How to Raise Green-Shelled Laying Hens? A Detailed Guide to Key Feeding Management Techniques

Eggs and chicken meat are common poultry products on ordinary people's dining tables. Nowadays, people's demands for pollution-free and green food are growing ever higher. For the vast number of chicken farmers, how to produce green chicken products, reduce feeding costs and expand profits is knowledge they urgently need to understand. The key technical points for raising green-shelled laying hens are as follows:

I. Chicken House Construction

Build the chicken house in a well-ventilated, sunny spot. Along the front and back of the house, install 1 light-and-air window measuring 70 cm × 120 cm every 3 m. Inside, place perches, drinkers and feed troughs on one side. On the sunny side, make 1 small door 160 cm high and 70 cm wide, and set up a sand-covered exercise yard outside the door.

II. Incubation

Select eggs weighing over 40 g as breeding eggs and use artificial incubation. The incubation technical requirements are:

1. Temperature and humidity

For eggs set in batches, constant-temperature incubation should be used. Each batch of eggs should be placed at staggered intervals, and when setting breeding eggs, be sure to place them on the egg trays with the large end up. From day 1 to 18 of incubation, the temperature inside the incubator (at the egg surface) should be 37.8℃ in winter and 37.5℃ in summer. On day 19 of incubation, transfer them to the hatcher; be sure to lay the breeding eggs flat, and the temperature inside the machine should be 37.2℃ in winter and 37℃ in summer. The relative humidity should be 60% from day 1 to 18 and 70% from day 19 to 21.

2. Turning the eggs: turn the eggs once every 2 hours, at an angle of 90 degrees.

3. Hatching

Generally, chicks begin to break out of the shell from day 20 of incubation, and hatching is basically complete by day 21.

4. Disinfection

Breeding eggs must be disinfected once 30 minutes after laying and once before setting. After hatching is complete, disinfect once, commonly by formalin fumigation or spraying with disinfectants such as Baidusha.

III. Nutrition and Feeding

The nutritional requirements for green-shelled laying hens are as follows: crude protein accounts for 20% in the diet of chicks, 15% in growing pullets, and 17% in breeding hens. The first 30 days after hatching are the brooding period; the key during this period is keeping warm. Keep the temperature at around 33℃ for 3 days after hatching, then lower it by 2℃ every 7 days thereafter. The principle is that the chicks are evenly distributed around the heat source. Provide water first, then start feeding; feed complete chick feed all day, 4 to 6 times daily. During the brooding period, also pay attention to ventilation. As for density, generally at 10 days of age, 40 to 50 birds per sq m; at 20 days of age, 30 birds per sq m; at 30 days of age, 20 birds per sq m. At 140 days of age, the body weight of hens is generally controlled at around 11 kg, and that of roosters at around 2 kg. At 140 days of age, switch the growing pullet feed to complete laying-hen breeder feed, and add water-soluble multivitamins etc. to the drinking water. For farmhouse rearing, some green vegetables or green grass can be fed, generally accounting for about 20% of the total feed, but they should not be mixed into the dry feed for feeding. The lighting requirement for laying is: 16 hours daily in the early laying period, and 16 to 17.5 hours daily at peak laying. During laying, feed consumption is about 85 g per bird per day. Remember to regularly add medium and coarse sand grains, at a rate of 6 to 7 kg per 1000

chickens. Each breeding flock can contain 100 to 200 birds. In addition to restricted feeding, breeding hens should also have restricted lighting where conditions permit; preferably 8 hours of light daily after 55 days. Nest boxes can be set up in the breeding hen house, using wooden boards to make rectangular laying boxes, with fine sand placed inside, keeping the environment quiet and dry.

IV. Disease Prevention and Control

Disease prevention runs through the entire feeding process. To prevent bacterial diseases such as salmonellosis and colibacillosis, the drug of first choice is enrofloxacin: add 100 ml of a 10% solution to 100 kg of water and let the chickens drink freely. In addition, use drugs such as tylosin and doxycycline to prevent respiratory diseases such as mycoplasmosis and mycoplasma infections. Regularly disinfect with agents such as Baidusha. Around 20 days of age, pay attention to preventing coccidiosis. At 7 to 10 days of age, vaccinate against Newcastle disease and fowl pox. At 12 to 14 days of age, give the infectious bursal disease vaccine first, by drinking water. For breeding hens, do a good job of vaccination against Newcastle disease, bursal disease, infectious bronchitis and egg drop syndrome using inactivated vaccines, formulated specifically according to the local chicken immunization program