Many farmers encounter egg breakage when they use layer cages to raise chickens. So is there any way to reduce egg breakage?
1. Choose suitable varieties. Although there is no significant difference between brown shell eggs and white shell eggs from the perspective of nutritional value, studies have shown that brown shells are denser than white shells, with higher strength and lower breakage rate.
2. Pay attention to the age of production. The egg weight increases with the growth of the chicken age, but the eggshell weight does not increase correspondingly, so the breakage rate also increases.
3. Adjust the nutritional content of the diet. Calcium and phosphorus are the main raw materials for the formation of eggshells, and the absorption of both requires the participation of vitamin D3. Manganese has an effect on the strength of eggshells. Insufficient quantity can reduce the strength. Therefore, the diet should contain sufficient available calcium, phosphorus, manganese and vitamin D3.
4. Use a reasonable stocking density. Too much density will reduce the quality of eggshells.
5. Optimize chicken house equipment and structure. The bottom of the cage should not be too low or steep, and the iron wire should not be too thick.
6. Increase the number of times to pick eggs. Pick up eggs more than 4 times a day, especially in the morning. In the afternoon, because the chickens are exposed to longer light hours during the formation of the eggshell, they have more time to take in the calcium and phosphorus in the feed, and the breakage rate is significantly lower than that in the morning.
7. Strengthen management. Place broken eggs and dirty eggs separately when picking up eggs, and deal with them separately when selling them. Picking up eggs and moving boxes should be handled, put and moved gently. It is best to use egg trays for loading eggs, or use clean, dry bedding under wooden boxes to prevent bumps or collisions between egg boxes during transportation.
8. The chicken farm should be located far away from downtown or traffic arteries to avoid noise pollution. Because the frightened layer is prone to premature delivery and soft skin eggs, or damage in the uterus when the eggs are formed, thereby increasing the breakage rate.