Relationships of age and body weight to reproductive traits in turkey hens

An experiment was conducted for 23 weeks with 34 large white female turkeys and 86 small white female turkeys to determine productivity trends in aging turkey hens during the first year of production. Over the course of the egg production cycle, age significantly influenced all of the reproductive traits measured in both the large and small hens. For weeks 9 to 23 of the egg production cycle, egg production decreased by approximately 33 and 39%, egg mass by 25 and 30%, body weight by 4 and 1%, feed conversion (feed consumed/egg mass yield) decreased by 93 and 107%, egg weight increased by 12 and 11%, and dietary intake increased by 24 and 9% in large and small hens, respectively. Regression analysis indicated that there was a positive association of body weight with egg production, egg mass, and dietary intake up to approximately 10 kg in large hens and 6.5 kg in small hens.