Laying behaviour of chicken as influenced by litter, nest type and nestingmaterials

Interaction of floor litter, nest type and nesting materials on the time sp ent in laying, time of oviposition, incidence of floor laying and egg break age were investigated in RIR and White Leghorn (WLH) birds. irrespective of breed, the hens which laid heavier eggs preferred single storied (SS) to d ouble storied (DS) nest. The RIR took more time to lay in rice husk (RH) li ttered pens, than that in saw dust (SD) littered pens. The RIR spent more t ime to lay in upper tier than in lower tier, which was not true for WLH. Th ere was significant interactions of breed-nest type, floor litter and nesti ng materials to influence site selection for laying and time spent in layin g. Floor laying and egg breakage were higher for RW than those for WLH. Flo or laying was higher in SD littered pen, whereas egg breakage was higher in RH littered pens.