Supplementation of the diet with phosphate, calcium and vitamin D 3 is usually helpful. Adding calcium to young birds by top-dressing the feed with twenty pounds of oyster shell or limestone per one thousand hens will often help the condition. In older hens, calcium deficiency is less likely than phosphorus or vitamin D 3 deficiencies. Recommended treatment in these birds is to remove the hens from cages and top-dress feed with equivalent level of dicalcium phosphate. Flocks that do not respond to the above therapy should be submitted to a poultry disease diagnostic laboratory to determine the cause of the problems.
Several diseases can cause symptoms similar to caged layer fatigue.
Flock treatment for the condition can be prescribed after diagnosis is completed. Fatty Liver Hemorrhagic Syndrome Fatty liver syndrome is a condition that affects only hens. The basic cause is thought to be excessive dietary energy intake. Hereditary tendencies vary among various strains of egg production stock, but heredity is not the entire cause for this malady. Laying hens housed in cages are most often affected since they are less able to get sufficient exercise and dispose of the extra dietary energy.