Effect of clipping feathers, dietary ascorbic acid supplementation and season on performance of laying chickens

Abstract

Feathers may be problematic to chickens in thermoregulation during heat stress. This study was conducted to
investigate the effect of clipping feathers, dietary ascorbic acid supplementation and season on performance of
laying chickens. 180 ‘Isa Brown’ (IB) layers of about 30 weeks old were subjected to a 2×2×2 factorial
combination of feather conditions (intact and clipping), dietary ascorbic acid supplementation (0 and 300 ppm)
and season (early dry, ED and late dry, LD) during a trial using a factorial design. The birds were randomly
allotted to 8 treatments consisting of treatment one (basal diet and intact feathers); treatment two (basal diet
and clipped feathers); treatment three (basal diet supplemented with 300 ppm ascorbic acid and intact feathers)
and treatment four (basal diet supplemented with 300 ppm ascorbic acid and clipped feathers) in both ED and
LD seasons. Results showed that clipping feathers significantly improved (P<0.05) hen-day production (HDP),
feed consumption (FC), feed/dozen egg (F/Doz), egg mass (EM), egg weight (EW), egg shell thickness (EST) and
% egg shell weight (%ESW). Dietary ascorbic acid supplementation at a dose of 300 ppm significantly improved
(P<0.05) the performance of laying chickens in hen- day egg production, feed/bird/day, feed/dozen egg, egg
mass, egg weight and eggshell thickness. Season significantly improved (P<0.05) HDP, water intake (WI), EM
and EW. The effect of the interactions of the three factors were significant (P>0.05) on HDP, WI, F/Doz., EW, and
ESW. However, the effect of the interactions of the three factors were not significant (P>0.05) on FC, EM, EST
and %ESW. Finally, clipping of feathers alone; secondly, dietary ascorbic acid supplementation at 300 ppm
alone; and thirdly, a combination of the two, can be efficient in condition of heat stress.