young birds progress throughfve diets, as shown
in Figure 2. Each diet is adapted tomeet the
precise requirement of the rearing hen in that
specifc.
Provimi Rearing Period (0 – 20 weeks)
The rearing period is a critical period and it will
have a major infuence on the future production
of the laying hen. A poor rearing period will
lead to poor egg production. During the rearing
period there are three different stages of body
development as indicated in Figure 1. The frst
stage, up to 10 weeks old, is the development of
the basic body. The second stage is fromweeks
11 to 17 and care must be taken to prevent the
bird becoming too fat. The third stage is the
maturation phase, when development of the
reproductive organs takes place.
To obtainoptimal development during these
different stages, Provimi recommends that the
Power Layer Program
In the layer industrywe identify threemainproduction goals:
•
Highnumber of eggs, independent of eggweight
•
High eggmass (= eggweight x laying percentage)
•
Optimal weight class, ormaximumeggweight
Basedonresearchandexperience, Provimi cancreatetheoptimal programforall three
production goals, taking into account factors such as customer requirements, feed
intake, used rawmaterials, breed and system(cage, barn, free range, organic).
Basic body
Fattening
Maturation
Body weight
Age (weeks)
0
5
10
15
20
25
Figure 1. Body development in the rearing period
of the layer