Bird assessment

Pullet Phase

Body weight and uniformity

Weigh minimum 100 birds

  • Select cages from different tiers and also from the front, middle and back part of the house
  • All the birds of the selected cage need to be weighed.
  • Weigh weekly
UNIFORMIT Y = (all weighed birds – A1 – B2) /(all weighed birds) A1 = No. of birds >= average BW x 1.1 B2 = No. of birds <= average BW x 0.9

Mortality

Daily Mortality (%)= (No. of dead birds today x 100) /(No. of live birds yesterday)
Weekly Mortality (%)= (No. of dead birds in last 7 days x 100) /(No. of live birds on day before the week starts)
Accumulated Mortality (%)= (No. of dead birds so far x 100) /(initial No. of housed birds)

SHANK LENGTH OR KEEL LENGTH

  • Measure minimum 50 birds
  • All the birds of the selected cage or area need to be measured
  • Measure 5th week before transfer
How to do shank measurements
How to do keel measurements

LAYING HENS

Body weight and uniformity

Weigh minimum 100 birds

  • Select cages from different tiers and also from the front, middle and back part of the house
  • All the birds of the selected cage need to be weighed.
  • Weigh weekly

Frequency

  1. Weigh weekly up to 30 weeks of age
  2. Weigh every 2 weeks
  3. up to 40 weeks of age
  4. Weigh monthly after 40 weeks of age
UNIFORMITY = (all weighed birds – A1 – B2) /(all weighed birds) A1 = No. of birds >= average BW x 1.1 B2 = No. of birds <= average BW x 0.9

Mortality

Daily Mortality (%)= (No. of dead birds today x 100) /(No. of live birds yesterday)
Weekly Mortality (%)= (No. of dead birds in last 7 days x 100) /(No. of live birds on day before the week starts)
Accumulated Mortality (%)= (No. of dead birds so far x 100) /(initial No. of housed birds)

Efficiency parameters

FCR kg/kg= kg of feed consumed /kg of eggs produced (No. of eggs x average egg weight)
FCR kg/egg= kg of feed consumed /No. of eggs
Egg per Hen Housed= No. of eggs produced /No. of hens in the production house after the transfer
FCR kg/12 eggs= (kg of feed consumed x 12) /No. of total eggs produced
IOFC=egg mass hen housed x 0.8 /feed intake per hen housed x 0.2

EGG PRODUCTION

Daily Laying Rate (%)= (all produced eggs x 100) /daily birds in the farm
Weekly Lay (%)= (Sum of all produced eggs within 7 days x 100) /Sum of all the birds within 7 days
Accumulated Lay (%)= Sum of all the produced eggs /(No. of birds housed x Days in production)
Daily egg size= Total weight of produced eggs /Total No. of produced eggs
Weekly egg size=Average egg size of the last 7 days
Accumulated egg size (g)=Average of the weight of all produced eggs
Daily egg mass= (Daily % lay x Daily egg size) /100
Weekly egg mass= (Weekly % lay x Weekly egg size) /100
Accumulated egg mass= (Produced eggs x Egg weight) /No. of birds housed
Under grade= 1. No. of broken eggs (BE) 2. No. of cracked eggs (FE) 3. No. of dirty eggs (DE)
Daily Under grade (%)= (No. of daily BE, FE, DE x 100) /No. of all daily eggs
Accumulated Under grade= (No. of all BE, FE, DE so far x 100) /No. of all eggs so far