Werner Bessei

The speed of development of individual feed intake in chickens is extremely important for poultry breeding. one of the main drawbacks of feed intake recorded in individual cages was the lack of social stimulation. This was the main reason why we developed a similar feedin station (without body weight recording) some years ago (see Bley T.A.G., 2003; Bley and Bessei, 2008). https://opus.uni-hohenhe ...

Dr. Mike Czarick that is correct. In this case you need a light phase period during the night. But it must not cover the whole night. Werner

Dr. Mike Czarick it depends what you intend to achieve. If the objective is to alllow the development of a cicadian rhythm 4 hours are sufficient. The objective to provide 6 or 8 hours continuous rest may not be accepted by all birds. It has been shown that feed intake of broilers increases during long dark periods. This may not be the case if the birds have enough time to increase feed intake be ...

Dr. Mike Czarick If the dark period exceeds 4 hours the birds are getting very excited at light on and crowd in front of the feeders. This bears the risk of deep scratches on the back. Splitting the dark periods in two phases may be better in this respect. Werner

I do not fully agree that "it is ALL about air speed". I think you should also consider the temparature underneath the litter surface. When keeping the birds at high stocking density ventilation above the birds may not be effective in removing the heat developed by microbial acitivty in the litter (see Reiter and Bessei, 2000; loc. cit Bessei W, 2006. Welfare of broilers: a review. Worlds Poultry ...