Wire and Litter Management Systems for Broiler Breeders

Abstract

Three wire pens, each with 250 female broiler breeders and 25 Cornish type males housed a 1 sq. ft. per bird, were compared with three litter floor pens each having 150 females and 15 males at 3 sq. ft. per bird.Egg production and mortality were significantly higher in wire houses than in litter floor houses. Hatchability of fertile eggs were similar in both management systems during the 28 week test. Fertility was significantly different as it averaged 9.2% lower in wire floor houses. The fertility difference gradually increased from the second through the seventh four week periods and was believed to be related to an increasing problem of sore feet of the cockerels on the wire floor.Counts of air bacteria, air fungi and bacteria on the egg were all significantly higher in the litter floor houses than in the wire floor houses. The mean bacteria count per cubic foot of air was 2.2 times greater in the litter houses while there was 10 times more bacteria found on the shells of eggs from the litter floor houses. The relationship of these differences in microbe counts to chick contamination rates was not established.