Choice of nest types by hens of three lines of broiler breeders

Holcman, Antonija; Malovrh, Špela Pezdevšek; Štuhec, Ivan

doi:10.1080/00071660701370475

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Previous research on the nest design preference of broiler breeders has shown that there is a preference for smaller metal nests compared to larger wooden nests, with unpainted rather than black painted walls (Brake, 1985;Holcman et al, 2007). Plastic materials, although commonly used in commercial practice, have not been compared to other materials before.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relative preference for wooden nests affects nesting behaviour of broiler breeders

Oever

Rodenburg

Bolhuis

et al. 2020

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Optimising nest design for broiler breeders has benefits for both the animals and the producers. The welfare of the hens will increase by providing preferred housing, while also reducing eggs laid outside the nests. These floor eggs cause economic losses by compromised automatic egg collection and reduced saleability and hatchability. Attractiveness of nests can involve factors such as seclusion, material and microclimate. In this study, four nest box designs were offered in a relative preference test: a plastic control nest, a plastic nest with a partition to divide the nest in two areas, a plastic nest with a ventilator underneath to create air flow inside the nest and a wooden nest. Six groups of 100 hens and 9 roosters had access to these four nests in a randomised location during the ages of 20 to 34 weeks. Nest and floor eggs were collected five days a week. Camera images from inside the nests made during the ages of 24-25 weeks and 26-27 weeks were analysed for behaviour. This included general activity, nest inspections, nest visits and social interactions. At 32 weeks of age the wooden nests were closed, and the subsequent response of the hens was monitored in terms of number of eggs. We found a clear preference in number of eggs for the wooden nest (69.3 ± 1.0%) compared to the control nest (15.1 ± 0.8%), partition nest (10.2 ± 0.5%) and the ventilator nest (5.4 ± 0.4%; p < 0.0001 for difference between all nest designs). The preference for the wooden nest was also reflected in an increased time spent sitting, together with fewer nest inspections and visits per egg laid in the wooden nest. The preference for the wooden nest led to crowding, which caused an increased amount of piling, nest displacement, aggression and head shaking. The fact that the hens were willing to accept the crowded circumstances in these nests, underlines the strength of this preference. After the wooden nests were closed, the hens chose a new nest based on a combination of nest design and location. The control nest was still preferred over the other two plastic designs, although the neighbouring nests were overall preferred to the non-neighbouring nests. This study shows how the material used for nests is an important factor in suitability and should therefore be taken into account when designing nests.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relative preference for wooden nests affects nesting behaviour of broiler breeders

Oever

Rodenburg

Bolhuis

et al. 2020

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A coleta mecânica dos ovos reduz em aproximadamente 60 a 70% o tempo de coleta em relação ao ninho manual, permitindo que o funcionário dedique mais tempo ao manejo com as aves (Wilson, 1996). Holcman et al (2007), observaram que galinhas preferem ninhos forrados com maravalha a ninhos forrados com tapetes de plástico. O ninho forrado com maravalha, além de dar mais conforto à ave, permite que a galinha faça facilmente sua concavidade através de movimentos em círculos antes da postura (Wood-Gush, 1954).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Efeito da transformação do ninho manual modelo holandês em mecânico na postura de ovos de cama em matrizes de frangos de corte

et al. 2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

RESUMO -Este trabalho visou adaptar o ninho manual modelo Holandês, cujo formato é bem aceito por matrizes de frangos de corte, a um modelo que permita fazer a coleta mecânica dos ovos. A adaptação consistiu em substituir a forração de maravalha por uma lâmina de madeira estofada e colocar uma correia de transporte para fazer o recolhimento dos ovos. Esta adaptação foi avaliada em dois experimentos no mesmo galpão, das 25 às 35 semanas de idade. Em ambos os experimentos, foram disponibilizados 69 módulos, cada um com 24 ninhos (ninho manual), para a coleta dos ovos de 7.690 galinhas e um módulo adaptado com 24 ninhos (ninho mecânico) para a coleta mecânica dos ovos de 110 galinhas. No primeiro experimento, foram comparadas as porcentagens semanais de ovos produzidos e de ovos de cama e, no segundo experimento, além dessas variáveis, foram observadas as porcentagens de ovos trincados e de ovos sujos de ninho. Também no experimento 2, visando reduzir os ovos postos na cama observados no experimento 1, foi colocada maravalha sobre a forração desenvolvida, do alojamento até 26 a semana. Utilizou-se um esquema fatorial 2 × 11, no qual a parcela principal foi constituída pelos ninhos mecânico e manual e as subparcelas pelas 11 semanas de avaliação. A porcentagem semanal de ovos produzidos foi semelhante entre os dois tipos de ninho, tanto no experimento 1 como no experimento 2. As porcentagens de ovos cama (experimentos 1 e 2), ovos sujos e ovos trincados (experimento 2) obtidas com o ninho mecânico foram maiores que com o ninho manual. No experimento 2, a colocação de maravalha no ninho mecânico não contribuiu para a redução da porcentagem de ovos de cama. A transformação do ninho manual em mecânico aumentou o número de ovos postos na cama, de ovos trincados e de ovos sujos, comprovando pior aceitação desse tipo de ninho pelas galinhas.Palavras-chave: matrizes de frangos de corte, ninhos, ovos de cama Effect of the transformation of a hand-operated Dutch nest into a mechanical nest on the laying of floor eggs in broiler breedersABSTRACT -This experiment aimed at adapting the Dutch manual nest model, whose format is well accepted by the parental broiler lines, to a new model aiming the mechanical egg collection. Adaptation consisted on replacing wood shaving by stuffed wood sheet and the placement of a conveyor belt for egg collection. This adaptation was evaluated in two experiments in the same shed with breeders from 25 to 35 weeks of age. In both experiments, there were 69 available modules, each one with 24 nests (manual nest) for collection of eggs from 7,690 hens and one adapted module with 24 nests (mechanical nest) for mechanical collection of eggs from 110 hens. In experiment 1, weekly percentages of produced eggs and floor eggs were compared and in experiment 2, besides those variables, percentages of cracked eggs and dirty eggs in the nest were observed. Also in experiment 2, aiming to reduce floor eggs observed in experiment 1, wood shavings were added on the stuffed wood sheet, from lodging to the 26 th w...

show abstract

“…Appleby et al (1984) reported that there is some hierarchy among hens: dominant hens show preference for specific nests, prompting subordinate hens to seek out another nest when this nest is taken. In a flock of heavy broiler breeders, Holcman et al (2007) observed that out of 5.1% of floor eggs, 3.9% were laid in front of the nest entrance, on the slats, whereas 1.2% were laid on Table 2 -Mean percentage of the parameters assessed fortnightly in the hatchery concerning the eggs collected from the hand-operated and mechanical nests during the 28 weeks of study.…”

Section: Development and Performance Of A Mechanical Egg Collection Smentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The mechanical nest design was based on the observation of the laying behavior of farm hens and on the results of scientific studies conducted by different authors (Hurnik et al, 1973;Kite et al, 1980;Brake, 1985;Appleby & McCrae, 1986;Peterson, 1989;Appleby et al, 1992;Brake, 1993;Holcman et al, 2007). The first question raised before designing the equipment was "why do hens show a greater rejection of commercially available mechanical nests than of hand-operated ones?"…”

Section: Mechanical Nest Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…al, 2010), production management practices (Decuypere et al, 2010), and on the type of nest. Hens prefer nests with a concave bottom (Brake, 1985), filled with wood shavings (Holcman et al, 2007), single nests (Peterson, 1989), enclosed nests (Appleby & McCrae, 1986), gray or brown-colored nests (Brake, 1993), nests located near the floor (Hurnik et al, 1973), with rectangular wooden perches Scholz et al, 2014) and which allow for the maintenance of eggs in the nest after laying (Kite et al, 1980). The hand-operated Dutch nesting system yields a good performance because it has most of the features that are attractive to hens, unlike mechanical nests, which have a flat bottom lined with a plastic nest pad, are often multi-bird units and do not allow for the maintenance of eggs in the nest after laying.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Development and Performance of a Mechanical Egg Collection System Versus the Hand-Operated Dutch Nest

Pilotto

Ribeiro

Filho

et al. 2015

Rev. Bras. Cienc. Avic.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The aim of this study was to design a new mechanical nesting system based on scientific works on the behavior of laying hens, and to compare its performance with that of a hand-operated Dutch nest. The equipment was assessed in two poultry houses; in the first one, the eggs were collected manually, whereas in the second one, the newly designed mechanical nest was used for the collection. A total of 7,800 hens and 800 males were housed in each poultry house, and the percentages of eggs produced, nest dirty eggs, floor eggs, and cracked and discarded eggs were determined between weeks 25 and 52. The percentage of eggs with microcracks, infertility, embryo mortality, bacterial contamination, fungal contamination, chicks with stunting syndrome and hatching from both types of nest was assessed in the hatchery on a fortnightly basis. The mechanical nest designed herein proved to be a good alternative to the hand-operated Dutch nest, but it still has to be improved in order to have the same performance, especially with regard to reduction in the incidence of floor eggs.

show abstract

Choice of nest types by hens of three lines of broiler breeders

Cited by 8 publications

References 8 publications

Relative preference for wooden nests affects nesting behaviour of broiler breeders

Relative preference for wooden nests affects nesting behaviour of broiler breeders

Efeito da transformação do ninho manual modelo holandês em mecânico na postura de ovos de cama em matrizes de frangos de corte

Development and Performance of a Mechanical Egg Collection System Versus the Hand-Operated Dutch Nest

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About