Chicken vs Pheasant Brooding - No Big Difference

I have hatched, brooded and grown chickens for many years and wondered if I can use the same knowledge I gathered in raising Pheasants (ph). As it turned out, yes I can! I took care of 8 batches of ph, ringnecks specifically, and my worst 7-wk mortality rate was 3% with the best coming at 1.5%. We measure brooding/growing up to 7 wks in ph because that is the time when we move them out to the flight pens from the buildings. These are flocks from 300 to 10,000 heads in sizes. So what are the things similar in raising both birds?

1. Always be conscious about receiving good quality chicks! As I have said in my previous advices, chick quality comprises 1/3 of the secrets in successful bird raising. Your chicks should be alert, abnormality-free (anatomical and symptoms-free), and experimenting immediately on feed and water after placement. Symptoms you would not want to see in your chicks are pasty vents, splay legs, marked uniformity problems, general weakness and DOA's! These are signs even the most skilled amongst us will find difficult to resurrect.

2. The basic behaviour of going nearer or farther from heat to compensate from what is given in their surroundings is the same. This heat behaviour, for me, is the most important in the first 10 days of life for any caretaker to look at. I suggest every 2 hour checking for this parameter in the 1st 3 days of life which can be extended to every 3 hours from the 4th day to the 7th. And mind you, I am talking about 24-hr monitoring. I have seen flocks go down the drain right from the 1st week, and its most common culprit is caretakers' lapses during the coldest part of the day. Mortality spike for a day or 2 only usually exposes this monitoring slippage.

3. Ensure adequate feeder and watering spaces per chick. This is self-explanatory and very important because we do not want the bigger chicks to get the majority of protein and energy sources leaving only the crumbs for the smaller ones. If left unchecked, in 2 wks you will have a uniformity problem which can worsen into bullying and cannibalism in a month's time.

4. Provide correct heat and air circulation. This is a usual mistake by novice farmers whereby they try to provide adequate heat to the expense of air circulation resulting into chick suffocation. This is especially true for those who use impermeable plastic or glass to surround their chicks inside their brooding areas. You will see the chicks gasping for air with their wings drooped to the sides pecking their toes resulting into numerous deaths in 2 days. Focusing on correct temperature is good but do not miss the fact that the chicks also need fresh air coming in. An inlet and an outlet near the top will suffice for this circulation parameter.

5. In both bird rearing, you need to prepare the place thoroughly with a checklist in tow especially for the materials you will need for the 1st month. A good house clean up and disinfection program should be formulated with the objective of killing insects and germs. For existing farms, I usually recommend the following: immediate insecticide application after the last flock leaves, thorough filth removal, and at least 2-stage disinfection - first using strong disinfectants that will penetrate remaining filth followed by a disinfectant which is good for both viruses and bacteria like aldehydes and iodines. Lastly, a checklist of all the possible things you will need during the 1st month will make you ready to handle any challenge in the future like diseases, temperature fluctuations, and even power outages.

6. Examine the feed texture and birds reaction to feed right in front of them. The objective is for them to eat and drink continually without selecting. This is important because some feedmillers inadvertently forget to change screens resulting into big sizes of grains which cannot be consumed by chicks. This will result into nutrient imbalance and later on bigger problems like low weights, cannibalism, and deaths.

However, there are also some differences in the way we should treat chickens and ph like in feed nutrition. Pheasants need more protein (26-28% CP) while broilers would need higher energy. Also, different chicken types and pheasants will have different brooding temperature standards which are also important to consider. Moreover, you also have to look at specific differences in lighting programs, especially for layer breeds. Nonetheless, the basic things I have enumerated above, will spell mostly the success or the failure in your brooding endeavour.

Good Luck and God Bless.

My Mareks Wisdom

There are 2 things I have learned about Mareks Disease for the past 15 years:

1. The primary breeders and hatcheries have a lot to do with your birds contacting the disease, and

2. The disease seemed to be mutating that you need more potent vaccines to provide protection for your birds (although this could be caused by # 1 too!).

I have seen so many flocks in my life and have encountered this disease many times and in many places. This disease is really terrible because it affects the birds when the farmers have spent substantial costs already (disease seen from 3 wks to 4 months old) plus it is so contagious that if you decide not to vaccinate your flock, the chances of it landing the disease is higher than the Lakers getting its three-peat in 2011!

Explaining how I arrived at the 2 conclusions I mentioned above is simple. First, I have seen layer and breeder strains which were doing well against the disease for so long until the primary breeders came up with new bird strain which according to them performs better in production. They will market it so well that the commercial hatcheries and individual farmers try it with eagerness only to find out in a couple of months that a lot of their grown pullets dying and exhibiting the pathognomonic sign of unilateral leg paralysis! The culpability of the breeder and hatchery was undeniable because of the magnitude of farmers affected, plus these birds were supposedly protected straight from the hatchery (since the vaccine is given from the hatchery).

Another lesson I saw concerning this disease was the seemingly mutating disease continuously trying to outsmart the vaccine manufacturers. In the mid-nineties, hatcheries were sleeping soundly with the SB1 vaccine strain combating the field virus. Then the actual no. of birds in a flock showing the signs increased and the manufacturers came up with the HVT strain. And then, they began advising that the SB1 had to be combined with the HVT strain to effectively protect the chicks from the disease and true enough, they indeed got some protection. But, in a couple of years again, when cases started to increase again, the Rispens strain of vaccine came out, which later on needed to be combined with the previous strains for better efficacy against the virus. WHEW!!! Which do you think acts fast, the virus mutation or the primary breeders?

I have nothing against the primary breeders because I believe that they are trying to develop their breeds in pursuit of better productivity. Maybe, they just lack the patience to wait for the standard no. of breed testing years before they release any new products to the market. Or maybe the disease is really so wise that it mutates so fast countering the speed of the vaccine manufacturers. NAH! My better judgement leans toward # 1!. However, I also believe that there are more responsible breeders who observe proper protocols in breed selection and do not have this kind of breed mess. In addition, I believe that even the chicken hobbyists who have several chickens at their backyards, are also culpable for the apparent increase in Mareks predisposition. Some breeds are born with inherent strong resistance to the disease but with the pairings done without back-up knowledge of breed genetics, the off springs are unfortunately becoming more vulnerable to Mareks.

At any rate, 3 indisputable Mareks facts as of late are:

1. It is really ubiquitous, meaning IT IS EVERYWHERE, esp where commercial chicken production is being done. Remember that this disease gets transmitted via feather dander or poultry dust which flies with the air!

2. The disease still has no cure. Sorry but if you see the disease ravaging a big portion of your flock, just condemn it and move on. I say a big portion because sometimes, a couple of birds might have inadvertently missed proper vaccination and got the disease but the rest of the flock is protected;

3. Flocks have to be vaccinated straight from the hatchery (or before reaching the farm) because somehow it needs to set in prior to challenge.

These things I have related are my personal observations and opinions regarding this disease and in no way directed to malign anybody or any breed for this matter.

Copyright Poultry Doc www.freepoultryconsultant.host56.com June 25, 2010

10 Tips to Help Your Birds Combat Heat Stress

Summer is here and it is becoming tough on your birds, esp on broilers and layers. Producing enough meat and eggs in the midst of this excessive heat sometimes is a big toll on our beloved birds! The following are my suggestions to combat the harmful effects of too much heat:

1. If possible, reformulate their diet to lower energy and increase vitamin/mineral contents. Usual energy sources inside feeds are corn, oil and wheat.
2. Night feeding. The idea behind this suggestion is changing the time when your birds will digest the feeds inside their bodies which usually result in heat dissipation. If they feed a lot in the morning, then the feeds get digested at noon time and they need to remove the resultant heat off their bodies by early afternoon time when the environment is not helping. You will see them panting too much, wings drooped, and trying to drink water a lot. Some birds which can't stand this, will just roll-over and die. Hence I suggest that you feed your birds (at least the majority of daily ration) in the night so that digestion will happen before dawn!
3. Ensure passage of air all throughout pens by removing air blocks like cobwebs, garbage, excessive tree branches, etc.
4. Constantly place fresh cool water! This is a must 24/7. Also, you have to feel this water because sometimes, the water tubes are overground and directly being warmed by the sun. Just like us, birds do not want to drink hot water. If the birds drink less water, effects will be felt in egg production, feed consumption, weight gain, and possible health conditions.
5. Addition of fans or other devices to increase air circulation and diffuse building of heat inside pens.
6. At this period, it is common that your birds' poo will become soft which in turn will increase ammonia levels in the pen and further aggravate the situation. If this happen, determine the cause of the diarrhea and address accordingly.
7. Place additional shades. This is important for free range chickens for they do need to hide from direct sunlight.
8. During excessive heat, you can assist your birds by placing anti-stress vitamins and electrolytes in their water for three days weekly.
9. For egg layers, excessive panting results in a shell component being released in the air causing incomplete egg shelling. You will see your breakages increasing and sometimes shell-less eggs coming out more often. Some farmers add calcium bicarbonates in water while some increase vitamin D inclusion, either in water or feeds. Feeding more greens for free range might be of help for this regard. In a pen, constant free supply of oyster shell grits is also advisable.
10. Ensure proper spacing - avoid overcrowding and wider water and feeding space allocation per bird.

These are just suggestions and I am sure you can find a couple more when you look closer at your birds' condition. Like what I always say, try to have an eye in looking at birds' survival instincts because just like us, they will try to survive based on what is given them.

copyright Poultry Doc www.freepoultryconsultant.host56.com

A Checklist on How to Improve Egg Production

1. Do your birds have it? - meaning are the genes proven already? It is hard to teach old dogs new tricks but it's harder to make a rooster lay an egg! This is why AA is a good breeder because it's a damn good layer (but I'm not sure about its broiler :->!

2. Did you RTLP (ready-to-lay-pullets) achieve its growing production targets? Important things to review here are disease history, weekly body size achievement, and mortality records. Most flocks with difficult pasts might exhibit a good peak of 90% but for a short period only and most of the time will just linger around 70-80% production. Also, these flocks have daily mortalities which annoy many farmers. Body size on the other hand, is important for rigidity and preparedness to produce a good no. of eggs including extra large ones. Usually, flocks with correct body framework have less egg bound and prolapse cases. Therefore, put emphasis on brooding to growing performance because they really hold the key to a good laying period!

3. Make sure your birds achieve its targeted feed consumption volume per age. This is critical because you might get into trouble by the onset of lay period where the birds are expected to increase in consumption dramatically within 1 month. If you fail to closely follow the guide feed increment from this 16th to 20th week, you might fail in achieving your peak production targets.

4. Is your flock uniform? This is an important growing parameter because you would like your birds to reach onset and peak production at the same time. Regular segregation of smaller birds to assist them in catching up is one tool that farmers usually do. Also, having a uniform flock will help you achieve # 3.

5. Do you have a good layer ration? Is it according to standards in terms of nutrition specs, more important of which are %CP, ME, Linoleic acid, Ca and P. Do not look too much in feed angle to solve your production shortfall if your feed has the standard protein, energy and mineral content. More likely than not, you have problems in #'s 2-4. Also, are you using correct raw materials? Meaning, are they digestible and clear of toxins? Formulation is easier in paper than what is actually being eaten by your birds.

6. Less disruptions please! Layers are tough reactors to disturbances as some of them cease egg production for a certain period while some die of egg-bound causes. Do not rock the boat when the boat is rocking! Meaning, less changes in feed formulas and raw materials, less manpower changes, nil power and water interruptions, and no predators please!

I didn't include vaccinations because it is based on area disease peculiarity. Nor do I undermine the importance of biosecurity. But in relation to directly improving egg production, the above list is major.

Copyright (6/14/10) Poultry Doc www.freepoultryconsultant.host56.com

Starting your Own Poultry Farm

I. Planning – What do you need to think about?

a. Do you have the money? If the feasibility says you need to have $10,000, I suggest you should have $35,000. A lot of feasibility studies are wrong making the next $10,000 your buffer for this mistake, while the next $10,000 is for force majeure or for things which are beyond your control like another mistake, no market, no water, diseases, labor problems, etc. My examples are not really force majeure but in reality, they are the more common reasons why farms fail. The $5K is for your family!
b. Do you have the passion? Come into this venture not because you dream about someone calling you a rich poultry businessman! Remember that when you start the operation, this will be a daily grind of determination for this is a live operation. This passion will carry you through the daily challenges which will inevitably befall you even when you are about to sleep!
c. Do you have the right place to build it? Think about this carefully by looking at the future, when your farm starts to emit smell and flies or when you become a source of envy in your community. You do not want to put all your efforts and resources in building your dreams only to be told by the community that you are not welcome anymore.
d. Do you have the technical know-how? This is the easiest among the 4 things you need to think about. If you have the passion and probably some money, this could be fixed. But you need this!

B. How to start – Making the 1st steps!

a. Make the blue-print. If you have the technical knowledge or the support technical group, begin drawing the following:

i. Capital Sources – as mentioned above, is the money ready? Whether all coming from your pocket or from the bank, the money should be always ready and not depending on monthly performances for releases. Finalize this one with certainty!
ii. Farm Design, which includes fencing and bio-security, poultry pens, office, water and power source, feed source, and residential house/s.
iii. Material Sourcing, which includes construction materials, chick suppliers, feeds and raw materials, water, medication and vaccines, and labor.
iv. Production plans, which include flock programming, feeds and formulations and production parameters.
v. Permits, which will legalize your business including future expansions.

Numbers ii, iii, and IV need technical know-how because they will spell the keys to successful poultry raising. Be sure you have it!

b. Review and rethink about letter a.
c. Review and rethink about letter b. Then finalize and GO!

Copyright 6/9/10 Poultry Doc www.freepoultryconsultant.host56.com

Brooding Practical Reminders

i) Aside from proper heat temperature maintenance, fresh air circulation is also important! I have seen a lot of flocks getting terrible 1st week mortalities due to caretakers' sole concentration on providing high temperature. As a result, the chicks are panting hard and eventually getting dehydrated and weak. An air inlet and air outlet near the roof of the brooding section can be placed for air circulation.

ii) Ensure right feed texture. Common sense dictates that feed particle size should fit the small mouth of chicks. If the corn size is big, you are practically denying the chicks their energy source. If left unchecked for 1 wk, expect the chicks to be weak and lethargic from 2nd week onwards. It is always prudent to include this feed particle size check-up in the checklist prior to chick arrival.

iii) Again, have an eye for survival instincts being displayed by the chicks in relation to what is being afforded them. Like for example, excessive heat would show the chicks getting as far as possible from heat source. Also, big particle size or poor feed formula would show chicks just playing with the feed (if they even want to play with it!), and as a result, you find no need to replenish their feed pans. And as always, check the condition of the flock for level of activity and placement inside brooding area. Be attentive! (6/7/10)

These tips were also posted at Technical Tid-bits section of www.freepoultryconsultant.host56.com

Controlling Poultry Cannibalism

This is one of the more common field problems encountered by poultry farmers worldwide, and from actual experience, a farmer can see it affect his flock from a few birds to intolerable levels whereby he can see birds killing each other on a daily basis. It is really disheartening esp. if one has spent a lot already on his flock just to find out that they are dying crazy uncontrollably. What I've seen so far as the top 3 common causes are:

a. Genetic predisposition, either caused by natural aggressiveness of the breed or man-made, caused inadvertently by breeding companies in pursuit of finding the "competitive edge" in poultry genetics. I am really appalled by this man-made cause because primary breeding companies as well as poultry schools would always say that poultry genetics run several years of research and testing before they release any new breeds in the market. They will say it as if it is a guarantee, but, by no means not! I have seen it firsthand that a breeding company spoils their brands on national and international scale after coming out with supposedly better quality birds only to find out that these birds are too aggressive and delicate that a slight mistake in poultry management (or even none at all!), you will suddenly see your birds killing each other. I have reached this conclusion several times before when I see that a new breed or variant of a breed comes out in the market and within a year, numerous farmers complain about cannibalism. In return commercial hatcheries are beleaguered by these complaints and do not know how to respond only to find out that the primary breeder source has tumbled in its breeding program and has scrapped the purported variant!

b. Feed nutrition inadequacy- this is an old school reasoning that probably the salt level in the formulation is low resulting in the birds looking around the flock aggressively in pursuit of the inadequate element. This might be true but in my experience, I see the birds having diarrhea problems in the beginning making them pick on their cloaca, or if not, the other birds picking on each others' cloaca! Once pecked, the cloaca swells and then the redness makes every bird crazy inside the pen and will not stop until the poor birds get degutted:->! Seriously, it would seem to me that really it starts with formula imbalance, creating some diarrhea problem and developing into a behavioral thing inside the affected flocks.

c. Mismanagement - usually due to poor spacing and lighting. As what I've said in my 1st technical tid-bit in my website, birds are like humans just trying to survive based on what is given or afforded them. If the pen spacing is so scarce, the bullies will come out of the pecking order and start killing the runts. In the same manner, the smaller birds are in the receiving end in cases of poor lighting, poor pen cleanliness, excessive heating, etc.

To control cannibalism, one has to develop an eye on the above mentioned causes because once the behavior has developed within the flock, it is hard to eradicate it esp. if the cause is the breed itself. If the cause is no. 2 or 3, the earlier the farmer sees them and starts correcting the cause, the better. Some of the control measures I've seen are: 1. continuous segregation of both the pecker and the pecked, 2. lowering light intensity (but be careful in doing this on layers/breeders), 3. placing diversionary tactics inside pens like red-colored strings or toys, 4. immediate treatment of pecked area with something that will repulse the pecker (some even put hot peppers on the wound!, others use pine tar), 5. placement of eye covers or blinders (usually done in gamebirds), 6. lowering of temperature. In short, be attentive to your flocks' needs!

Copyright (6/4/10) Poultry Doc www.freepoultryconsultant.host56.com

Much Ado about Bird Flu

In retrospect, I consider the brouhaha on bird flu all but negative hype which resulted into deaths, not from bird-flu afflicted persons, but psychological and economical "deaths" afflicted poultry farmers. The poultry industry downturn from the "bird-flu" affected countries were so severe that it became almost impossible for farmers to come out of financial debts when the brouhaha subsided. There are even reports of actual people deaths coming from farmers committing suicides from depression. And come to think about it, the scare is caused just by alarmist scientists who fear that the disease might eventually get transmitted from human to human which might start a disease spread of pandemic proportions! And these alarmists became very palatable for media to devour and broadcast which resulted into widespread fear and non-patronage of poultry products. So sad.