After proper transportation, the day old chicks are expected to arrive in an already prepared farm site. As regarding the preparation of the farm site, the farmer s should be prepared for the reception of the day old chicks 4-6 weeks before the arrival of the chicks. This is a rule of thumb. If you want to be successful in poultry business, the basis is to give your birds a good start. So, before the arrival of the day old chicks to your farm, the following procedure is advisable to follow:
All equipment should be cleaned to include the brooder house and it’s environment. They should be disinfected against all form of diseases and possible carry over from previous cropping.
The brooder house should and equipment should be washed with high pressure machine and any form of manure found in around the poultry house should be store away from the brooder house.
Rat and lizards are carriers of dangerous diseases to your birds. You should eliminate them from the surrounding. They are also capable of competing with your day old chicks during feeding and consequently wasting your feed.
Make any necessary repair on the poultry house structure before the arrival of the day old chicks. Clean, disinfect all feeders, tanks and drinkers.
Make sure your brooder house is prepared to receive the chicks. 6 hours prior to the arrival of the chicks, preheating of the brooder house must have begin. If the period is rainy season, the farmer should commence preheating of the brooder house 9-12 hours before the arrival of the day old chicks. This will ensure that shavings are warm and the environment /air temperature is conducive for the day old chicks. Temperature on arrival must be in the range of 32-35 degree Celsius.
Make sure the shavings in the brooder house are spread out evenly as an uneven liter create uneven pockets of temperature, which may cause grouping of chicks to hide, depriving themselves of feed and water. Wood shavings are good liter material while maize cobs could also be used.
Provide clean water at room temperature before delivery. Use one drinker of 3-4 liter capacity per 50 day old chicks.
Do not close completely the brooder house. Allow limited fresh air into the brooder house. Use your thermometer and behavior of the chicks as guide to regulate aeration.
Brooder house should be isolated. No easy access should be allowed from just anybody. This is important because it help reduce disease outbreak that may be transferred by visitors’ shoes. If you will allow access to it by some visitors, make sure they are disinfected before allowing them to access your brooder house. The usual practice is all in, all out programme.it allows for proper clean up in the event of a disease outbreak.
Remember chicks are just like babies to farmers. Give them a good treatment and a good start as success of your poultry farm largely depends on how you care for the chicks.
Table Of Content
-->
About The Poultry farming And You Blog
No comments:
Post a Comment