TECHNICAL COLUMN
Preparing the lifelong layer ‘Well begun is half done’, is an old saying which also is true for egg producers as a good quality pullet helps to reach the targets set for the productive life of laying hens. The pullet rearer has about 17 weeks to develop this tiny day-old chick into a ready to lay laying hen. The productive life of a laying hen has increased drastically over the past decades and because of balanced genetic selection this is still increasing 1 week with every new flock that enters the poultry house. Keeping laying hens all the way up to 100 weeks of age without molting is no longer exceptional, it is not the global standard yet, but more and more proven results are clearly there. A good quality pullet is essential to get the best out of your flock, in this technical paper we aim to describe some of the main objectives and targets to be reached during the rearing period.
By Rafael Lera, Poultry Veterinarian, Hendrix Genetics Layers
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The rearing period is of major importance for the performance of the flock later in life. The productivity of a flock depends to a large extent on the successful attainment of bodyweight targets from an early age. Also, egg size profiles during lay and the feather cover during the productive period are influenced by the development of the pullets. During first weeks in rearing, management should focus on rapid and steady chick growth while the second half of the rearing period is the right time to work on developing feed intake
- technical column -
