Light is a crucial environmental factor that affects bird’s development, production performance, health, well-being and product quality of modern egg production. This project's goal has been to assess pullet behavior, hen production and egg quality, locomotion and activity levels, and lighting preferences when comparing commercial light-emitting-diode (LED) lighting and typical compact fluorescent (CFL) lighting.
While research is on-going, preliminary results show that pullets, 6 to 12 weeks of age, tended to be more active under LED light than those reared under CFL light. Cumulative egg production, average hen-day egg production, average feed use, average egg weight, and all egg quality parameters were comparable among the four light treatments over 21-41 weeks of age. Pecking (severe in some cases) in both lighting regiments occurred in the early stage of laying. Pullets tended to spend less total time in LED light than CFL light, and a higher proportion of pullets tended to choose CFL for resting during the dark period. This preliminary data shows no evidence of advantages due to choosing one lighting type over the other.
