A Complete Guide to Health Care Methods for Laying Hens: A Practical Guide to Scientific Farming

In the process of raising laying hens, carrying out regular health care is still quite effective. This method can effectively improve the production performance of laying hens and ensure stable egg production. The commonly used health care methods are as follows:

????1. Factors Affecting the Economic Benefits of Laying Hen Farming

On the premise that the breed of laying hens, feed raw material prices, and other factors are the same, the most important indicator affecting the economic benefits of laying hen farming is the laying cycle, followed by the feed-to-egg ratio, then the feed unit price, laying rate, egg weight, and mortality and culling rate. Of course, these indicators are not completely isolated but are interrelated. The first effective way to improve the economic benefits of laying hen farming should be to extend the laying cycle; the second is to design a reasonable dietary metabolizable energy level to reduce the feed-to-egg ratio and control the feed unit price.

Excluding infectious diseases and feed nutrition factors, the causes of a decline in the laying rate of laying hens include ovarian hypofunction, ovarian inflammation, and fatty liver. Ovarian function is mainly regulated and controlled by the pituitary gland. The pituitary gland is nervous tissue with vigorous metabolism and is rich in unsaturated fatty acids, making it prone to oxidation and degeneration. Therefore, certain measures should be taken to protect the pituitary gland and improve its function so as to slow its degeneration.

????2. Key Health Care Measures

2.1 Do a Good Job in Basic Immunity and Improve Specific Disease Resistance

Formulate a reasonable immunization program. Through vaccination, enable laying hens to produce effective antibodies, improve immune capacity, and enhance the body's specific disease resistance. First, scientific immunization. According to the breed of laying hens, feeding environment, season, and local epidemic situation, formulate a reasonable immunization program; at the same time, according to local epidemic strains, select suitable vaccines. Second, prevent key diseases. Newcastle disease should be the focus of immunization to prevent the occurrence of typical or atypical Newcastle disease. Relevant studies show that during the peak laying period, only when the Newcastle disease antibody level of laying hens reaches 29 or above can the decline in egg production caused by Newcastle disease be effectively prevented. Third, do a good job in antibody monitoring. Regularly carry out antibody testing work, and timely supplementary immunization should be carried out for flocks whose test results do not meet the standard.

2.2 Improve Non-Specific Immunity and Reduce Environmental Stress. Once a flock encounters unfavorable environmental conditions, it is prone to stress reactions. Stress reactions can reduce the growth rate of laying hens, affect the immune effect of vaccines, and increase the susceptibility of laying hens to respiratory and digestive tract diseases. To reduce stress reactions in the flock, the following measures can be taken: First, use immunopotentiators. There are many kinds of immunopotentiators currently used on the market, such as oligosaccharides, laying hen life treasure, astragalus polysaccharides, vitamin C, beta-glucan, levamisole, and so on. Immunopotentiators can directly or indirectly improve the immune function of laying hens through various pathways. Second, do a good job in stress acclimation. In a planned way, carry out low-intensity stress stimulation on the flock at different growth stages, expose them to the original environment as much as possible, and improve the body's non-specific immunity. Third, establish a reasonable nutritional supply system. According to different periods, different growth stages, and different environmental conditions, providing the flock with suitable and sufficient nutrients such as energy, amino acids, vitamins, and trace elements is the prerequisite for ensuring that the flock remains in a healthy state.

2.3 Strengthen Feeding Management and Reduce Disease Incidence in Laying Hens. Health care for laying hens must focus on the laying period, because this period is the most important stage for laying hens to obtain good economic benefits, and it is also the period when laying hens are prone to disease. Laying hens, especially high-yielding laying hens, produce many eggs, and it is difficult to supplement nutrients. Once management is not in place, abnormal situations are likely to occur. To ensure the health of laying hens during the laying period, the following measures can be taken:

First, eliminate the reproductive stress syndrome of high-yielding laying hens. While using complete laying hen feed, additives such as laying hen life treasure and Balmaci that can improve the disease resistance of the flock can be added; at the same time, strengthen feeding management, improve the air environment inside the house, reduce the concentration of harmful gases, and keep the flock in a good production environment.

Second, reduce the incidence of fatty liver. Fatty liver can not only reduce the production performance of laying hens in the middle and late laying stages, but is also a major factor in deaths and culling. Laying hens generally have varying degrees of fatty liver in the middle and late laying stages. The reason should be related to the unique protein metabolism mechanism of laying hens. To reduce the degree of fatty liver occurrence, on the one hand, promote the catabolism of fatty acids, because if the fatty acid concentration increases, it will increase fat synthesis; on the other hand, promote the utilization and transport of fat. Suitable additives can be selected to enable the body to produce sufficient effective lecithin, because lecithin is the carrier for fat transport in the body.

2.4 Eliminate the Effects of Feed Mycotoxins and Stimulate the Body's Production Potential. Mold and its toxins in feed are very harmful to poultry production, especially aflatoxin, zearalenone, T-2 toxin, and so on in moldy corn. Sick chickens with obvious clinical symptoms are easy to find. However, many subclinical levels of feed mycotoxins can slowly damage the immune system of laying hens, leading to a decline in the disease resistance of the flock and thereby inducing various diseases (such as diarrhea, respiratory diseases, etc.); they can also cause a slow decline in the laying rate of the flock, reduce egg weight, and inhibit the exertion of the laying potential of laying hens. Therefore, in the production process, feed storage should be done well, and feeding moldy feed is strictly prohibited.