Transfer and start of lay

The transfer from the rearing farm to the laying facilities is a major stress, accompanied by changes in environment (temperature, humidity…) and equipment. It should be carried out as fast as possible, ideally being completed within a day.

Then, between transfer and the peak of production, a rapid increase in feed intake is necessary since the bird has to cover:

- its growth till adult bodyweight
- its requirements to achieve peak of production
- its requirements to get a rapid egg weight increase

Age of transfer

We advise transferring the birds at 16 weeks, maybe even at 15 weeks, but never after 17 weeks.

Because of stress to which birds are subjected during transfer and immediately afterwards:

- It is extremely important that transfer has been completed before the appearance of the first eggs: most development of reproductive organs (ovary and oviduct) occurs during the 10 days prior to the first egg.

- We advice that vaccinations are given at least a week before transfer, so as to obtain a good vaccine take.

- Deworming of the flock, if necessary, is best done 3 days before moving

- A late transfer or a too long transfer often leads to delayed start of lay and higher mortality and increases the risk of floor laying in non-cage systems.

Points of attention at loading and transport

The following rules should minimize stress at handling of the birds at loading and during later transport:

- The birds should have an empty digestive tract at the moment of loading, but they must have access to fresh drinking water up to the time of being loaded.

- Chose the best time for transport during the day of night depending on the weather.

- Crates or containers, equipments, trucks etc. must be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected.

- Make sure that air may circulate freely around the crates, but protect pullets from direct air flow. Containers or crates should not be overloaded, particularly in hot weather on long distance hauls.

- Avoid unnecessary stops during transit of the birds.

Lighting as a tool for encouraging a rapid adaptation to a new environment

Immediately after the birds arrive to the laying unit, it is very important to put into practice the following techniques to help the birds to become adapted to the new environment, particularly to cages and nipple systems.

- Give 22 hours of light the first day.
- Light duration should be decided according to what has been used during rearing.
- Increase the light intensity for 4 to 7 days to help the birds in the darkest cages to find nipples.
- Then reduce light intensity gradually while ensuring that normal water intake continues.

A high light intensity for longer than 7 days can increase the risks of pecking

Encouraging water consumption

Birds can become dehydrated during transfer. The water loss rate ranges between 0.3 % and 0.5 % per hour according to atmospheric conditions.

- Pullets should drink before feeding: the absence of feed helps them find the nipple drinkers more easily.

- Make sure that the water pipe have been rinse before pullets arrival.

- Wait for 3 or 4 hours before distributing feed and check if drinking system is working properly.

- If the pullets have not been reared on nipples, decrease the pressure and allow some leakage of water during the first few days.

- If nipples are foreseen in production, it is helpful to add at least one nipple for 200 birds to the other drinking equipment used in rearing, as a “nipples school”.

- A daily water consumption control is of paramount importance.

Feeding for physiological needs

- About 2 weeks before the first egg is laid, the medullary bone, which acts as a reservoir of calcium for eggshell formation, develops. Therefore a pre-lay diet needs to be used, containing enough calcium and phosphorus, for this bone formation. This diet should be switched to a layer diet as soon as production reaches 2 % to avoid some birds’ demineralization.

- Then, an early lay feed with a high content of amino acids (about 7 % higher than after peak diet) should be used. This feed needs to satisfy requirements for early production, growth and reproductive development.

Encouraging feed consumption

From the start of lay to the peak of production, feed consumption should increase by about 40 % to allow the birds to meet their requirements for egg production and growth.

To encourage bird appetite and feed intake, the following advices should be put into practice:

- Maintain the temperature at point of lay as close as possible to which the birds have become acclimatised during rearing. Growth at point of lay is reduced above 24°C, and is extremely low above 28°C.

- Minimize house temperature variations and avoid draughts.

- Use an adapted light duration, achieving 15 hours of light at 50 % of production.

- Providing 1h30 to 2 h of supplementary light in the middle of the dark period will help to attain the correct body weight by allowing an extra feed intake (“midnight feeding”).

- Limit the number of feed distributions according to equipment to avoid selective feeding and competition for large particles which could lead to lack of uniformity.

- Adapt the feeding times as to achieve 60 % of the feed eaten in the last 6 hours of the day and to have empty feeders for 2 to 3 hours in the middle of the day. This technique avoids building up of fine particles and its consequent negative effect on feed intake.

- Use a layer feed with the correct grist (80 % of particles between 0.5 and 3.2 of diameter).

Monitoring environmental and production parameters

A close control of the following parameters will help you to check the real evolution of the flock during this critical period for the future performances:

- Feed consumption (daily)
- Water consumption (daily) and water/feed ratio
- Temperature (min – max) and relative humidity (daily)
- Evolution of body weight (weekly until peak of lay), by weighing the birds up to 35 weeks of age
- Evolution of egg weight (daily for the first weeks of lay)