Water consumption in poultry: don't confuse water usage with water consumption.

Water consumption in poultry: don't confuse water usage with water consumption. Water usage is not the same as water consumption. An appreciation and understanding of this important difference is central to effectively managing nipple-type poultry watering systems. Unfortunately, all too many in the poultry industry, including producers, field technical staff and industry suppliers, often fail to appreciate or recognize this distinction and, as a consequence, production results are compromised. see

Corrosion of drinkers in poultry; What causes it and why it’s more of a problem today than ever

In recent years, poultry producers have become increasingly concerned about the threat to their birds from a number of common strains of diseases. To combat this threat, producers often look no further than popular general disinfection agents such as chlorine and bleach to quickly and easily kill and prevent the growth of bacteria and pathogens in the water. Producers may think stainless steel is bullet proof against whatever cleaner they use, but it’s not. Chlorine, bleach and other acid based cleaners have the capacity, when used aggressively, to dissolve the layer of chromium oxide. Once this happens pitting and rust can occur on the ball and seat, compromising the seal and creating leaks. Corrosion: What causes it and why it’s more of a problem today than ever. To avoid costly internal corrosion damage to drinkers, it is important to know how drinkers can be damaged by the misuse of cleaning agents, and to understand which sanitizers need to be avoided and which are appropriate for cleaning the interior stainless steel parts of a drinker. Using oxide-damaging chemicals that cause drinkers to corrode and leak,makes litter gets much wetter, which promotes pathogen growth and increased ammonia release. The house environment becomes less hospitable for raising healthy, robust birds, and producers end up bringing about the very problem they were trying to avoid. . see

Drinker Corrosion: What causes it and how to monitor.

Drinker Corrosion: What causes it and how to monitor. Corrosion of drinker components can be an expensive problem for poultry operations. It pays to monitor for signs of drinker corrosion, particularly if aggressive sanitation programs have been implemented where above normal amounts of chlorine and/or acidifiers are being used on an ongoing Drinker line sanitation is important for removing biofilm and killing harmful bacteria. But the goal is to use these agents (chlorine, acidifiers etc.), but only to the level or concentration to get the killing action, not to a level that the all-important oxide layer that protects stainless steel becomes corroded. basis.

How To Optimize Feed Intake in Young Broilers.

How To Optimize Feed Intake in Young Broilers.Getting broiler chicks eating early pays dividends in the long term. Today, feed accounts for up to 70% of total production costs. That's why efficiency of use is one of the most crucial factors as broiler growers look to maintain margins. A slight improvement in performance here can result in an increase to your bottom line. Feed efficiency is generally defined in two ways: feed conversion efficiency (FCE) and feed conversion ratio (FCR). The most common method for broilers is FCR, calculated by the amount of feed needed per kilogram of bodyweight gain, and should be as low as possible. Throughout the life of the broiler, the best FCR is seen in the first five to seven days, due to low or almost no heat production in chicks during this period. This results in a lower calorific expense and an overall lower maintenance cost. FCR can be even lower than 1:1 at this point. Another contributing factor to the lower FCR is the fat and protein from the yolk sac. However if early feed consumption is limited, chicks will use the protein from the yolk sac for energy instead of growth.How To Optimize Feed Intake in Young Broilers.

The five essentials in brooding.

Escalating commodity prices are decreasing profit margins and driving producers to seek ways of optimising their performance. Growers need to take a hard look at their management to find ways to fine tune their performance and gain the extra couple of cents per kg advantage. The key to success lies in establishing the physiological ‘building blocks’ – a well developed skeleton and healthy cardio vascular system. The importance of the brooding period cannot be emphasized enough, as this is the only opportunity to achieve such growth in a single week. The brooding period sets the precedent for good performance. To achieve the best start, the grower must provide the optimum transition from a hatchery to brooding environment which includes making sure the chicks begin feeding and drinking straightaway. The five essentials in brooding.

Brooding - Water management

Brooding - Water management. Clean water — the adage ‘if the grower cannot drink the water, the chicks should not’ holds true. Water access is equally important, but with a modern nipple drinker system this is easily achieved. A broiler chick’s water intake is always balanced with its excretion. Young chicks will consume more than they excrete due to the demands of growth. Water is 70% of the chick weight. Anything that negatively affects water intake will adversely affect feed consumption. At placement chicks will consume 1ml/bird/hour for the first 24 hours on the farm. Brooding - Water management

Vital role of chick transport in overall flock performance.

Vital role of chick transport in overall flock performance. Transporting day-old chicks from hatchery to farm plays a very vital role in the subsequent performance of the bird. However, transport conditions are still too often neglected when in fact they have the potential to significantly affect growth rate, feed conversion, meat yield and the development of the immune system. Nowadays, some companies still deliver day-old chicks from hatcheries to rearing farms at distances of 100 km (62.2 miles) or greater in vehicles which are several years old and may not have advanced ventilation and internal air mixing systems. This leads to uneven air distribution and air exchange, and consequently heat or cold stress on the baby chicks. The detrimental effects of such conditions will be proportional to journey duration. A day-old chick that comes out of the hatchery does not require feed and water for 48 hours due to their residual yolk. A yolk sac contains 1–2 grams of moisture, with two parts fat and one part protein. If early feed consumption is limited, the chick will use both fat and protein in the yolk for energy leaving inadequate protein levels for optimum growth. Vital role of chick transport in overall flock performance.