Guide to Proper Management of Day-Old Growers, Layers, and Broilers
The management of day-old chicks is an important and delicate operation. Any mismanagement at this stage will show up later as heavy financial loss to the farmer through excessive mortality, disease outbreak, and poor productivity.
Growers refer to growing pullets of 9- 20 weeks of age. The birds may be kept in the same pen that was used for the initial rearing of the chicken but there should be enough floor and feeding space.
At this stage, the birds are changed from chick mash to growers mash. The layer is a matured female chicken meant for egg production. Layers are normally moved to the laying quarters at 18 weeks of age. They are either reared in battery cages or deep liter. The diet of the birds should be changed to layer mash.
Management of Day Old Chicks
The management of day-old chicks is an important and delicate operation. Any mismanagement at this stage will show up later as heavy financial loss to the farmer through excessive mortality, disease outbreak, and poor productivity.
The management starts before the arrival of the chicks. Two weeks before the arrival of the birds, the brooding pen should be cleaned and disinfected. Litter material should be spread to about 6-8 cm. in height.
Feeding and watering Equipment
Feeding and watering equipment of small sizes should also be provided. Twenty-four hours before the arrival of the birds, the brooder should be set to the required temperature (35oC).
Feed and water should be put in place before birds’ arrival. On arrival dead and weak chicks should be removed. Chicks destined or meant to be layers should be fed chick starter mash while broilers should be fed broiler starter mash.
Temperature Requirement of Chicks
Table: Temperature requirement of chicks
| Age of chick | Temperature |
| Day old – 1 week | 35oC |
| 1 -2 weeks | 30oC |
| 2 – 3 weeks | 26oC |
| 3- 4 weeks | 23oC |
Brooder space requirement is 40-60 cm2 per chick. Overcrowding of the bird should be avoided as this can lead to slow growth rate, disease build-up, and feather, and toe pecking, this can be prevented by debeaking.
Broiler Management
The broiler is a young chicken of either sex, being intensively fed for meat production. With good strain, diet and management, they reach a market weight of 1.5- 2kg live weight in 8-12 weeks. At this stage, their meat is tender, juicy, and well-flavored.
The broiler pen should be prepared as above prior to the arrival of the chicks. When the broilers attend the age of 5-6 weeks, they should be transferred to the broiler finisher pen with free air movement.
They should also be changed from broiler starter ration to broiler finisher ration. The broiler starter is a high protein moderate energy ration, while the broiler finisher is a high energy moderate protein ration.
At this age, the birds should average 500-900g in weight and consume about 58g of feed per day per bird. They should be allowed adequate floor space of about 0.25cm2 per chick to prevent cannibalism.
Vaccination should be ensured at the right time. The good sanitary condition should be maintained.
Coccidiostat should be included in their feed which should be withdrawn two weeks before marketing time. This is to prevent the transfer of the drug to the tissues of the birds and then further to the consumer. Broilers should have free access to water and feed at all times.
Note: Broilers make economic gains within 10 weeks, beyond 12 weeks, they tend to eat much more than they gain resulting in lowered profitability. It is therefore essential to market them at about 8-12 weeks of age.
Read Also: Recommended Management Practices for Broilers
Signs of a Good Broiler
The sign of a good broiler chicken include;
- Constricted pelvic bone
- Dry and constricted vent
- Not very bright comb
Management of Growers
Growers refers to growing pullets of 9-20 weeks of age. The birds may be kept in the same pen that was used for the initial rearing of the chicken but there should be enough floor and feeding space.
At this stage, the birds are changed from chick mash to growers mash. This diet is lower in protein (15-16%) and energy compared to the chick and broilers mash. This is to prevent excessive fat deposition by the pullets.
The diet need not contain a coccidiostat. Feed wastage during the growing phase can be a very serious problem. This can be reduced by using feeds that reduce spillage. They should also be dewormed from the 16th week.
Management of Layers
The layer is a matured female chicken meant for egg production. Layers are normally moved to the laying quarters at 18 weeks of age. They are either reared in battery cages or deep liter.
The diet of the birds should be changed to layer mash. This diet is higher in calcium, energy, and protein compared to the grower’s mash. Two weeks to the commencement of laying, the level of calcium in the diet should be increased to 3-4%.
This is to enable adequate deposition of calcium in their bones for use in shell formation when the birds start to lay. The laying birds should be fed adlibitum because any form of rationing would result in a reduced rate of egg production.
There should be an adequate water supply. This is because lack of water will result in decreased egg production and possibly death.
Perches and nests should be provided on deep liter. To stimulate egg production, the length of the artificial day should be increased to 16-18 hours. Eggs should be collected at least twice daily and properly recorded. The most common management problems in laying flocks are broodiness and molting.
Characteristics of Good Layer
- The comb is bright red
- Bright eyes.
- Pelvic bone- four fingers width
- Vent – large, soft, moist, and oval vent
- Good layers are very active and alert.
- They have prominent, soft, smooth wattles.
- They have worm-soiled and close plumage.
- They have a bright red face
Fig: A simple means of distinguishing laying birds from non-laying birds (Courtesy of ATB).
Calculating Productivity of Laying Flock
Hen day egg production (HDEP)
This is the number of eggs laid expressed as a percentage of the number of layers on hand.
HDPE = Total number of eggs laid / Total number of layers on hand x 100
Hen Housed Egg Production (HHEP)
This is the number of eggs laid expressed as a percentage of the number of layers housed at the initial stage.
HHEP = Total number of eggs laid / Total number of layers housed at beginning of lay x 100.
In conclusion, chicks may therefore be reared on litter or on the floor from day old until they are ready to enter the laying house. Similarly, broiler chickens are reared from day-old to about 46-70 days in a controlled environment house on a built-up litter of wood shavings or straw or a mixture of the two types.
The management of day-old chicks starts two weeks before their arrival of the chicks. The brooding pen should be clean and disinfected, liter material should be spread to about a height of 6-8 cm, feeding and watering equipment to be set, and the temperature set at 35˚C.
The broiler house should be set as above but the diet should be a broiler starter diet and at the age of 5-6 weeks, the birds may be transferred to the broiler finisher pen with free air movement. The ration should be changed to broiler finisher ration.
The signs of a good broiler include constricted pelvic bone, dry constricted vent, and a not very bright comb.
The growers are between 9-20 weeks of age and their ration should be changed from chick mash to growers mash, this is to prevent excessive fat deposition.
Layers are normally moved to laying quarters at the age of 18 weeks either in a deep liter or battery cage system and their diet changed to layers mash.
The signs of a good layer are bright red comb, bright eyes, pelvic bone with four finger width, large vent, soft, moist, and oval vent, active and alert. Have soft smooth wattles and a bright red face.
Read Also: Proper Layers Management Practices for Better Performance
