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Relationship of Mouth Lesions to Eggshell Quality of Commercial Laying Hens

Poultry Science Department 131 Poole Agricultural Center, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634; Phone: (803) 656-4029; FAX: (803) 656-1033

William C. Bridges, Jr.

Department of Experimental Statistics F-148 Poole Agricultural Center, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634

Correspondence: Jesse L. Grimes

A field survey was conducted to study the association between mouth lesion incidence (LI) and egg shell quality in commercial laying hens. Hens in 5 groups of cages were examined for number of mouth lesions and body weight. Eggs collected by group were evaluated for egg weight (EW), shell weight (SW), % shell, and shell surface density (SD). Eight farms were used that involved 2 strains, 2 age groups, and 2 management levels. The relationships between egg shell quality factor means and number of lesions per hen by strain, age, and management level were determined using correlation and regression. Lesion incidence was negatively correlated with EW and SW. There was a linear decrease in both EW and SW as LI increased and this decrease was greater in young birds than in old. There were no overall effects of LI on % shell or SD. However, SD decreased more in poor management birds than good as lesion incidence increased.

Key Words: Mouth lesions • layers • egg shell quality • egg grade