Evaluation of laying hens (ISA Brown) under commercial production during force resting

Abstract

This experiment was conducted in one of privet commercial field at Al-Nahrowan , South of Baghdad, from 8/11/2005 to 17/7/2006. Force resting were used to face low prices of eggs because of avian influenza outbreak, 33 thousand of brown layer (ISA Brown) from 48 to 83 weeks of age (36 weeks) were used, the layer were distributed into 5 houses (mean of layer were 5500 to 6500), force resting were conducted at 61 weeks of age , the layers were fasted for 15 days, after that , the evaluation were lasted for 13 weeks before and after force resting.The results from this study showed that force resting significantly improve accumulated egg at rate of 10.92 egg/layer/13 wks , also, significantly improve feed conversion at rate of 14.90 gm per egg, also, daily feed intake were significantly improve at rate of 6.8 gm/layer/day for period after force resting. The conclusion of the study was the force resting is a good method for some problem that faces layer management.