Laying hen performance as affected by diet and caging density.

Two trials were conducted to investigate the effects of caging density and diet on the performance of caged layers. Diets were formulated contain .775, .725, and .675% lysine. The TSAA content was formulated to be 85% of the lysine content of each diet. Pullets were caged in 25.4 cm wide x 40.0 cm deep cages at three, two, or one bird per cage. Production data were collected for 112 days in Trial 1 and 168 days in Trial 2. As dietary protein, lysine, and TSAA increased, hen-day egg production, egg weight, and feed conversion improved (P less than .05) . Feed consumption and feed per dozen eggs were not consistently affected by diet. Caging density had no consistent effects on any of the production parameters. No interactions were detected between dietary treatments and cage density in either trial.