Dos and don'ts when taking care of chicks
Dear Dr Messo
I am a new farmer, and something is baffling me. My chicks are 12 days old and someone told me to spread sacks on top of the sawdust in the brooder. Now the chicks are really soiling the sacks and I keep on changing them. I am afraid if I remove the sacks completely the chicks might feed on the saw dust, what should I do? [Esther Wambui]
Dear Esther
In real life where chicks are hatched and taken care of by mother hens. Feeding of day-old chicks is never a problem since the mother hen will identify the right feed and provide for her chicks.
The chicks are literary taught how to recognise the right food to consume and water to drink and life continues. In commercial poultry farming where there are no mother hens, the day-old chicks must rely on the poultry man 100 per cent, to have a good kick start.
The feed must meet the requirements, must be easily accessible, available ad libitum, tasty and of the right size and structure.
Chicks have not developed yet the ability to regulate their body temperatures. For that reason a farmer must provide the right brooding conditions for them until two weeks when they are able to produce metabolic energy to warm themselves during cold environment and lose excess heat during the hot periods. To have a good feed intake these are the most important things to watch out.
Balanced diet
For the first four days of life, spread paper or clean used feed bag over the wood shaving to cover 80 per cent of the brooding space, then scatter starter feed on the paper. Do not keep the paper longer than five days since they must learn to feed from the other permanent feeder. This technique will allow more space for all the chicks to access the feed as soon as they are placed.
As soon as the feed is consumed and lands in the chicken crop, it will stimulate immediate re-absorption of the yolk rich in proteins and energy for a good start. Adult feeders should also be introduced from day one to train the birds on to feeding on this equipment. At day five, these papers or feed bags are withdrawn completely, you should not worry, because at this age the birds can recognise feed and will not feed on wood shaving.
You should never use saw dust as chicken beddings as they tend to cause irritation of the chicken sinuses/nostrils.
Lighting
Provide enough 24 hours lighting from day one to day seven without introducing darkness and ensure you weigh 10 per cent of the birds to make sure that your birds are attaining the target live weights (160-185g at day 7 for broilers and 380-400g at five weeks for layers).
Never introduce darkness if your weights are below target for fast growing birds, for slow growing birds (layers) gradually introduce darkness from day 11 to attain natural day length by week six.
Water
Water is life, my rule of thumb is that if you cannot consume the water in the chicken house, then it is not fit for your bird’s consumption. Treat water by adding chlorine or water guard weekly.
Bio-security
Vaccinate your birds as per the program and ensure they are protected from disease causing organisms.
[The writer is the Head Vet at Kenchic [email protected] or [email protected]]
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