Applicability of using chicken powder in laying hens diets

In order to investigate the applicability of using male Leghorn chicken powder for laying hens, the experiment was performed with two hundred 50weeks old Bovans laying hens during three periods of 28 days in a completely randomized design, with 5 treatments, 5 replications, and 8 laying henper each replication. The dietary treatments were 0, 4, 8, 12, and 16 percent chicken powder. The results showed that during the whole of the rearingperiod, egg weight was increased when the hens were fed with 4 percent chicken powder, in comparison to 8 and 16 percent levels (P < 0.05). Withincreasing the level of chicken powder in the diet from 12 to 16 percent, feed intake significantly decreased during 50-53 weeks period and wholerearing period (P < 0.05). Dietary treatments had no significant effect on feed conversion ratio, hen-day egg production, egg mass and egg shellthickness. The highest yolk color index was observed in hens fed with 12 and 16 percent chicken powder in comparison to the control and 4 percenttreatments (P < 0.05). Consumption of 16 percent chicken powder increased shell resistance in comparison to the control (P < 0.05). Using chickenpowder, up to 12 percent level, significantly decreased feed cost to produce one Kg egg. In conclusion, chicken powder up to 12 percent level does notseem to have an adverse effect on laying hens performance, but further researches are needed to evaluate the effects of chicken powder at 16 percentlevel.