Welfare and performance of commercial laying hens in conventional California cages at different stocking densities

Abstract

The present experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of different stocking densities on performance and welfare of commercial white leghorn hens (BV 300 strain) reared in conventional California cages. A total of 270 hens were divided into four stocking density groups, viz. 60 sq. inch/387 cm2 (T1); 75 sq. inch/484 cm2 (T2); 85 sq. inch/ 548 cm2 (T3) and 100 sq. inch/645 cm2 (T4) per bird with 18 replicates in each treatment. The experiment was conducted for a 20 week period under uniform standard management practices with birds fed on commercial layer diet. It was observed T3 and T4 group birds had highly significant (P<0.001) percentage of hen day egg production, higher egg weight, better feed conversion ratio, minimum cost of production per egg compared to T2 and T1 at the end of 20 week experimental period. Welfare indicators—Feather score was significantly best in T4 group birds when compared to T1 group, whereas gait score and immunity parameters was non-significant among all the birds reared at different stocking densities. Considering well-being and production performance, the present study confirms that commercial laying hens reared in conventional California cages provided with 85 sq. inch/548 cm2 space per bird gives better quality egg production without compromising birds welfare.