Increasing the term of productive use of laying hens of the commercial flock

Forced molting is an effective method of increasing the term of productive use of laying hens. This technique helps quickly restore the high egg production of hens and improve the quality of eggs. The Agricultural Production Cooperative “Plemptitsa-Mozhaiskoye” in the Vologda Oblast tested one of the schemes for forced molting of laying hens of the commercial herd through a zootechnical method and investigated the productivity of hens in commercial flocks with the use of forced molting and without it; it was done for the first time in a comparative perspective. The experiment was conducted on the group of hens of Highsex White cross at the age of 455 days. On the basis of the conducted experiment, the purpose of which was to restore and increase the egg productivity of hens in the second cycle of egg laying, the following results were obtained:the use of forced molting increases the egg laying capacity of laying hens by an average of 22 weeks in comparison with the technology of extended maintenance without molting; 2) the second cycle of productivity of hens was 48 weeks; during this period, 251 eggs were obtained per laying hen, which is 100 eggs more than was obtained from laying hens that were not subjected to molting; 3) the goals of the study were to restore the peak of productivity and stabilize it in the second cycle of egg production; the results of the experiment show that after the birds were exposed to stress factors, it was possible to achieve high egg production by 570 day of their life (81-84 weeks) - 97.3% of the peak of the first cycle of egg laying - and maintain the stability index up to 750 days of use of laying hens (108 weeks). The obtained data confirm the expediency of the use of measures for forced moulting to increase the term of productive use of laying hens of the commercial flock at poultry farms in Russia. The paper also reveals the possibility of approbation of this scheme on hens of other crosses.