Comparative performance of nera black and shaver brown hens fed self-compounded and commercial layers’ diets

This study was conducted to assess the performance and economic traits of feeding self-compounded layers’ diet and four commercial layers’ diets to Nera Black and Shaver Brown hens in hot humid tropical environment. A total of 120 28-weeks old Nera black hens and 120 28-weeks old Shaver brown hens were used. Each strain of bird was divided into five groups of 24 hens each and each group (for each strain) was randomly assigned to one of the five experimental diets (A, B, C, D, and E, respectively). Results showed that the Nera Black hens which consumed self-compounded diet (A) and commercial diet (D) recorded better (P<0.05) hen day production percentage value than Shaver Brown hens that consumed the same feeds.The gross profit from eggs produced by Nera Black birds that consumed the self-compounded diet was higher (P<0.05) than that from eggs produced by the Shaver brown birds which consumed the same diet. It was concluded that the Nera Black hens performed better than the Shaver Brown hens in terms of dozens of eggs produced, revenue from dozens of eggs produced and gross profit, while the use of self-compounded diet resulted in better performance than the use of commercial diets.