The study assessed the egg production performance of the Bovans Brown under small‐scale intensive poultry systems in Addis Ababa. A two‐stage sampling technique was used to select subcities and poultry farmers. A total of 156 poultry farmers were included in the study. The average age at first lay, age at peak lay, laying period, hen‐day egg production (HDEP), and hen‐housed egg production (HHEP), and peak percent lay were 19.7, 29.2, 50 weeks, 69.7%, 66.1%, and 90.5%, respectively. Layer birds kept in cages attained age at first lay (19.5 weeks) and peak of lay (28.5 weeks) at a lower age than those kept in floor housing (19.9 and 29.5 weeks, respectively). Significantly ( p < 0.05) higher HDEP and HHEP, peak percent lay, and egg‐laying period were observed in birds from large flocks and cage housing compared to small flocks and floor housing. Significantly ( p < 0.05) higher mortality was observed in birds from small flocks kept in floor systems compared to those from large flocks housed in cages. HDEP showed a strong positive correlation with HHEP ( r = 0.970, p < 0.01), while it exhibited a significant negative correlation with mortality ( r = −0.324, p < 0.01) in the floor system. HHEP also showed a significant negative correlation with mortality ( r = −0.487, p < 0.01). HHEP also showed a significant positive correlation with peak percent lay ( r = 0.301, p < 0.05) and a significant negative correlation with mortality ( r = −0.542, p < 0.01) in the cage system. Age at first lay showed a significant positive correlation with age at peak lay across flock groups. HDEP was strongly and positively correlated with HHEP across the flock groups, confirming that daily laying rate determines total egg output. Keeping larger flocks and using cage housing in small‐scale intensive urban poultry systems may improve the egg production and reduce mortality in Bovans Brown layers.
Yemane et al. (Thu,) studied this question.