BROODER SPACE MANAGEMENT
One of the most challenging phases in managing birds is brooding, where the farmer assumes the role of the mother chicken, since under commercial production we do quite good numbers, care must be taken not to lose them to;
- Accidentally stepping on them
- Excess heat which leads to dehydration
- Drought as a result of chilling which leads to suffocation and death
- Low equipment ratio which results into high competition for feeds and water etc.
Brooder space on many occasions depend on the choice of heaters and the management practice employed
Brooding in cages has proved to be effective lately but floor brooding is widely practiced.
Important to note is;
- Avoiding congestion
- Adequate light intensity
- Need for some fresh air
- Fresh water every 5-6 hours
- Avoiding smoke which may affect their lungs
As a matter of principle, brooder space under deep-litter systems should be one third of the total calculated area for the given number of birds under standard stocking rates of;
- Broilers, 10-13birds/sq.mtr
Layers & Kroilers, 6-7birds/sq.mtr
BODY WEIGHT MONITORING IN POULTRY PRODUCTION
Farmers desire to get the best out of Poultry farming whether dealing with Broilers, Layers, Kroilers etc. It’s always hard to tell whether you are doing well or not and this makes it difficult to do corrective actions
Monitoring body weight of your growing birds is vital to check performance and enable you to correct shortcomings if any. Its very important to monitor our both broilers and layer chicks on a weekly basis, however many farmers are reluctant in doing so due to the physical activity involved and the time it takes which leaves a gap in knowing our birds performance.
Weight gains among other things help;
- To confirm the quality of the feed you are using and help take action.
- Help to correction management practices like overstocking
- Help to check the very important aspect called uniformity
- Help birds express their genetic potential to 100%.
- Helps to get better markets and good bargaining power
Weight gain monitoring is best done once every week, management guides or literature are used to compare results got in relation to standard figures.
Always feel free to Contact Conversion Feeds Ltd for more information.
https://conversionfeeds.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/weigh1.jpg
