Brooding Management for Day Old Chicks

What’s Brooding Period

Brooding is a period immediately after the hatch when the farmers put the day old chicks in the brooder house. A recently hatched chick has not yet developed their own mechanism to regulate its own body temperature. Hence, it can’t maintain its body temperature properly for the first weeks and it is subject to chilling in the winter season when extra heat is not provided from externally; Therefore, the chicks will not take required feeds and water which will decrease the growth and improper development of internal organs. Hence, good temperature, proper ventilation and humidity in the brooder house are very essential during brooding period.
The brooding operation is followed during the first week of chicks’ life. Brooding practices vary in different countries according to the farmers’habbits. Some of them use 1/3 area of the poultry house for brooding while some use 1/2 area of the house for brooding.

Preparation of Brooder House

Brooder house should be ready for the chicks before they are put in the house. First the brooder house should be cleaned and disinfected at least one week before the chicks arrive. When the equipment are properly cleaned, the house should be allowed to dry out thoroughly. It’s required to preheating the brooder house 24 hours before the chicks arrive.

Temperature in Brooder House

Radiant heat poultry gas brooder is recommended to use in the brooder house. Adjust the infrared gas brooder for 24 hours before the arrival of chicks and adjust the temperature to 35°C. Put the sensor of the infrared brooder near the chicks. Lower the temperature by 2.8°C each week until it decreases to 21°C. Temperature of 21°C appears to be ideal during the growing period. Too low or too high temperature will cause poor growth rate and ultimately poor performance of birds.

Here is a photo from one Kenyan poultry farm. We can see the day old chicks are everywhere which means that the temperature homogeneity is perfect. It shows the very good radiation and heat efficiency of DAMLY infrared gas brooder for poultry.
In fact, the small chickens when they arrive in the farm, they are very sensitive to the radiation. If it’s too hot they go near the wall and when it’s too cold they gather together. When they are everywhere which means the perfect environment inside the room so they will eat and drink normally and grow quickly.

Ventilation in Brooder House

Fresh air is required for good health of chicks. Poor ventilation results in accumulation of carbon monoxide, ammonia and wet litter condition in brooder house. If the concentration of carbon monoxide is higher than 0.01 percent which will be poisonous to chicks. Ammonia irritates the eyes of chicks and retards growth. The level of ammonia should be less than 10 PPM.

Lighting in Brooder House

Majority of broiler farmer provide a 23 hours photoperiod and one hour darkness in young stock which is advantageous over the continues lighting as the former allows maximum growth while giving the birds some experience of darkness so that they are less apt to panic during electricity failure. Light effect on growth rate is mainly due to the type of chick activity which has a bearing on their food intake induced by the period of lighting.