The Transfer of Younger Chicks to the Laying Cages and their Subsequent Performances

Abstract

The time of transferring the pullets to laying cages will depend on the vacant cages available for the replacement birds. In principle, birds should be placed in cages at the younger age in order to protect them from the stress to be given by the new environment.Chicks growing in the brooder were successively transferred to the laying cages at 55(A), 75(B), and 95(C) days of age. Some performances were observed during the period from the transfer to the end of the first-year egg production test.In terms of performances, no significant differences were observed among the three groups(A, B, C), that is, egg production, age at the first egg, body weight at age of first egg, weight of first egg, and mortality (cf. Tables 1-4). These results suggest that the transfer to the laying cages at 55-95 days of age has no detectable effects on the subsequent economic performances.