Best Management Practices for Broiler Brooding
If you haven’t seen it already, the Chicken Farmers of Ontario recently released a short video detailing some Best Management Practices of broiler brooding. Throughout the video, Dr. Scott Gillingham stresses the importance of stockmanship, biosecurity, and attention to detail. We’ll summarize some of his main points below, but strongly encourage you to check out […]
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Brooding Healthy Birds – A Pre-Placement Checklist
Chicks are dependent on their environment to survive the early days of life. Because they cannot regulate their own body temperature, they require a warm brood chamber and easy access to food and water. The down feathers on chicks offer poor insulation and they will quickly lose heat through radiation (to the air), conduction (contact […]
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10 Interesting Facts about Chicken Vision
Whether in commercial flocks or backyard coops, chickens are endlessly fascinating. While we might never understand what all those quirky head nods mean, we can get a better sense of how chickens see the world with these 10 interesting facts about chicken vision. A chicken’s eyes are about 10% the entire mass of its head. […]
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Stress-free Swine Handling – Knowing signs of stress
Stress on pigs during transport can cause losses; not just pig losses, but it can adversely affect the meat quality. Stress in transport can cause meat that’s too soft and pale or too dry and firm. This stress begins with the movement out of pens or barns so stress reduction should be front of mind […]
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Stress-free Swine Handling – Understanding pig behavior
Pig handlers should understand pig behaviors to move pigs with as little stress as possible. Most pig behavior can be attributed to natural instincts. Pigs are herd animals and find being isolated from the group stressful. They have a strong tendency to follow each other while maintaining visual and bodily contact and prefer to be […]
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Winter Prep: Choosing A Heater
Forced air heaters have largely become obsolete in poultry houses as producers have switched to brooders and tube heaters. These radiant heating options deliver heat directly to the floor and the birds at a much more affordable rate. Radiant heaters are significantly more efficient, offer drier litter, and create a heat-storing reservoir for the birds […]
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Brooder Cleaning: A Step-by-Step Guide
Brooder cleaning is one of the most important tasks done on the farm. Brooders rapidly lose heating efficiency when they are dirty. Routine maintenance ensures you get the most out of your heating equipment and prevents fire hazards. Brooders should be cleaned and inspected before every flock. Regardless of what they look like on the […]
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Attic Insulation – Stop Burning Money
Attic insulation is beneficial year-round, though it’s something that is often overlooked. During cold weather, hot air produced by heaters and livestock quickly rises to the ceiling. If the attic insulation is lacking, uneven, or missing entirely, that warm air will escape the barn and cause heaters to run longer and more often. With fuel […]
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House Tightness: The Best Winter Prep
House tightness should be the first thing on your winter prep checklist. Heat lost through building air leaks causes the heaters to run excessively and waste fuel. Air leaks can also cause cold air drafts that can chill livestock, create cold spots on the floor, and result in poor floor conditions. Houses can be divided […]
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Improve 7-day Chick Performance with these 6 Considerations
Want to improve your final live weight and feed conversion? Achieve good 7-day live weight and you’ll do just that. So much of a bird’s final potential rests on the first seven days of frame development and immune system maturation. Nutrition, feed availability, water quality (and ease of finding and getting the water), temperature, air quality, […]
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Best Practices for Weighing Breeder Hens
In order to know how much feed should be given to your breeder pullet or hen flocks, you need to know how much they weigh and how quickly they are gaining weight. By frequently and accurately weighing a representative sample of your flocks, you can track uniformity and weight gains to be sure you’re on […]
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Feeding for Success in the Breeder Hen House
Feeding breeder hens can be tricky. You have to hit target weights, but can’t let the birds grow too fast or get too big. You already know that raising a consistent flock is imperative to success, but how do you maintain that once the birds are moved to the laying house? Have a plan Have […]
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An Introduction to Feeding Broiler Breeder Hens
Today’s broilers grow so rapidly because of a genetic predisposition to accelerated growth rates which are supported by a nearly insatiable appetite. Plain English? They were bred to eat a lot. It’s a great characteristic for meat stock – we can produce a large amount of lean meat in a small amount of time, usually […]
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Dehydration, Pig Stress – Not Just a Summer Problem
Pigs are made up of almost 70% water. Too much of a decrease in that water balance means that your pigs won’t be able to digest food properly, leaving them malnourished, underweight, and susceptible to disease. Dehydration is often a symptom of any kind of stress, usually stemming from critical points in production. While heat […]
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Flushing the water lines is a necessary tool to keep your water as healthy, fresh, and clean as possible. While it might be a little tedious or time consuming, especially if you have a large operation, it can pay off big time in the end. Regular flushing helps to remove dirt or debris from the […]
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Your Winterization Checklist – Preparing for Winter
Winter is coming. Unfortunately, so are heating costs. If your heaters don’t work properly, you lose fuel. You lose profits. If your heaters do work properly, but you have a loose, drafty house, you’re still wasting fuel. And wasting money. And your birds are probably cold and unhappy and not growing as well, which will […]
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