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Hy-Line Technical Update on Nesting Behavior

02/17/2021

Reducing floor eggs is an important aspect of management following adoption of floor and aviary housing systems. In addition to the cost of labor to collect floor eggs, losses in processing and cloacal cannibalism are frequently non-quantified costs of elevated floor eggs.

 

Hy-Line has released a technical update entitled Understanding Nesting Behavior: Managing for Fewer Floor Eggs and Layers.  This comprehensive 10-page advisory includes sections on nesting behavior, nest preference and factors influencing the prevalence of floor eggs. 

 

Recommendations to reduce floor eggs include flock training, installation of platforms under water lines, adequate perches, providing enrichments, electric shocker wires for training pullets at point-of-lay, frequent collection of floor eggs and appropriate design of nest areas and pads.  The Technical Update includes a comprehensive section on lightning, light duration and timing.

 

The Technical Update concludes with a summary encapsulating the message "nesting behaviors are habituated in the hens soon after egg production begins and once established become difficult to change.  Flocks must be managed to provide positive early nesting experiences, leading to good nesting behavior”.