Routine operations for growers

Some routine operation usually performed for rearing birds include the following

• Feeding and watering
  
• Litter raking and watering
  
• Weighing
  
• Delousing
  
• Debeaking
  
• Vaccination
  We will discuss only weighing and delousing in this page and later take on debeaking and vaccination in our next lesson. The objective is to keep the lesson short and very comprehensive.
  
  
  
  Weighing Birds
  
  Two factors are observed when weighing birds, they are:
  
  -Average weight
  
  -flock uniformity
  
  A sample of 10% of the flocks or 100 nos whichever is smaller must be weighed each time to give true position of the flocks weight. It is necessary to start weighing the flocks from 4^th week and at two weeks interval throughout the growing period of the flocks calculating the average weight and comparing with breeder recommendations. If the average weight is too low, check the protein and energy content of the feed. The goal of flock uniformity is to have 90% or more of the birds on the same range of weights. It will also reveal if birds are competing healthily for feed and drinks.
  
  
  
  Delousing
  
  This is application of some chemicals on the body of birds to control lice and fleas infestation. It is usually a laborious exercise which must be started early enough to avoid your layers been over stressed. Birds heavily infected with lice and fleas will show a clenching trend in production with pale comb and face. Attendant can easily detect this when they handle the birds and feel some strange minute movement of lice on their body. At this point they should critically examine individual birds to access the degree of infestation. There are some prediclection site to which you must pay close attention to, they are the vent, the breast and under the wings where you can see this insects moving around.
  
  Having confirmed lice infestation, reports to your veterinarian to recommend appropriate delousing powder, usually most delousing powder are derivative of benzene hexachloride. Some are liquid while some are in suspension.
  
  
  
  Method of application of delousing agent
  
  There are three basics methods of applying delousing powder in poultry. They are
  
  -by dipping/spraying
  
  -pour on
  
  -powdering
  
  Farmers can adopt any of the methods depending on the availability of the chemicals. Some delousing powder commonly found on the shelves include asunol, diazintol are ideal for dipping. While malathian series are ideal for powdering and also for dipping. For any delousing in your farm, discuss with your vet nary doctor for proper usage.
  
  
  
  You know the implication of lice on the body of your flocks, so the importance of delousing is very obvious. This is to prevent our flocks from disease and weakness due to activities of the lice on the body of our birds. Lice are parasitic in nature they live on the host. Suck blood of their host as their own means of survival. Delouse your birds whenever you notice lice infestation. Don't allow lice to take your flocks by numbers. Report to your vetenarian and let him get to work on delousing.