Effects of Cage Location and Tier Level on Performance and Egg Quality Traits of Laying Hens

This experiment was conducted to determine the effects of cage location and tier level on performance and egg quality traits of laying hens. About 180 Lohmann layers at 50 weeks of age were placed into 3-tier cages as Top (T), Middle (M) and Bottom (B) tiers in cages Facing Window (FW) and Corridor side (C). Experiment lasted for 2 months. Egg production and feed consumption were recorded daily and egg quality was assessed biweekly. Cracked egg yield and feed conversion ratio from performance traits were not affected by cage location. But the effect of tier level on feed consumption was found to be significant (p<0.045). There were significant cage location by tier level interaction effects on feed consumption (p<0.003), egg production (p<0.23) and feed conversion ratio (p<0.018). Egg quality traits such as egg weight, shell strength, shell thickness, shell weight, yolk index, albumen index and Haugh unit were not affected by cage location, tier level and cage location by tier level interaction.