How to prevent cold stress of laying hens caused by cold injury in winter

The optimum temperature for laying hen production is 13-25 ℃. With the arrival of cold air, the climate is cold, and laying hens are easy to be frozen, resulting in cold stress. Cold stress can easily reduce the laying rate of chickens by more than 10%, at the same time induce respiratory diseases, affect production performance, if the temperature is too low, but also frostbite chicken crown, meat droop and chicken feet, serious, causing laying hens to stop production and even die. In order to prevent cold stress in modern breeding, it is necessary to start with the construction of standardized chicken sheds to improve the physique of chickens and minimize the impact of cold stress.

Laying hens

1. Keep the chicken coop warm:

The problem of keeping warm in winter should be considered at the beginning of the construction of the standardized chicken cottage. after the weather turns cold, the water curtain system with plastic sheeting to seal the longitudinal vent should be used to prevent cold air from suddenly entering the chicken house. At the same time, air deflectors are installed on the ventilation windows on both sides of the henhouse, so that the cold air first enters the upper layer of the henhouse, mixes with hot air, and then drops slowly to reduce the stimulation of cold air to laying hens.

In addition, to observe whether there are other air leakage gaps in the chicken house, close all gaps except the air inlet, for example, seal the outer wall of the ventilation small window with glass glue; can not ignore the manure cover, you can install the plug board made of thermal insulation material, and the outside can be sealed with thermal insulation black leather to avoid causing local low temperature or ventilation short circuit; at the same time, cotton door curtains are hung at night at the front and rear door of the chicken house to facilitate the heat preservation of the chicken house.

2. Do a good job of ventilation:

While keeping the chicken coop warm, it is necessary to coordinate the contradiction between ventilation and warmth. The henhouse is often in a closed state because of heat preservation, but due to the exuberant metabolism of laying hens, the air in the closed henhouse is easy to become turbid, and the concentration of harmful gases such as ammonia and hydrogen sulfide increases, causing respiratory diseases and affecting the health of chickens. It is necessary to organically combine heat preservation and ventilation to remove harmful gases such as ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide stranded in the chicken house in time and replace them with fresh air.

3. Moistureproof and dehumidification

Excessive humidity in the house will reduce the heat preservation of feathers, and the air-cooling effect of increased humidity is not conducive to heat preservation, so it is more important to keep the chicken coop dry in winter. It can reduce the water spraying on the ground, reduce the water consumption for disinfection of chickens, and often check the drinking water system to avoid wetting the chicken body and increase the heat emission of the body; timely remove the chicken manure in the house, reduce the moisture evaporation in the chicken manure and increase the humidity in the house. When necessary, the quicklime in the house plays the role of moisture absorption, in addition, when the temperature is suitable, increase the air exchange rate to reduce the humidity in the house.

4. Increase feed nutrition:

The energy requirements of laying hens are different at different temperatures. In order to make laying hens have good cold resistance in winter, the proportion of high-energy feed should be increased and the protein content should be reduced. Therefore, raising chickens in winter should pay attention to climate change. Adding 10-20 grams of feed to each laying hen 1-2 days before the cold spell, lasting 3-5 days, can increase 112.86-142.12 kilojoule calories to cope with the cold spell. When the cold spell passes and the temperature picks up, immediately restore the original amount of feed, so as not to overweight the chicken and affect egg production. When the temperature drops gradually, the chickens should be given about 5 grams of feed for every 3 ℃ drop, so that the chickens have enough calories to maintain their body temperature and egg production level.

In addition, attention should be paid to the quality and quantity of amino acids. Especially in cold days, in order to make up for the lack of commonly used feed energy, 1% oil can be added to the diet as appropriate, which can not only increase feed palatability, but also help chickens resist cold, increase egg weight, and improve feed remuneration. At the same time, vitamin c also plays an important role in cold stress. Under cold stress, the vitamins synthesized in layers can not meet the metabolic needs. Supplementation of a certain amount of vitamin c can promote the growth of laying hens and improve egg production and eggshell strength.