Environmental management of laying hens automation

The production performance of chickens is affected by both heredity and environment. Excellent chicken breeds only have the genetic basis for high production, and whether their productivity can be expressed has a great relationship with the environment. Excellent chicken breeds cannot give full play to their high-yield potential under harsh environmental conditions, and can only achieve high-yield in a suitable environment.

External environmental factors are constantly changing. As long as the changes are within a certain range, the chicken body can adapt to the changing environment through its own adjustment ; if the environmental conditions change too much or too much, beyond the range of the adaptation , the production performance of the chicken will be affected. To be affected, health can be compromised, and even death can result. Today's production chicken flocks are larger in scale and are developing towards high-density breeding. The relationship between the environment and the chicken body is more sensitive, and it has a greater impact on the production performance of the chicken flock. Therefore, understanding and studying the impact of environmental factors on chickens, and improving the environment to an appropriate level as much as possibility are one of  the basic content of scientific management of  chicken farming.

1. Temperature control

The optimum temperature for laying hen production is 18-23°c, and the optimum temperature is 13-25°c, beyond this range, the production performance will decreases. The maximum temperature range that egg production can tolerate is 8 to 29 °c, beyond this range, the health of laying hens will be affected, and temperature control measures must be taken.

When the temperature is high, the chickens stand, the wings are opened or drooped, and the skin blood vessels expand to increase heat dissipation. At the same time, in order to reduce heat production, feed intake decreases, the proportion of evaporative heat dissipation gradually increases, and the breathing is shallow and fast. The chickens drink a lot of water to supplement the water lost by breathing and excretion. High temperature aggravates the physiological burden of chickens, and also has a great impact on egg production performance, resulting in a decrease in egg production rate, egg shape will become smaller, thin and brittle egg shell, and eggshell surface rough. The reason why the egg production rate decreased due to high temperature may be that the blood flow through the ovary is reduced by the chicken body at high temperature, and the blood flows more to the body surface to dissipate heat, resulting in fewer mature follicles. In addition, when the chicken are high temperature, feed intake decreases, body weight are reduced, body fat are lost in large quantities, and the ability to synthesize lipids and proteins is also reduced, making the egg yolk with a lot of lipid content smaller, which is more serious than the protein reduction, so the egg weight lighten. Poor eggshell quality is due to lower blood calcium levels and bicarbonate ion concentrations at elevated temperatures and a relative reduction in blood flow through the ovaries and fallopian tubes.

1. In summer, heatstroke prevention and cooling work should be strengthened, and measures to reduce heat stress are as follows.

(1) The building structure of the chicken coop. The roof is covered with thermal insulation, and the exterior walls and roof are whitewashed or covered with other materials such as shading nets to reflect heat and block heat.

(2) Adjustment of dietary nutrition. Adjust dietary protein and essential amino acid levels, switches to low-protein diets, and appropriately supplement essential amino acids. Adjust the energy feed and add 1% to 3% vegetable oil to reduce the increase in heat consumption.

(3) Ventilation. Strengthen ventilation, uses longitudinal ventilation, increase wind speed, speed up heat dissipation, and reduce the temperature of chickens.

(4) Evaporative cooling. Evaporative cooling by cooling fan and cooling pads. When the temperature does not exceed 30 ℃, there is no need to start the wet curtain. After using the cooling pads, wind speed should be less than 2 m/s. In high temperature and high humidity, if the humidity is greater than 70%, the cooling pads should be closed for a period of time.

(5) Adequate and cool drinking water. Sodium bicarbonate, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, the citric acid, ammonium chloride, vitamin C and other substances can be added to the drinking water to improve the anti-stress ability.

(6) Other aspects. Reduce stocking density, feed in early and late cool times, and remove manure in time. Establish a high-temperature emergency early warning mechanism, and install environmental control systems such as power outage sound and light alarm systems.Longmu Animal Husbandry Technology (cangzhou) Co., Ltd. can provide you with automatic environmental  equipment to strengthen on-duty management for you.

2. In winter, measures to reduce cold stress are as follows.

(1) Strengthen the feeding management and improve the metabolic energy level of the diet. Feed the chickens as soon as possible after turning on the lights in the morning, and feed the chickens before turning off the lights at night to shorten the time when the flocks are fasting at night.

(2) Repair the chicken coop. Repair the chicken house before cooling down in winter to increase the thermal performance of the chicken house and prevent the cold wind from blowing to the chicken body.

(3) Heating . Generally, equipment such as hot air stoves, heating, brooding umbrellas, floor kang, stoves, and infrared lamps are used for heating.

(4) Reduce the heat dissipation of the chicken body. Change the litter frequently to prevent chickens from lying on wet litter. Choose the high quality automatic drinking system to prevent water leaks from wetting the chicken. Choose Longmu Animal Husbandry Technology (cangzhou) Co., Ltd  who specialized in the production of high-precision, water-tight nipple drinkers. In short, high temperature and low temperature should be avoided as much as possible, so that the laying hens can have better performance on egg production under suitable ambient temperature. For laying hens, the impact of high temperature is greater than that of low temperature. Therefore, heatstroke prevention and cooling work in summer is particularly important.

2. Humidity control

Humidity is related to normal metabolism and thermoregulation, and the impact of humidity on laying hens is often closely related to the ambient temperature. The suitable humidity for laying hens is 50% to 70%. If the temperature is suitable, the relative humidity is as low as 40% or as high as 70%, which has no significant effect on the laying hens. In production, in order to reduce humidity, the site is selected to be in the sun, with a high terrain, and a cement floor with good drainage is used. Measures to reduce humidity: minimize water use, prevent water leakage in the water supply system, remove feces in time, change the bedding frequently, and maintain good ventilation in the house.

3. Ventilation

Ventilation is the most important and frequent means to adjust the air condition of laying hens. The effect of ventilation in the chicken house directly affects the temperature and humidity in the house and the concentration of various harmful substances in the air. To make the air in the laying hen house fresh, carbon dioxide should not exceed 0.2%, hydrogen sulfide gas should not exceed 10 mg/m3, and ammonia gas should not exceed 20 mg/m3. In recent years, the scale of laying hen farms has become larger and larger. In order to maintain suitable environmental conditions, more attention must be paid to ventilation.

If the air in the house is polluted, it will inevitably affect the survival and production of laying hens to varying degrees. Ventilation reduces harmful gases, floating dust and harmful microorganisms in the air in the house, making the air in the house fresh, supplying enough oxygen to the chickens, and adjusting the temperature and humidity in the house. In areas or seasons with dry temperatures, ventilation plays a greater role in dehumidification; when the temperature inside the house is higher than outside the house, ventilation can discharge the residual heat in the house and maintain a suitable temperature in the house; in winter, in order to keep warm, it is often neglected. Ventilation and ventilation, and the adverse effects of long-term poor ventilation on laying hens often exceeds the effects of low temperature. Therefore, in order to ensure the fresh air in the chicken house, it is necessary to maintain a certain amount of ventilation. In production, it is necessary to focus on solving the contradiction between the insulation and ventilation of the chicken house in winter. Closed laying hen houses generally use automatic ventilation cooling devices to solve this problem.

4. Lighting Control

The light time during the laying period is generally maintained at 16 hours. If the light time is too long and the intensity is too strong, the chickens will be excited and restless, and will induce the pecking addiction, which will lead to prolapse of the anus in severe cases. The open chicken coop adopts a combination of natural lighting and artificial lighting. It can be set as the lighting time from 4 am to 8 pm to 9 pm, that is, the lights are turned on at 4 am every morning, and the lights are turned off after sunrise until sunset. Turn on the lights again and turn off the lights at the specified time. The light intensity is 15-20 lux, the bulb height is 1.8-2.0 meters, and the spacing is about 3 meters. Be careful to wipe the bulb frequently, otherwise it will affect the lighting effect.

5.The density of feeding

The stocking density directly affects the feeding, drinking, activity, rest and egg production of laying hens. Therefore, in the breeding process, it is necessary to ensure that the laying hens have a suitable feedingdensity, and also ensure that each laying hen has a feeding position of 10-13 cm, and provide a high-quality nipple drinker for every 5-10 chickens. When using other feeding equipment, the corresponding feeding position should be maintained.