What new management concepts exist in laying hen farming?

Everything follows a pattern, and management in laying hen farming is very important.

I recall once discussing laying hen farming in the Shijiazhuang area with peers. In terms of cost, the laying hen feed in this area may be the lowest in the country; correspondingly, the overall quality of laying hen farming is generally not high either. However, because farmers treat spent hens as one of their main business indicators and integrate this well with the market, they are often able to sell off spent hens when market prices are relatively high, rather than treating egg production as the sole business indicator. That is, the income per laying hen includes both eggs and the spent hen, so the laying hen becomes a dual-purpose meat-and-egg type.

An industry that stays bullish and skyrockets forever exists only in heaven. It doesn't matter if the broader environment is bad, as long as you can be more profitable than your competitors.

Why do laying hen practitioners raise laying hens? It is simply to make money (output) by feeding feed (input) to produce eggs; in other words, laying hens are merely the vehicle for these people's business.

Dalian Hanwei Group is a well-known poultry farming enterprise in China, and currently the scale of laying hens raised by this enterprise is the largest in the country. Purely in terms of farming technology, the production level of such a large-scale farm is quite good; whether it can make money, and how much it makes, basically depends on management rather than farming technology. In the spring and summer of 2005, the author visited some farmers in Xinmin together with Cheng Liangyu, the owner of Shenyang Hongyun Feed Mill, and learned that for this batch of laying hens in 2004, well-managed farms could earn 26-28 yuan per hen, while the least earned only 12-16 yuan, a huge disparity; of course, the farmers who earned more were few and far between. It can be seen that for laying hen farming, while paying attention to farming technology, one also needs to work hard on management and learn to predict and avoid market risks; this is the best approach.

Everything follows a pattern. Below, the author explains from 4 aspects that laying hen farming also requires management.

1 Selecting high-quality chicks

This view has basically been accepted by industry practitioners, and it has also made breeding poultry enterprises like Yukou successful. Anyone who raises breeding hens knows that chick quality is crucial to the overall production performance of laying hens, but how many are currently testing for pullorum disease and mycoplasma? And how many are using fully qualified vaccines? In fact, there are few enterprises in the industry that can produce high-quality hatching eggs and chicks. However, from the perspective of laying hen farmers, if they have to pay a few more cents for chicks, some people feel it is not worth it; although the value of good chicks is far beyond what a few cents of price difference can buy, they cannot see or do not trust this potential gap.

Accepting a concept does not mean it will be implemented in practice. Therefore, while the above concepts certainly need continuous promotion, laying hen farmers must also learn to calculate long-term accounts and, through comparison, make the right choice to avoid pointless waste.

2 Paying attention to the quality of growing pullets

At the Dutch company Unilever, 5-week body weight and 16-week uniformity are crucial production indicators for growing laying hens. Quite a few people have jokingly said that this is "35d decides the whole life." Based on the author's experience, as long as high-quality feed is selected, this requirement can be met. Considering the input for the entire growing period, the feed amount for the first 5 weeks should account for 10% of the total feed consumption of the entire growing period.

The author believes that for chick rearing, the current theoretical stocking density is worth discussing, because the space occupied by chicks is relatively small, and the density can be reduced with little input, resulting in increased body weight during brooding. When feed and water supply are sufficient, doing so only increases labor slightly, requiring just a few more feed trays and drinking troughs.

Table 1 was obtained after statistical analysis of production indicator data from over a million white-shell laying hens. 

Table 1 Correlation between growing period quality and laying period production performance of white-shell laying hens

Data source: Dutch company Unilever.

(1) In the early growth stage of chicks, the digestive system grows faster than the body. Chicks with relatively large body weight within 5 weeks of age will have better-developed internal organs——the lungs, heart, liver, stomach, and intestines account for a relatively higher proportion of body weight.

From the perspective of production performance over the entire cycle, the correlation between 5-week body weight and 72-week total egg production is 0.93, with 60-week survival rate is 0.71, with 72-week survival rate is 0.65, and with laying persistence (60-72 weeks hen-day egg production rate) is 0.82. The correlation between 16-week uniformity and 72-week total egg production is 0.72. However, the correlation between 10-week body weight and 16-week body weight and the corresponding production indicators does not exist or is very low. Simply put, higher early body weight at 5 weeks means higher production performance over the entire laying cycle.

(2) High uniformity at 16 weeks of age indicates that the chick's reproductive system has developed relatively well, including the ovaries and oviducts growing relatively consistently. From the perspective of the entire laying cycle, a high uniformity also means a much lower mortality and culling rate.

(3) Using new-type laying hen feeders can eliminate the need for beak trimming, which severely affects body weight and is difficult to recover from within a week. Current laying hen breeding pursues miniaturization, which lowers maintenance requirements; but at the same time it also reduces chick feed intake, and when feed energy value is low, body weight gain becomes difficult. This requires that feed quality must be correspondingly improved. Because small-scale farmers raise growing pullets in non-enclosed chicken houses, lighting is difficult to control, leading to differences in hormone changes, causing inconsistent sexual maturity in laying hens, so some vices appear. The author believes that there is considerable room for improvement in this regard, and it can be achieved with very little input.

Table 2 shows actual production statistics from the Dalian Hanwei chicken farm. From the table, it can be seen that groups 3 and 4, which had higher body weight, produced 2.48 kg more eggs than groups 1 and 2, had a feed conversion ratio lower by 0.24, and also had a much lower mortality and culling rate. It can be seen that the benefit brought by standard body weight is at least 10 yuan or more per hen.

Well-developed laying hens, because they are healthy and have vigorous metabolic functions, have stronger utilization and conversion capacity for nutrients than poorly developed ones. This is shown in production performance as much higher feed conversion ratio, laying rate, and total egg production. In short, the goal of raising replacement laying hens is to cultivate a flock whose production performance matches its genetic potential.

Table 2 Relationship between standard body weight and production performance

3 Paying attention to feeding management during the pre-laying period

During this period, tremendous changes occur in the laying hen's body: the liver doubles in size, protein synthesis is strengthened to prepare for the high-intensity egg production after laying begins; the reproductive system, including the ovaries and oviducts, undergoes further development, enabling very small ovaries to release very large yolks. At the same time, under the influence of hormones, the functions of laying hens during the pre-laying period also change considerably; for example, immunity becomes fragile, making them prone to oviduct infection, causing peritonitis, etc.

Therefore, before laying hens begin production, farmers should not be afraid to invest. The pre-laying feed selected should have slightly higher energy and protein levels. Because feed intake is relatively low during this period, if feed quality is not improved, it is difficult to meet the needs of laying hens. In the latest Hy-Line Brown management manual, the standard for crude protein content in the diet is 20%, already higher than that for chicks, while energy is the same. This change should draw everyone's attention. 

4 Feeding management during the laying period

During the laying period, laying hens gain body weight rapidly, gaining 500 g in just a few weeks, accounting for 1/4 of the entire spent hen body weight. At the same time, the laying rate also increases rapidly; generally, from 21-25 weeks, the laying rate quickly rises from 50% to 95%. Correspondingly, feed intake and water intake also increase sharply. Of course, egg weight also increases rapidly.

Regarding the feeding of laying hens during the laying period, the author believes that most people do not pay enough attention to details. For example, because the stocking density of laying hens is extremely high among domestic animals, this determines that ventilation is a very important factor during the laying period. Because laying hens during the laying period have a very high metabolic intensity, their oxygen requirement is very large. But many farmers do not pay enough attention to this issue, especially in the north, where winters are long and cold; in order to keep warm, many farmers "simply" ignore this issue. In the vast majority of chicken houses, upon entering, people feel suffocated. In such an environment, how can laying hens have good production performance and health status? Big matters should be grasped from small matters, and ventilation is undoubtedly a small issue that requires special attention from farmers.

For a laying hen farm, only when the laying rate reaches about 70% do egg production (output) and feed and other costs basically break even; before that, it is always in the input stage. However, the income from spent hens plus chicken manure cannot offset the input before a 70% laying rate; according to estimates, there is a difference of about 4-6 yuan per hen, and obviously this difference must be made up by the hen's total egg production. Good farmers average 20 kg of eggs per hen, while poor ones produce only 12 kg, resulting in a cost difference of up to 0.2 yuan per kilogram of eggs. This is precisely the reason for the differences in profitability among different farmers.

In summary, after grasping several key links well, with a slight increase in total input, output can increase by a lot. The author believes that although the shadow of avian influenza still lingers, as long as one pays attention and is good at management, one can be more profitable than competitors and, correspondingly, gain an advantage in competition. At the same time, one can also seize the initiative in the next round of market opportunities. 

Source: Jinbangwei Laying Hen Farming Expert http://www.xmvet.com