Laying hen house characteristics and health management practices in Algeria

Abstract

Considering the importance of commercial laying hen farms in the egg production sector in Algeria. This study aimed to describe the laying hen houses and health management practices used in high-density poultry farms. Between 2024 and 2025 (January and April), a cross- sectional survey was carried out in 144 commercial farms in the Batna Province, Algeria, through structured questionnaires with the help of oral interviews. Most laying barns (93.75 %) were constructed using non-insulating materials, and the average space per laying hen ranged from 424.28 to 476.00 cm2/hens. In terms of farm sizes, surveillance operations of feed, droppings, and equipment were statistically associated with farm size (P < 0.001) and practiced by all large-scale farms with more than 40,000 laying hens (100 %). The main causes of mortality were infectious diseases (79.86 %), followed by accidents in cages (16.67 %) and cannibalism (3.47 %). A quarter of laying hen farms reported disease outbreaks, of which viral diseases were the most prevalent (61.12 %). Disease prevalence was highest in farms with less than 12,000 laying hens and farms with 12,000-40,000 laying hens (32.43 % and 23.47 %, respectively). This study revealed that laying barns did not comply with standard housing requirements and that health management practices were deficient on small and medium-sized farms (less than 40,000 laying hens), which could compromise the health and production performance of laying hen flocks. Obtaining a better understanding of these aspects in an Algerian context is useful for targeting inventions to improve laying hen houses, health management, and disease prevention.