Hen Housing Lighting Effects Study

Evaluating effects of LED vs. CFL lighting on behaviors and production performance of pullets and laying hens

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Light is a crucial environmental factor that affects bird’s development, production performance, health, well-being and product quality of modern egg production. This project’s goal has been to assess pullet behavior, hen production and egg quality, locomotion and activity levels, and lighting preferences when comparing commercial light-emitting-diode (LED) lighting and typical compact fluorescent (CFL) lighting.

PROJECT FINDINGS UPDATE

While research is on-going, preliminary results show that pullets, 6 to 12 weeks of age, tended to be more active under LED light than those reared under CFL light. Cumulative egg production, average hen-day egg production, average feed use, average egg weight, and all egg quality parameters were comparable among the four light treatments over 21-41 weeks of age. Pecking (severe in some cases) in both lighting regiments occurred in the early stage of laying. Pullets tended to spend less total time in LED light than CFL light, and a higher proportion of pullets tended to choose CFL for resting during the dark period. This preliminary data shows no evidence of advantages due to choosing one lighting type over the other.

 

 

Further Promotion of this Research

American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers 2017 Annual International Meeting Conference Proceeding

Hen Feeding & Nesting Behavioral Study

Quantifying individual hen’s feeding and nesting behaviors in group housing and the impact of resource allocation on these responses

PROJECT OVERVIEW

As more operations move to group housing systems it becomes even more important to understand hen behavior within a group. Using Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) on hens in Enriched Colony Housing (ECH) systems, researchers have been able to begin to quantify items like time spent in the nest box, number of visits to the nest box per egg laid, and percent of eggs laid in scratch pad areas or perch areas. The goal of this work is to enhance the next generation of equipment by improving nest box design.

PROJECT FINDINGS UPDATE

While research is on-going, preliminary results show that laying hens in ECH systems spent, on average, 56 minutes inside the next box either laying eggs or exploring the area. This amounted to approximately 17 visits per day, which was higher than expected. While a majority (93%) of the eggs are laid in the nest box, 4.4% of the eggs were laid in the scratch area and 2.9% were laid in the perch area. Additionally, researchers found that the nest box maximum capacity occurred 5-6 hours after the lights were turned on.

More experiments are forthcoming, as well as a peer-reviewed journal article.

 

 

Further Promotion of this Research

American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers 2016 Annual International Meeting Conference Proceeding