Productive and reproductive performance of birds produced from commercial white leghorn layers

The White Leghorn layers (62 weeks of age) were crossed in the ratio of 1:8 in deep litter system to produce fertile eggs. The chicks hatched out were used for the experimental study. The peak hen day egg production and hen housed egg production was observed during 33 to 36 weeks. During all periods of egg production, FCR was lower than 1.6 per dozen eggs which indicated better utilization of feed by the hens to produce eggs. The average hatch weight of chicks was 36.44 g which was almost similar to that of standard layer chick weight. The results revealed that the weekly body weight gain was 50 to 100 g lower than the standard body weight specified for White Leghorn layer chicks. No mortality was recorded upto 8 weeks of age.