Production performance of caged layers in evaporative cooling and mechanical ventilated housing

Abstract

The study was designed to investigate effect of evaporative cooling and mechanical systems on the performance of caged layers for Konya province of Turkey. Two different treatments were analyzed- evaporative cooling, house - 1 and mechanical ventilation, house - 2 during the summer season of 2005. Inside temperature reduced effectively in house - 1 while higher inside temperatures in house - 2 created a stressful environment for caged layers. The average temperature in house - 1 was as 24.4ºC while it was 27.1ºC in house - 2. The average relative humidity was 52.7% and 40.1% in house - 1 and house - 2, respectively. Average egg production of layers was 1.03% higher in house - 1 than house - 2. The mortality rate in house - 1 and house - 2 was determined to be 0.18% and 0.23%, respectively. The average percentages of cracked eggs in houses - 1 and house - 2 were 1.41% and 0.89%, respectively. The average egg weights were 65.1g and 60.2g in houses 1 and 2, respectively. Daily feed intake of layers in houses - 1 and house - 2 was found as 116.5 g/hen and 103.4 g/hen, respectively.