Brooding Management of Chicks:
• The term brooding refers to a process of providing extra warmth to the chicks for first few weeks to overcome the heat loss from their body.
• This is very essential because chicks do not have well developed heat regulating mechanism and have very little feathers for insulation.
• In chick rearing, the first four weeks of life is the most difficult and crucial. Slight error in management at this stage may result into heavy mortality or adverse effect on growth and consequently reduction in egg production ability of the hen.
• Thus, profitable poultry business depends upon the successful brooding programme.
Methods of Brooding Chicks:
1. Natural Method: by brood hen
2. Artificial Method:
(A) Hot Room Brooding
(B) Cold Room Brooding:
a) by using brooder
b) by using spotlight
c) by infra-red bulb.
• In artificial method, the chicks (0-8 weeks) are reared in a brooder house, where they are provided optimum temperature, ventilation, feed and water for normal growth. Usually, the chicks are kept in brooder house for about 8 weeks, but if large number of chicks are to be reared in a small brooder house, then the chic-s are transferred into another house at about 4 weeks age.
Types of Brooders:
Several types -
1. Lamp Brooders using kerosene as source c; neat. Used to raise about 50 chicks.
2. Portable Brooders equipped with hovers ^r canopies for conserving heat to a limited area, using kerosene, coal, gas or electricity (used in Cold room brooding).
3. Continuous Brooders, used for large operations, are heated by con1 or gas. Hot water or warm air is distributed from a central heating system (used in Hot room brooding).
4. Battery / Cage Brooders are usually heated electrically. Now a days two types of brooders are in common practice.
i) Hover or Canopy type (in deep litter pen) very common. The hover with 1.8 meters (6 feet) diameter can accommodate 500 chicks.
ii) Battery brooder (in cage brooding).
Care And Management of Growers:
1. After 8 weeks of age, the chickens are called growers. If the size of flock is small, brooder house itself is used as grower house after removing brooders and chick guards. However, if the farm is of 2000 or me e birds, separate grower house should be constructed.
2. Chicks are transferred from brooder house to grower house at 8 weeks of age and then kept here up to 17-18 weeks of age. Before the chicks are transferred to grower house, the chick mash is gradually replaced by growler mash (75:25, 50:50, 25:75, chick: grower mash).
3. The litter is generally kept 6 inches (15 cm) thick. Temp. about 75° F (23°C) & humidity 50 %.
4. Large sized hanging feeders and waterers (with guards) should be placed in adequate numbers to provide required feeding and watering space. Feeders should be adjusted to birds’ shoulder level.
5. Floor space, feeding space and Watering space (cm) required for growers is as follow:
Age (weeks) Floor Space/ Bird (cm) Feeding Space/ bird (cm) Watering Space/100 birds.
Linear Fountain type
9-12 950 7.5 100 18.0
13-20 1900 12.5 250 22.5
6. There are not any special points in grower management, except that they should never be exposed to increasing day length/ lighting hours, as it leads to early sexual maturity, small eggs, lower production, early maturity and occasionally protrusion of vent/cloaca. Constant lighting of only 12 hours should be provided to growers.
7. For economical egg production, the modern trend in raising grower's is the restricted feeding which is of two types:
(a) Quantitative restriction
(b) Qualitative restriction
• In first type of restriction (skip a day feeding or restricted feeding hrs), the birds are fed 70-80 % of their actual requirement. In second type of restriction, the birds are led low protein mash (16%). Restricted feeding of grower' not only helps in reducing the teed cost, but also results in improved egg production curve and reduction in number of small eggs in early phase of laying due to slight delay in sexual maturity. ISI (1979) also recommended 16% crude protein and 2600 k cal ME/kg and 8 % CF in growler mash. Feed consumption in grower period is 5.89 kg/chick, i.e., 65- 70 g/bird/day.
Care And Management of Layers:
(1) Floor Space
(2) Feeding
(3) Litter Management
(4) Importance of Light in poultry Management
• The pullets after debeaking are transferred to layer house at about 120 days age, so that they get accustomed to the atmosphere of layer house, develop habit to lay in nests and to prevent broodiness.
• The grower mash is gradually replaced by layer mash in that it contains 18 % crude protein and quite high amount of calcium (2.75 %).
• Layers are the productive birds. Therefore, every care should be taken to see that they get floor space, feeding space and watering space to perform at an optimal level.
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