This is a very crucial aspect of poultry farming. The type of chicks you stock on your farm will determine the profitability after all other reasonable conditions are followed. Chicks are truly different and sourcing for a good one involves special techniques or knowledge of where the chicks originate from. This however starts from identifying your hatchery of choice. That means the hatchery where you intend to get your day old chicks from. A very close attention should there be paid to the following points.
Identify Hatchery of Choice
It is advisable that a farmer without prior knowledge of a particular hatchery to allow their vetinary consultant to carry out a comprehensive investigation of the hatchery before choosing the hatchery as the source for their day old chicks. This type of investigation by the vetinary consultant usually contains the following important information.
Whether the hatchery has its own breeder farm where eggs for their hatchery ate sourced.
whether the hatchery gathers eggs from different farms for hatching in their own hatchery to be hatched out
whether the hatchery has a very comprehensive history of vaccination programme for breeders from where broods are to be hatched
A reliable hatchery will also be able to provide its customer with performance guide as well as efficiency information about annual performance of their stock.
Such information include:
Average fertility in relation to the batch from where the chicks are going to be hatched out
Information about the batch fertility as well as the hatchability estimate of the stock.
In addition to the above crucial points, investor should not at a time lay emphasis on the cost of the day old chick when they want to purchase. The emphasis should be truly based on quality of the chick as this is far more important and crucial to the success of the poultry farm at the long run. It’s also important for the investor to have knowledge and be current about the information regarding the vaccination profile of the chicks received from hatcheries. This should include evidence of vaccination for Newcastle intraocular and marek disease. In most cases, the hatchery will issue to you certificate of vaccination (that means the vaccination the batch already received) and a further vaccination guide that you are expected to continue with on your farm to achieve the very best result .
As a farmer, the following are the characteristics you should look out for in a healthy day old chicks when purchasing your chicks.
The chick should be alert and lively
The chicks should be free from any obvious deformity such as
-crocked beak
-missing eye
-crossed beak
-red hock
-small chick
-sticky down
-omphalities and many more
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