Egg Production Characteristics and Adrenal Function in White Leghorns Confined at Different Floor Space Levels

Abstract

IMPROVED housing, equipment and disease control are making possible efficient management of more densely populated laying flocks. As a result, commercial poultrymen are turning to flock intensification as a means of achieving greater labor efficiency and reducing housing costs. Investigations dealing with the effect of space per bird on egg producing ability are numerous and often contradictory. Although Huttar et al. (1933) found egg production of White Leghorns not to be significantly reduced by decreased floor space, others have reported lower egg production in Barred Plymouth Rocks at less than 4.8 square feet per bird (Pearl and Surface, 1909), in White Leghorns at less than 4.0 square feet per bird (Anonymous, 1941) and in New Hampshire pullets at 2.76 square feet per bird (Hoffmann and Tomhave, 1945). Management and housing studies by Bressler and Walton (1957) have shown that large and concentrated populations of White Leghorns could produce efficiently if …