Pinoyagribusiness

Forced molting as egg strategy

Forced molting is a time-tested strategy in egg production.This technique forces the chickens to change their feathers. In the process, the birds stop laying eggs for about a month in preparation for a  heavier egg production.

This technique is what the biggest poultry farm in Mindanao, Davao Farm, has been doing when we  visited it recently. Davao Farm usually produces 300,000 to 400,000 eggs a day but in late February, many of the birds were on forced molting to lower egg production to just over 200,000 a day.

The owners have to lower their production in March to April because the demand for eggs dips. That’s because the students are on vacation. It is well known that students comprise the bulk of egg consumers. By forced-molting the chickens, heavy egg production will start one month later. Eighty percent of the chickens or even more could be laying eggs every day. And that will continue for many months.

How is forced-molting done? Darrell Coloscos, general supervisor of Davao Farm, says that it is very simple to do. Those that have to undergo forced molting should be 9 to 11 months old. If they are older, they might not be able to endure the torture that they have to undergo. Darrell said that for 12 days the birds are not given any commercial feed. They are only given water to drink.

On the 13th day, the birds are given 10 grams each of feed. This is very small since the normal diet of a layer is 110 grams per day. On Day 14, the birds are given 20 grams of feed, increased to 40 grams the next day. On the 16th day from the start of forced molting, the birds are given 80 grams and on the 17th day, full feed of 110 grams is given.

After molting, the feathers become shiny. The eggs also have thicker shells.

Written by Zac Sarian

Source: Manila Bulletin