Influence of cage tiers height on cloaca temperature, performance, and egg quality of Isa-Brown laying hens reared in a humid tropical climate

Abstract

This research was carried out to evaluate the influence of cage tiers height on cloaca temperature, performance and egg quality of Isa-Brown laying birds. A total of One hundred and eight (108) Isa-Brown laying birds were selected from a healthy stock. The poultry house contained conventional battery cages arranged in a three-tier design. One unit of the battery cage made up of three (3) tiers with three (3) cells per tier was setup to accommodate three (3) birds per cell and a total of 27 birds per unit cage. This setup was replicated for three additional cage units. The performance of the birds was evaluated in terms of the egg weight, egg mass, feed conversion ratio, hen day production, and total feed consumed. The results revealed no significant (P >0.05) difference among cage tiers in terms of egg weight and feed conversion ratio but egg mass, hen day production and total feed consumed were significantly influenced. Highest egg mass (38.96g), highest Hen Day production (78.66%) and highest daily feed intake (99.01g) were recorded in birds raised in the upper tier of the cage. For the period of the study, cloaca temperature ranged between 36 °C and 41 °C. Cloaca temperature was not significantly (P >0.05) affected by cage tiers height. In comparison to layers raised in low-tier cages, those raised in high-tier cages had higher egg production and better feed efficiency. These findings suggest that cage tier heights play an important role in the production performance of laying hens but cloaca temperature was not affected. However, further researches on the effect of cage tiers height on cloaca temperature should be carried out in a controlled setting