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Important Considerations in Rearing Poultry Chickens

Important Considerations in Rearing Poultry Chickens

In rearing poultry chickens, the growers need more ventilation than the chicks. Maximum ventilation will be guaranteed partly by using poultry houses with low-sided walls (0.3m or less), a forced ventilation rate of 0.003m3/s is recommended to reduce ambient temperature and purify the atmosphere. Ventilation helps to provide the birds with fresh air and to carry off moisture.

The growers require lower environmental temperatures than chicks. They require a moderate temperature but need a warmer temperature at night when they are inactive than during the day. Relative humidity of 50-80% is adequate for growers.

Even though poultry chicks are photo-sensitive, from as early as three weeks old, the effect of light is negligible until the fowl is 7 weeks old. When birds mature earlier than normal i.e. precocious maturity, due to inappropriate light patterns, it causes a depressed rate of lay and also reduced egg size because of low point-of-lay body weight.

Growers between 4-20 weeks do not require extra light. The control of the sexual maturity of the fowl depends largely on the pattern of the photoperiod. The rule is that there must be a decrease in the photo period as the poultry chicks grows older.

Important Considerations in Rearing Poultry Chickens

The growers are fed on a type of diet called growers mash. It is specially formulated to meet the energy, protein (amino acids), mineral, and vitamin requirements of growers to achieve maximum growth and production potential.

The feed for growers can be compounded by the farmer if he has the expertise or bought from the sales outlets of commercial feed millers just like the feeds for other chickens at different stages of growth. Feed is the most important single factor in the production of poultry meat and eggs.

It is, therefore, important to know the feed consumption of your birds so that the right quantity can be purchased in advance in the course of rearing. However feeds should not be for over four weeks as they tend to become moldy, stale, and rancid if stored for too long.

The table below presents the feed type, type of bird, and estimated feed consumption (per 2 weeks) for broilers and pullets in a tropical environment.

Table: Poultry Feed Types in Rearing Poultry Chickens and their Consumption based on Type of Chicken

AgeBroiler  Pullet 
(wks)FeedFeedBirdFeedFeedBird
 typeintake typeintake 
  kg/bird  kg/bird 
1Broilers BoilersChicks Chicks
 starter chickmash  
2‘’0.3‘’‘’0.20‘’
3‘’ ‘’‘’ ‘’
4‘’0.75‘’‘’0.40‘’
5‘’ ‘’‘’ ‘’
6Broilers1.25Broilers‘’0.65‘’
 finisher chicken   
7‘’ ‘’‘’ ‘’
8‘’1.60‘’‘’0.85‘’
9‘’ ‘’Growers Pullets
    mash  
10‘’1.90‘’‘’0.90‘’
11   ‘’ ‘’
12   ‘’1.00‘’
13   ‘’ ‘’
14   ‘’1.10‘’
15   ‘’ ‘’
16   ‘’1.15‘’
17   ‘’ ‘’
18   ‘’1.15‘’
19   ‘’ ‘’
20   ‘’1.30‘’

The management system normally used for brooding and rearing chicks and broilers is the deep litter, for the simple reason that battery cage is designed essentially for adult birds.

Nevertheless, it has been reported that chicks tend to grow faster when reared in cages than on deep litter due to:

  1. Reduced social conflicts when kept in the battery cage.
  2. Stress is caused by wire floors.
  3. Avoidance of direct contact with fecal droppings.
  4. Broilers may develop breast blisters in cages thus reducing the quality of their carcass.

Other management factors necessary to meet the requirements of the fowls as they grow older are:

Debeaking: This involves partial removal of the beak to prevent vice habits such as pecking, feather-pulling, cannibalism, and egg-eating depending on the age these occur. While debeaking of birds can take place at 3-5 weeks, the birds should be debeaked latest between 15-17 weeks of age.

Read More: Female fish ‘more reluctant’ to change sex than males

Debeaking is done to control or solve these problems because they are indices of management defects like inadequate feeding and drinking, inadequate floor spaces, imbalanced diet, and stress. Debeaking should be performed in the morning in hot weather to minimize bleeding.

A higher level of vitamin K may be fed before debeaking to accelerate clotting. Debeaking can be done using a pair of scissors or an electric debeaking.

If the former is used to cut the beaks, the raw surface should be rubbed with caustic potash to minimize bleeding which normally is excessive. The electric debeaker on the other hand cuts the beak and simultaneously cauterizes the raw surface and thereby stopping or minimizing bleeding.

Despurring: The spur is an extra digit of the male which in light breeds is well developed. This causes wounds on the back of breeding hens when mating and may reduce fertility as breeding hens avoid mating. The spur is removed at 10-16 weeks when the cap is well formed with a sharp knife or a pair of scissors.

Transfer of Birds: In modern poultry operations, the female birds may become layers and stay in the housing until they become spent layers of housing. This is referred to as the single-stage intensive system.

Movement from one house to another at specific stages of growth is called a multi-stage intensive system. If growers are to be transferred to a different house for laying, this should be done between 16-18 weeks before the birds begin to lay eggs.

Transfer of birds should be done using crates and preferably early in the morning to avoid the birds becoming stressed.

Read Also: How to Effectively Use and Manage Farm Machinery

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