To be in a layers‘ business, you must be having productive layers because if the eggs are not there then you are not in business.
The productivity of a layers‘ farm is measured by the quantity of eggs produced hence without good layers, you wont have a profitable layers‘ farm. This makes it important to separate good layers from bad layers.
Identifying good layers
In a battery cage system, keep an eye on the number of eggs being laid per cubical. If the number of eggs tally with the number of birds in the cubical then there is no problem but if the number of eggs is less than the number of birds then there is a problem somewhere for example if you have 3 birds and you constantly find one egg, it means that 1 or 2 of the birds is not a good layer.
Good layers have more prominent bright red combs and wattles, and with a wide gap between the keel bones just below the anus. The gap should be wide enough for 2 fingers to fit in between successfully or 3 fingers for very good layer birds.
For bad layers, 2 fingers wont be able to fit in the space between the keel bones and will have short pale combs and wattle with a weight less than 1.8 kg.
Management
After identifying bad layers, separate and isolate them from the entire flock because they are eating but not producing which makes the percentage production of the layers lesser. Call a veterinary doctor to diagnose what could be wrong with the bad layers.
