Systems for Recording Time of Oviposition in Chicken, Turkey, and Quail

MANY investigators have sought a practical and accurate method to record time of lay of fowl. Early investigators found it necessary to visit the cage or nest frequently to record time of oviposition. Their data may have been sufficiently accurate for the period under observation; however, it failed to describe the actual pattern of oviposition throughout the 24-hour period of the day. In recent years various types of automatic timing systems have been cited in the literature. The recording devices generally consist of two functional components —a recording instrument, and a switch located at the front of the cage which opens and closes a circuit when activated by a rolling egg. For simplicity, the latter component will be referred to as a circuit breaker “trip.” A design for recording time of lay was described by Hinds (1949). He used an individual hen battery with a modified cage floor, and an…