PERFORMANCE AND PROFITS OF COMMERCIAL LEGHORNS AS INFLUENCED BY CAGE ROW POSITION

Producers commonly feed commercial leghorns based on flock average fee d intake to control egg size and nutrient intake. However, results of these experiments indicate that this procedure may not yield maximum p rofits. Results indicate that hens housed in the bottom row of cages h ave significantly greater egg size and feed consumption than those on the top row. Most of the differences associated with cage row level ca nnot be explained by variation in temperature. Our results suggest tha t most commercial leghorns are either overfed or underfed depending on cage row position and that profits could be increased by feeding hens based on feed intake as determined by cage row position rather than b y average flock intake.