A Ten-Year Flock Record Summary

A computerized flock record keeping system has been in use at South Dakota State University since 1965. A report is computed and published monthly from data received from flockowners. The project started with a few flocks and expanded to 67 in 1972. However, in the spring of 1975, participation dropped to about 30 flockowners and has continued to drop down to a current level of about 15. The records of those flocks completing their laying cycle during the calendar years of 1969 through 1978 are summarized in Tables 1 and 2

Agnet Computer Analysis Of Poultry Feeds

AGNET was originally a pilot project funded by the Old West Regional Commission to extend the AGricultural computer NETwork developed in Nebraska to South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming. The states of Washington and Wisconsin joined AGNET in 1980. Pooling the resources of seven states makes programs from the other states available to South Dakotans

Cage Density and Hen Laying Performance

What is the optimum density for laying type hens in cages? Over 10 years ago we noted that two hens in an 8-inch cage laid as well as one per cage, and that feed efficiency was superior. Commercial practice of a few years ago was to provide four inches of cage width per bird, thus placing two birds in an 8- inch cage, three in 12 inches, four in 16 inches, etc. Then some poultrymen began using a 3-inch density figure with apparent success. A study was recently completed at this laboratory using 16-inch cages with bird densities of 3, 4, 5 and 6 per cage

A Comparison of Slat Floors, Litter Floors and Cages for Laying Hens

Commercial hybrid pullets were distributed in 3 different buildings at 20 weeks of age and fed similar diets. Twelve slat floor pens in a building referred to as the environment house and 2 litter floor pens in a building referred to as the brooder house each received 140 pullets (1 bird/sq. ft.)- Six pullets were placed in each of 32 cages in a cage layer house

A Surveillance of the Causes of Mortality in Three South Dakota Layer Flocks

A surveillance program was conducted during June 1968 through June 1969 to determine the important causes of mortality in certain South Dakota layer flocks that experienced reasonably normal mortality