Battery gage shape: The laying performance of medium‐ and light‐body weight strains of hens

1. One thousand two hundred and ninety‐six medium‐ and 1296 lightweight hens were housed, four to a cage, in deep (conventional) cages, 405 mm wide by 460 mm deep, or shallow cages, 610 mm wide by 305 mm deep, between 18 and 70 weeks of age. The performance of the hens during different periods of the laying stage and over the full laying year was measured.

2. Egg number per medium‐weight hen housed in shallow cages was significantly higher than of hens housed in deep cages between 18 and 30 weeks and 31 and 42 weeks. Thereafter significant differences were not found. With the light‐weight hens the increase was significant only in the 18‐ to 30‐week period. Apart from the 19‐ to 30‐week period hens of both strains housed in shallow cages consumed significantly less food than those in deep cages, the reduction over the full year being about 4%. In all periods the hens housed in the shallow cages converted food more efficiently. Gage shape had no significant effect on mortality.

3. The incidence of hair‐cracked, cracked and broken eggs between 60 and 70 weeks of age from hens housed in shallow cages was lower than that from hens housed in the deep cages but only with the light‐weight hens did this difference reach significance. Shell thickness, shell weight and albumen quality of eggs laid by hens housed in the different shaped cages were not significantly different.