The cause of feathering in breeder chickens

Farmers often reflect that their own domestic breeder chickens have shedding phenomenon, sometimes it only exists in individual breeder chickens, sometimes it is large-scale breeder chicken shedding, what is more annoying is that the shedding phenomenon of some breeder chickens will also be accompanied by a reduction in egg production, which has brought a lot of economic losses to farmers, so why is there such a shedding phenomenon?

The main causes of this phenomenon are (including folliculitis), abnormal structure and texture of feathers or brittleness, feather replacement and feather pecking and so on. The specific causes of them are also complex and diverse. Pro-agricultural network is summarized into the following three aspects.

First, nutrition problems related to hair loss.

The growth of feathers and the maintenance of normal structure need appropriate nutrition supply, any lack of nutrients related to feather structure may cause feathers to become brittle and easy to break; insufficient nutrients in feed often cause dermatitis and folliculitis, thus inducing the feather pecking phenomenon of breeder chickens. At present, the research on the nutritional needs of breeder chickens has gradually matured in terms of minerals and vitamins. As long as large maintenance requires appropriate nutrition supply, any lack of nutrients related to feather structure may cause feathers to become brittle and easy to break; insufficient nutrients in feed often cause dermatitis and folliculitis, thus inducing feather pecking in breeder chickens. At present, the research on the nutritional needs of breeder chickens has been very mature in terms of minerals and vitamins. As long as the feed (premix) produced by large regular manufacturers can fully meet the nutritional needs of high-yield breeder chickens for vitamins and trace elements. The reasons for the depilation of breeder chickens caused by nutritional factors are mainly shown in the energy level, protein level and feed intake of chickens are relatively small, resulting in the depilation of breeder chickens.

1. The energy level in the feed is on the low side, resulting in insufficient energy intake of chickens, resulting in feather shedding of breeder chickens.

It has been learned in the Fuqing market in Fujian that hens shed their hairs no matter which manufacturer's premix is used. through the understanding of the feed used by users, there is the problem of low energy and high protein in the feed formulation. is the main cause of hair removal.

two。 The low level of protein, especially the lack of sulfur-containing amino acids, can directly affect the synthesis of keratin, which is the main component of feathers, resulting in a large number of feathers shedding in poultry, especially adult poultry, and some can not grow even after the whole body has lost its hair. Diseased poultry tail, neck and back feathers fall off, often pecked by other companions, causing skin infection, and even the same kind of cannibalism, mutual attack.

3. Salt

High salt content in feed will cause salt poisoning in chickens. In patients with chronic poisoning, feathers fall off easily. The depilation problem of laying hens in Fuqing in Fujian may have a lot to do with the widespread use of dried salted fish. Dried salted fish is high in salt, causing chronic salt poisoning in chickens and causing feathers to fall off. Also in Fujian, there is no depilation when dried salted fish is not used in other places.

Second, environmental problems related to hair loss.

1. Temperature

In the hot season, there will be a small amount of hair loss in order to distribute the heat in the body, but it is not obvious in the new hen flock.

2. Lighting

Frequent power outages or forgetting to turn off the lights or changing the time of turning on and off lights will lead to a decline in the laying rate and lead to depilation. The light suddenly increases at the turn of seasons (especially at the turn of spring and summer), resulting in unsuitable stress for chickens, which can easily lead to hair pecking and depilation.

Third, the problems of cages related to hair loss.

At present, the chicken cages commonly used in China are mainly three-layer step cages, and the distance between the front net filaments of the chicken cages is relatively small. When the chicken's head and neck protrudes out of the cage during feeding and drinking, the feathers of the neck are often rubbed with the front net filaments. A long time will cause the feathers of the hen's neck to break or fall off. On the contrary, chickens that use bamboo cages have better feathers.

To sum up, the pro-agricultural network concluded that there are three main causes of feathering of breeder chickens, namely, nutrition, environmental changes and cages, and the stress caused by malnutrition and environmental mutation will lead to the shedding of breeder chickens and accompanied by a decline in egg production, which requires special attention at this time, and the shedding caused by cage problems will be greatly improved after the cage is replaced.