The Laying Hen Productivity Comparison between Automatic and Manual Feeding System in Malang, Indonesia

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the egg productivity and profitability between laying hen farms fed with automatic and manual feeding system. The research is conducted in 5 closed-house for each feeding system, and each house consisted of 20,000 laying hens. The egg productivity was determined by measuring the feed conversion ratio (FCR), hen day production (HDP) and hen house production (HHP), while the profitability was measured by measuring the farming profit/loss ratio. All of the data were then analyzed with SPSS Direct Marketing. The results showed that manual feeding system had 65% profit/loss ratio, while the automatic feeding had 67%. Moreover, the automatic feeding showed better egg productivity with FCR at 2.05, HDP at 87.04%, and HHP at 22.6 kg, while the manual feeding showed FCR at 2.23, HDP at 82.05%, and HHP at 21.4 kg. It concludes that the utilization of automatic feeding system had better egg productivity as seen by the FCR, HDP, and HHP, and thus resulted in higher profitability.