General compositions of the egg contents of 14 species of birds were investigated.
The results were as follows:
1. The yolk, the albumen and the shell in proportion to total egg weight made up 27.9 to 35.7, 51.8 to 63.4, and 7.9 to 17.5 per cent, respectively. The albumen constituted 1.4 to 2.2 fold weight of the yolk.
2. In general chemical composition of the egg contents, water and lipids content of yolk differed greatly from that of albumen. The albumen consisted chiefly of moisture, contained 87.0 to 90.1 per cent and the yolk contained 44.6 to 49.3 per cent. Lipids formed the largest part of the organic solid in the yolk and the smallest in the albumen. The lipid concentration of the yolk was 29.8 to 35.8 per cent and that of the albumen was less than 0.06 per cent.
3. The percentage composition of the egg contents varied among the eggs of different species of birds. The eggs of water fowls contained less moisture and more fat in the yolk than those of land species; moisture being below 44.7 and fat more than 35.3 per cent.

View full abstract

Two experiments were conducted to elucidate the effect of an increased density produced by increasing the number of birds placed in individual cages and by increasing the number of individual cages in the house on the performance of layers and on thedaily management operations. Two laying cage house (4m width, 20m depth, 3.5m height) of the same constraction locating in parallel with 4m distance were used.
In the first experiment, the comparison between the effects of two different densities of each cage was conducted on the layers of a commercial strain (Babcock B-300). Three hundred of the birds were housed at the density of one bird per cage in one laying cage house and in the other house 600 birds of the same strain were housed at the density of two birds per cage. Experimental period was 475 days starting from 125 days of age.
In the second experiment, the comparison between effects of two different arrangements of the cages (2- and 3-deck systems) in a laying cage house was conducted. In 2-deck cage house, 600 birds of two commercial strains (Babcock B-300 and Babcock B-305) were housed at the density of two birds per cage. In the other 3-deck cage house, 900 birds of the same two strains were housed at the same density. The birds were consist of equal numbers of two strains in both houses. Experimental period was 470 days starting from 134 days of age.
Egg production, egg weight, feed consumption, feed conversion and body weight were not significantly different between the two housing densities in the first experiment. And also no differences was observed in these performances and in the mortality between 2-deck and 3-deck systems of the second experiment. But percent of broken-shell egg increased in the house at the density of two birds per cage and in 3-deck cage system at the same density per cage. Egg shell weight and egg shell thickness were not influenced by the cage arrangement.
A higher density required more time for daily management, and the time per bird was minimal at the density of two birds per cage in the 2-deck cage arrangement.

View full abstract

Feeding experiment of chickens with diet, containing 15% of yeast grown on n-paraffin, was carried out to examine the efficacy and safety of the yeast. At 52 weeks of age of the first generation, tissue specimens were collected from 120 females, a half of which from experimental flocks and the other half from control flocks.
Malignant lesions, such as Marek's disease lesion (1 case), pneumonia and air sacculitis (6), and focal liver necrosis (1), were observed in a few cases. Benign tumors, such as nephroma (1) and leiomyoma in the mesosalpinx (7), were detected.
Probable physiological response in laying hens, such as deposit of hyalinous substance in the liver and ovary, slight infiltration of lymphocytes and heterophils and small fresh hemorrhage in many organs, and goiter, were also revealed in many cases.
Incidence of the respective lesion recognized did not differ signifficantly between yeast-diet group and control group.

View full abstract

It has been asserted that a majority1) or a significant portion2, 3, 4) of crude fiber eaten by chickens is digested in the ceca. More recently, NAKAHIRO et al.5) demonstrated with chicks fed a semi-purified diet containing 12.5% fibrous screenings of Italian ryegrass that the digestibility of crude fiber, cellulose and pentosan was not affected by cecum ligation, and concluded that the cecum does not play an important role in the digestion of crude fiber in chickens.
In order to verify the above-mentioned conclusion, the digestibility of crude fiber, cellulose and pentosan was measured in both cecum ligated and non-ligated chickens fed various kinds of diets.

View full abstract

Nutritional value of Dried poultry waste (DPW) was compared with those of wheat bran (WB) and Defatted rice bran (DRB) using 180 White Leghorn hens fed the diets in which WB or DRB was replaced by 0, 7.5 or 15 percent of DPW.
Egg production of the hen fed DPW in place of WB was sligntly lower than that of the hen fed WB or DRB, but the difference was not statistically significant. The feed intake per bird per day was not significantly affected by the feeding of DPW.
On the other hand, egg production of the hen fed DPW instead of DRB was not affected by the replacements, but feed intake per bird per day of the hen fed DPW was slightly higher than that of the control with no statistical significance.
Feed conversion ratio of the hen fed DPW was slightly poorer than that of the hen fed WB or DRB. However the difference was not statistically significant.
There results suggest that nutritional value of DPW was a little lower than that of WB or DRB.
Haugh units, egg shell thickness, egg shell strength, yolk color and the odor of edible eggs were not influenced by feeding of DPW.
DPW which used in this experiment contained 10.2% moisture, 23.4% crude protein (N×6.25), 9.7% pure protein, 2.8% ether extracts, 11.5% crude fiber and 27.1% ash.

View full abstract