BROILER RAISING

PART TWO

RAISING OF BROILER CHICKS

Raising broiler chicks is a very important period to make your chicken reach the weight required in the market because if you are not careful, you will get a chicken that will be stunted and underweight. be careful to this period because you can lose all of your investment.

Important things to consider before you bring chicks into the house;

  • Make sure you clean your shed well using soap and disinfectant.
  • Make sure you thoroughly clean your equipment that you will use to feed and watery your chicks.
  • Make sure the temperature is the same at the required level (it should be from 28 to 30 degrees Celsius) by using charcoal or gas heat energy, also cover the windows with special curtains to prevent the cold from entering the shed.
  • Make sure you make a small part of the brooding area, here I recommend that the area be circular for good care of the chicks and prevent deaths caused by the accumulation of chicks in the corners of the area. Make sure you measure the area where the chicks will live before you build (10 chicks per square meter).
  • You also need to prepare water and food ten minutes before the chicks enter the house, once you put the chicks in the house, they will see the food and water and start eating.
  • Make sure there is enough light to enable the chick to see water and food easily.
  • When the chicks arrive, they should be taken out immediately in the box so that they start eating and drinking water to start growth.

Things to consider after bringing chicks into the house;

  • Make sure you always check the temperature inside the shed if it is the same all the time and you will see this by looking at the behavior of the chickens, you don't have to have a thermometer. 
  • Make sure you adjust heat according to the environment and the required amount, If you see chickens gather together or are near heat energy for a long time, you will notice that the temperature is low inside the shed, if you increase it to the level of the pack, you will see that the chickens are scattered evenly in all parts.
  • Make sure you put vitamins and glucose in their water to relieve them of the fatigue they experienced while traveling and give them the strength to eat.
  • For the first three days, make sure the chicks are in the light for 23 hours and leave them for 1 hour so that they can rest and have the strength to eat and drink water again and digest food well.
  • Make sure you check the food and water intake at all hours during the two weeks of feeding the chicks. Change the water regularly, add food every time it runs out.
  • Make sure all the time the feeding equipment is clean all the time, and wash the water equipment every time you change or put new water.
  • For good weight monitoring, it is good to weigh them on the first day they enter the cage and every seven days until you are about to sell them.
Factors to consider during the growth period of broilers.

TEMPERATURE AND AIR

Make sure the temperature is at the required level because this is the period when many chickens die because of the extreme heat. Also make sure there is a cycle of fresh air coming in and dirty air coming out to avoid the accumulation of dirty air such as ammonia that causes extreme heat and eventually kills the chicken. 

LIGHT

Light is the important thing that helps the chick to see food and water, also to do its activities like running and flying. Every age has its own hours of light.

Table below show light schedule with age

AGE(DAYS)

HOURS OF LIGHT

HOURS OF DARK TIME

1-3

23

1

4-5

22

2

6-14

21

3


FOOD AND WATER

Good chick feeding will help the chicks hatch. Always make sure the food equipment (feeders) and water (drinkers) are clean before putting food or other water. It is recommended that for each one food and water device they should use 25 chicks, if you have 200 chicks you will use 8 food and 8 water devices (i.e 200÷25=8).

Chicks start with a starter food that is often a little trickle in order for the chick to get all the nutrients at the same time and grow quickly. Make sure you measure 0.5 kg (500 grams) of feed per chick each day.

Chicken water should always be clean to prevent chickens from getting sick.

METHOD OF MEASURING WEIGHT

For good monitoring of weight, it should be given from the first day when the chicks arrive in the barn. Here, many people will wonder how I can measure one chick and find out its weight, it's easy, all you have to do is have the following equipment;

  1. Weighing scales
  2. A wide container/device for keeping chicks.

How to measure; first you start measuring the device for placing chicks when it is empty and know its weight, then you put no more than five chicks in that device, you measure again a second time and you will find the weight of the chicks together with the device/container. To find the weight of one chick, you take the weight of the second, subtract the weight of the empty container, and divide by the number of chicks you weighed.

For example;

The weight of the device is 70 grams

The weight of the chicks including the container is 290 grams

The number of chicks is 5

To find the weight of the chick = (290-70) ÷ 5 = 44

Therefore, each chick has an estimated weight of 44 grams.

After gaining the weight of the first day, you should monitor the weight every seven days to get a good weight before entering the market.

Table showing weight of chicken at each age

AGE (DAYS)

WEIGHT (grams)

0 (Day of Chicks arrival)

44

7

185

14

465

21

943

28

1524

35

2191

42

2857

 

VACCINES AND MEDICINES

It is recommended to give them vitamins every three days to give them strength and remove any challenge they will face such as temperature changes, but on the first day make sure you put vitamins and glucose in the water to remove the fatigue they experienced while traveling and give them the strength to eat.

On the seventh day, it is necessary to vaccinate Newcastle Vaccine which you mix in water for two hours, then you give them vitamins.

On the 14th day (two weeks) give them the Infectious Bursal Disease  vaccine which you also mix in water for two hours, then you give them vitamins.


Photo 1: Brooding Area


Photo 2: Feeder



Photo 3: Drinker

After learning about the rearing of broiler chicks, the next part is how to raise broiler chickens during the growth period until they are sold. Don't miss the next part.


Prepared by:

Martin R Yohana

AfyaBora Nutrition Organization

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