hens housed initially X 100 and HDEP = Total no. of egg produced/Total no.of hens available on the day/periodX100. The recorded data was analysed to arrive at meaningful conclusions.

Results and Discussions

Age at sexual maturity (ASM) is considered an important economic trait in layer business. Age at Sexual maturity in layers is the age at 5% of the flock starts egg production. The present flock reached sexual maturity at 19 th week (133 days) which is on par with the recommended commercial standards (BV380 guide). In cage free systems, mortality percentage is considered an deterrent in comparision with traditional cage rearing where the birds are confined to cages better disease management practices can be easily adopted. In the present flock the cumulative mortality percentage during the laying period was at 3.13% which is much below the commercial standard (Table 1). The weekly production performance as indicated by the egg numbers and HDEP and HHEP are presented in table 1. The overall HHEP till 70 weeks is around 292.35 numbers per hen irrespective of the mortality pattern. The prescribed standard for HHEP by 70 week is 298.5 eggs per hen till 70 th week and 308 numbers by 72 weeks. There is no significant difference between the numbers achieved and prescribed. The reduced egg production in cage free systems maybe due to higher ME utilisation towards physical activities instead of egg production (Meng et al. 2015). Also, in uncaged housing systems, the likelihood of low energy feed materials found in the litter area played a role in reduced egg production (Philippe et al. 2020). Some researchers reported that egg production performance was higher in caged hens than in cage-free systems (Tumova and Ebeid 2003; Voslarova et al. 2006). On the contrary, vice versa was also accurate for free-range compared to caged systems (Yıldırım and Kaya 2017). HDEP and HHEP during the entire study period does no differ significantly indicating low mortality rates and better management practices.

Age at first egg - 18th week (120 days)	—	—	—	—	—	—
Age at Sexual maturity - 19th week (133 days)
Age	Egg number	Cumulative Mortality %	Liveability %	Realised HDEP %	Standard HDEP % *	Realised HHEP %
Till 20 weeks	15042	0.05	99.95	10.75	8.75	10.74
21-25 weeks	267230	0.36	99.64	76.36	73.94	76.35
26-30 weeks	308702	0.58	99.42	88.22	95.00	88.20
31-35 weeks	303640	0.78	99.22	86.77	94.76	86.75
36-40 weeks	303690	1.13	98.87	86.80	93.00	86.77
41-45 weeks	300057	1.48	98.52	85.77	90.66	85.73
46-50 weeks	292552	1.61	98.39	83.62	88.20	83.59
51-55 weeks	290017	1.8	98.20	82.90	85.70	82.86
56-60 weeks	292166	2.16	97.84	83.53	83.20	83.48
61-65 weeks	283976	2.47	97.53	81.19	80.40	81.14
66-70 weeks	266389	3.13	96.87	76.18	77.40	76.11
HHEP/ Bird	292.35

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Production performance of commercial brown layer under cage free system upto 70 weeks (n=10000)

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Original paper tableSource PDF · page 2 ↗

Conclusions

No significant variations were noted between the standard productions in cages to that of Cage free systems in terms of egg production and liveability. Nevertheless, considering the positive impact of cage free system on welfare of the birds and increasing awareness of consumers on products from caged birds, this system offer considerable advantages for the farmers.

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