METHOD OF TESTING
The tests were carried out at a poultry farm in Te Puna situated on the outskirts of Tauranga, New Zealand.
The farm had two completely automated houses. One was selected as the Test House and the other as the control House. The breed of hen that was being tested was commonly known as a ‘Shaver’. The plug‐in Blushields were placed at 10-meter intervals and were switched on. The house had approximately 10,000‐15000 laying hens in at any one time.
We then took 5 hens in each given sector and carried out blood tests on them, noting such things as parasites, blood cell count and platelet shape and size. Also, the general health of the chicken was noted as to feather loss, weight, skin rashes and any other features that we felt relevant.
The weight of the eggs laid each day was averaged out with samples taken from each sector. The same applied to quantity, shell thickness and yolk quality. Blood tests were carried out at one month and three monthly intervals.