Factors Affecting Feed Efficiency for Egg Production in Selected Strains of Caged Layers

THE use of individual laying cages for market egg production has gained widespread popularity throughout the southern portion of the United States. Breeding is known to affect body size, rate of production, egg size, and feed conversion. Titus (1928) found that White Leghorn pullets weighing an average of 1,632 grams required 64 grams of feed per day for body maintenance, and 40 grams of feed for each egg produced. Byerly (1941) found annual feed requirement for body maintenance to be 46.8 pounds for three pound laying hens, and 81.4 pounds in the case of seven pound hens. He further determined that for each 100 standard weight eggs (12.5 pounds) the hen must consume an additional 14.2 pounds of feed. Bhuwan et al. (1949) found that with hens laying at a rate of 72 percent, approximately 71 percent of the feed consumed was used for body maintenance, 27 percent for the …