The influence of the housing system on selected production features of chickens of Ross 308 parent stock

Abstract

The aim of the research was to analyse the effect of the housing system on selected reproductive traits of parental stock of Ross 308 meat chickens. The study was conducted on two flocks, one of which was kept in a chicken house on a concrete floor entirely covered with litter, and the second in a chicken house in which one-third of the floor was a plastic slated floor and the other two-thirds was a concrete floor covered with litter. During the 38-week laying period, an average of 179.7 eggs were obtained from laying hens kept in the chicken house with a litter floor, including 168.2 hatching eggs, and 187,4 and 175.6 eggs, respectively, from hens kept in the chicken house with a slatted/litter floor (differences not statistically confirmed). The housing system non-significantly influenced feed intake and the number of eggs laid depending on where they were laid (inside or outside the nest). In the litter system, eggs outside the nest accounted for 3.1% and in litter/slatted floor system 9.8% of the total number of eggs laid; the differences were statistically non-significant.