The effect of transfer battery brooded broilers on conventionalrice husk littered floor on production performance

Seventy-five battery brooded (up to 3 weeks) broilers weretransferred on conventional rice husk littered floor (CRLF) and werereared up to 49 days of age. On the other hand, seventy-five broilerchicks were reared on CRLF from day-old to 49 days of age served ascontrol. The body weight of the battery brooded birds at 28 days ofage was significantly (P less than 0.01) higher than that of floorreared birds. Rearing battery brooded broiler on CRLF followingtransfer depressed growth rate (at 35 days of age) in comparisonwith CRLF birds, but at the end of the experiment, there were nosignificant differences in body weight gain. Non-significantdifferences were also observed in case of feed intake, feed conversionefficiency and dressed yield between two management systems at theend of the experiment. There were no birds having breast blisterirrespective of management system. Mortality percentage was higher incase of CRLF than that of battery brooded birds on CRLF. Batterybrooding up to 3 weeks of age saved space. Males had higher bodyweight (P less than 0.05) and shank weight (P less than 0.01) thanthose of females. From the present study it is evident that batterybrooder can serve as a positive brooder, because after transfer frombattery brooder to CRLF there is no negative effect on overallperformance.