Innovative nesting system significantly reduces floor eggs, maximizing income

Poultry production continues to increase in the US, accounting for 40% of all egg production today. Although making it profitable and sustainable, it creates challenges for producers. It also paves the way for new ideas and technologies from industry suppliers.

One innovation taking the broiler industry by storm is Comfort Nest, a mechanical egg-laying system that more than doubles the nest size to accommodate high-yield broiler-strain hens.

“Hens are getting bigger and need more space to be comfortable in the nest and lay their eggs in today’s high-production systems,” says Doug Bertke, an engineer for VAL-CO, which designs and manufactures equipment and systems for poultry and egg production.

“We wanted to expand the nest and build on the success of our proven technology.”

Minimizing floor eggs

Introduced in 2019, Comfort Nest provides extra room and increased nest darkness that, according to Bertke, promotes optimum egg production while minimizing costly floor eggs.

VAL-CO field data with Comfort Nest show that increasing production by just five extra eggs per hen housed will provide an extra $2,875 per cycle ($0.60/dozen eggs) — enough to offset labor costs required to gather and attempt to dry-clean floor eggs, Bertke says.

In addition, he says Comfort Nest easily accommodates today’s larger birds, which weigh 5% more than they did 10 years ago, according to industry figures.

Incidental reports from the field showed a strong response, says Andrew Thompson, VAL-CO territory sales manager.

“One customer producer had an average of 150 floor eggs a day,” he explains. “The Comfort Nest reduced floor eggs by two-thirds to an average of 50 eggs per day.”

Today, Comfort Nest accounts for more than 90% of VAL-CO’s nest-box business, Bertke adds.

“The acceptance of our Comfort Nest has greatly increased among growers and integrators,” he states. “The rest of the poultry market is going in that direction too, but we were the first to the market with this design.”

Creating a better nesting environment

When VAL-CO engineers began designing the Comfort Nest, they enlarged the original nest by removing every other nest divider to create 19-inch-wide nesting areas.

“The extra space gave us what we needed for the comfort of the birds,” Bertke explains. “But in the process, it allowed more light into the nest. We had to make sure the nests were dark enough, so the birds were still comfortable enough to lay their eggs.”

VAL-CO engineers used hen trials to determine how much light hens need to lay eggs and the optimum size of the nest opening to allow enough light.

“This is when we came up with covers that allowed enough opening for the birds and the right amount of light for nesting,” he says.

The design of the Comfort Nest also produced more useable floor space, at 19 inches X 12 inches in each nest, compared to the original single nest (5.5 inches X 10 inches).

“In a 500-foot hen house, the pad area increased 70%, which is a lot more available space to lay the eggs,” notes Thompson.

After determining what worked best for the hens, VAL-CO tested the nest in a four-barn site. Two barns had original-size nests, and two barns were equipped with the newly designed Comfort Nests.

“We found the amount of floor eggs was drastically lower in the barns with Comfort Nests compared to barns with the original nests,” Thompson reports. “The hens seemed to do better in Comfort Nests where they laid their eggs versus finding a dark spot on the floor.”

Features of Comfort Nest

Bertke describes the Comfort Nest as a modern evolution of the original design, providing hens with a private, well-ventilated and comfortable environment for laying eggs while ensuring smooth transfer onto the collection belt. Durable wire nest bottoms with plastic turf pads promote cleaner eggs, improve airflow and provide secure footing for hens.

Nests can be automatically programmed to open and close at specific times. An optional plastic tube kit is available to prevent egg expulsion when hens pile into a nest.

VAL-CO continues to use high-quality materials in the nests, including galvanized metal and ammonia-resistant plastic components to ensure long operational life.

For more information on the Comfort Nest and other product innovations, click here .

The post Innovative nesting system significantly reduces floor eggs, maximizing income appeared first on Modern Poultry.