How to Manage a Chicken Farm

It is imperative to get the chicks off to a good start. Probably any other part of a business is more worth planning and preparing in advance than a chick started.

Brooder houses should be cleaned, disinfected, or fumigated at least two weeks prior to the arrival of day-old chicks. If this is not done, chicks may become infected with certain poultry diseases leading to death and poor outcomes.

Start by sweeping or washing cobwebs, dirt, and dust, then use a good disinfectant. There are many suitable commercial disinfectants available. They should be used according to the manufacturer's recommendations. Some of these require the house to be idle for a period of time and thoroughly ventilated before the arrival of the chicks. Failure to follow these precautions could result in severe burns to the chicks' feet and eyes.

Getting the chicks off to a good start is very important. Probably no other part of the enterprise deserves more planning and advance preparation than does the starting of baby chicks.

Preparation of the Poultry Brooding House

The brooder house should be cleaned and disinfected or fumigated at least two weeks before the days-old chicks arrive. If this is not done, the chicks may be exposed to certain poultry diseases which can lead to mortality and poor results.

First sweep or wash down cobwebs, dirt, and dust, then use a good disinfectant. There are a number of suitable commercial disinfectants available. They should be used according to the manufacturers’ recommendations. Some of them require that the house stand idle for a period of time and be thoroughly aired before the chicks arrive. Failure to observe these precautions may cause the chicks to have severely burned feet and eyes.

After the poultry chicks' breeding house has been cleaned and disinfected, it should be allowed to dry thoroughly before putting in the new litter. When the floor is dry, cover it with 2-4 cm of litter material. The litter material serves to absorb moisture and insulate the floor for the comfort of the poultry birds. Several different materials may be used for litter. Wood shavings are among the most commonly used, whenever available. Other materials include sawdust, shavings and sawdust, rice hulls, sugar cane, peanut hulls, and ground corn cobs.

When chicken chicks are extremely hungry upon arrival they may try to eat the litter before learning to eat feed. If you have reason to believe that the chicks have been hatched for two or three days when they arrive, it may be a good idea to put paper over the litter for the first three or four days until they learn to eat. When chicks are received soon after hatching, it is not necessary to do this.

The electric or gas brooders should be started some hours before the chicks are due to arrive. This will ensure that the equipment is operating properly and is adjusted to the correct temperature.

Use a chick guard to confine the chicks to the source of heat. The chick guard keeps the chicks confined to a given brooder or heater and also prevents migration and overcrowding of some brooders if more than one brooder is used in the brooding facility. It will also help to prevent drafts on the chicks under the brooder.

A corrugated cardboard guard, approximately 12 inches high is good for this purpose during cool weather. For warm-weather brooding, the brooding guard may be made of poultry netting. It should form a circle around the brooder about 3 feet. The brooder guard can be extended outward after a few days. It is usually removed on the tenth day or so, depending upon the weather and conditions in the poultry house.

Fill the chick feeders and drinkers several hours before the chicks arrive. The water will be at room temperature when the chicks arrive and encourage them to drink. The feeder trays and water fountains should be spaced uniformly around the brooder and close to the hover. One method frequently used to get chicks to eat, when first put under the hover, is to place a small amount of feed on newspapers.

Chicks instinctively peck at anything at the same level as the surface upon which they are standing. Therefore, they will learn to eat more readily if the poultry feed is provided in this manner for a day or two.

Chicks that are slow to catch on to the fact that feed is in front of them are attracted by the noise made by the others that have found the feed and are pecking at the newspaper. This gets the chicks off to a good start and eating well.

Chicken Brooding House, Heat & Litter Management

Brooding temperature is very important. The recommended temperature at the start is 90-95°F (32-35°F). A rule of thumb to remember: Reduce the temperature by 5°F each week until the chicks no longer need heat. It is often stated that the best thermometer, to gauge the most comfortable temperature, is to watch the chicks’ behavior or arrangements (see the picture below).

If the chicks huddle close to the heat source you can be reasonably sure that the operating temperature is too low. If, on the other hand, the birds are located in a circle, way outside the heat source. you should assume that the temperature is too high. During the day the chicks should be evenly distributed around the entire brooding area, with some of the chicks underneath the heat source. Temperature readings should be taken at the outside edge of the brooder at chick level.

One important factor for the successful brooding of chicks is the maintenance of good litter conditions. When litter conditions get out of hand and become too wet, disease problems can result. Wet, dirty litter can harbor many disease organisms that affect poultry.

In the case of pullets, it is desirable to have a certain amount of moisture in the litter (30-35%) to enable the sporulation of oocysts and the subsequent development of immunity to coccidiosis during the growing period. However, excessively wet litter, especially during warm periods, can bring about a clinical case of coccidiosis and result in what we term a coccidiosis break, which requires treatment.

One of the common problems experienced with meat birds such as turkeys and broilers is breast blisters-swellings or external sores on the skin of the breast-which seriously affect the dressed appearance of the carcass. Excessively wet, caked, or dirty litter is frequently blamed for breast blisters. Since perches are not used for broilers or meat birds, the birds must lay down in the litter.

It is important that the litter depth is maintained and that it is kept dry and fluffy enough to cushion the body and avoid all contact with the floor. Furthermore, it is essential that it be reasonably clean to avoid dirtying of the breast feathers, skin irritations, and breast blisters.

Adequate ventilation:

Ventilation of the brooder house is restricted for the first 1-2 weeks.

For the first four days of poultry brooding, the chicks are supplied feed in shallow chicken feeders like chick feeding trays or thick sheets of paper. Freshwater is supplied every day.

Apart from managing the chicks by regulating temperature, ventilation, and providing feed, there are certain routine daily operations that must be followed in the same sequence from morning to evening:After the poultry chicks' breeding house has been cleaned and disinfected, it should be allowed to dry thoroughly before putting in the new litter. When the floor is dry, cover it with 2-4 cm of litter material. The litter material serves to absorb moisture and insulate the floor for the comfort of the poultry birds. Several different materials may be used for litter. Wood shavings are among the most commonly used, whenever available. Other materials include sawdust, shavings and sawdust, rice hulls, sugar cane, peanut hulls, and ground corn cobs.

When chicken chicks are extremely hungry upon arrival they may try to eat the litter before learning to eat feed. If you have reason to believe that the chicks have been hatched for two or three days when they arrive, it may be a good idea to put paper over the litter for the first three or four days until they learn to eat. When chicks are received soon after hatching, it is not necessary to do this.

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