The objective of this research was to study productive and economical aspects of laying hens (Gallus gallus) submitted to different housing densities. Two hundred and sixty-four laying hens were housed in cages with dimensions of 100 cm × 50 cm × 40 cm in a randomized complete design with four groups distributed in a 4 × 4 factorial arrangement, with 8, 10, 12 and 14 animals/cage, corresponding to 625, 500, 416,6 and 357,14 cm²/animal. The following characteristics were assessed: egg production, medium egg weight, feed intake, egg mass, feed conversion per dozen and inappropriate eggs for human consumption. Cage density only had an effect on the extra large and medium type eggs and on the daily production of medium type eggs, but did not influence the other variables studied. For laying hens of the Dekalb White lineage, the use of cages with housing densities of 625, 500, 416,6 and 357,14 cm²/animal in the production phase did not harm the quality parameters under the productive and economical aspects.
cage; housing density; laying hens; performance
