MANAGEMENT ▶▶▶
When the birds have a longer feeder length available, there is less competi- tion and the plumage is better.
feeding time, with hens climbing and jumping over each oth- er to get to their feed. This pushing behaviour has an adverse effect on the hens’ plumage. When the birds have more feed- er length at their disposal, there will be relatively less jost ling and competition around feeding time with better plumage as a result. The current results confirm this observation: at the age of 35 weeks, bad plumage was already found (score of 1.7 versus 1.4) in poultry houses 1 and 2 with the shorter feeder length.
Difference increases with length The plumage difference in the poultry houses with the differ- ent feeder lengths increased by 0.35 to 0.65 between 35 and 58 weeks of age. This may be caused by the fact that a short- er feeder length keeps resulting in more pushing and com- petition during feeding time. The research results show that
16 ▶ POULTRY WORLD | No. 8, 2020
more feeder length can have a positive effect on the hens’ plumage. Wageningen Livestock Research conducted re- search into the hens’ plumage at a practice farm with broiler parent stock. The results showed that a shorter feeder length can have an adverse effect on the quality of the hen’s plumage.
Research funding The research into the broiler parent stock was conducted with financial support from the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Na- ture and Food Quality and partners of the Breeders in Balance (BiB) project. This research is part of the Research Agenda of the Dutch Poultry Sector, conducted by Avined. The research- ers wish to express their sincere thanks to poultry farmer Bar- ry van Horrik in Someren for his help and commitment during their research.
PHOTO: WAGENINGEN LIVESTOCK RESEARCH
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