GROWING BROILERS
Which has more square footage?Football field
Modern day broiler house
Which is longer?Football field
Modern day broiler house
Chicken mapHATCHERY
BROILERS LAYERS
EGGS
CORNISH
PROCESSING
4 WEEKS8 WEEKS
objectives
• List the steps to raising broilers with 85% accuracy.
• Accurately describe a method of heating with 100 % accuracy.
• Accurately describe a method of cooling with 100% accuracy.
• Describe a ventilation method orally with 90% accuracy.
Evolution of chicken houses
• Hand water/feed• chain feeder• windows• Side/end curtains, houses ran N to S • Curtain machines connected to thermostat
• Manual wenches• Breaker boxes
statistics
• 4 - 40/400 1985-86 • 80,000 chickens• 250,000 ++ chickens today
• 32/300 – 9,600 ft2, 10,000 4 # 12 – 14 weeks• 40/300 -15,000• 40/400 - 20,000• 43/500 – 27,000• 66/600 – 40,000 ft2 50,000 6# 7-8 weeks
ventilation
• Tunnel fans --------- 54”• Remove ammonia
• Vent boards (bring in fresh air)• Stir fans – no vents on, stagnant air• Attic vents• Blow heat down in winter, fresh air trapped in attic
cooling
• Power mode (vent boards)• Tunnel mode ( tunnel fans) with or w/out cool cells• Size of bird, outside conditions
• Cool cells- swamp coolers (radiator)85 deg. • Foggers – misters 100 deg +
heating
• Propane / natural gas
• Attic vents
• Radiant brooder stoves
• $60,000 to $30,000 / year propane (200,000 birds)
lighting
• LED $40 each- $5000 / house
• Min 3 years• Use less energy• Money saved on energy cost will pay for the bulbs
Feeding
• Feeder trays/lids• Chick mate• 7-10 days
• Feed pans• 14” apart
• Augers
Set up
• Shavings/rice hulls
• Paper under feeder lids
• Feeder lids
• Up to temp 24 hours before chicks, to heat floor and equip
• Lower water, feed lines, stoves
• Ventilation and light programs
• Migration panels/tubes
Getting chickens
• Chickens are hatched the day of
• Brought in on climate controlled truck• Used to be school busses
• Brought into houses on forklift on a pallet• 120 trays on a pallet, 12,000 birds• pallet pulled back as trays are dumped• 12,500 birds per section
Daily
• Pick up dead and record numbers
• Water pressure
• Feed
• Air quality
• Temperature
• Comfort
• Equipment repair
selling
• Catch crew
• 5,000 / truck • 50,000 birds in 8 hours
• Growers must raise feed, water, and stoves to be out of the way
preparation• Decake • 2” deep
• Windrowing • 103 deg in 24 hours
• Litter saving
• Top-dress with shavings or rice hulls
• Clean out can be contracted out where everything is cleaned out and new shavings or rice hulls are hauled in
• Litter is hauled out of state to row crop farmers- mainly due to high regulations to be spread here.
Feed conversion
• Amount of feed compared to the average weight of chicken determines performance
• 4# 1.75/lb of body weight
• 6.5# 1.9
Myths
• There are no steroids/hormones in the chicken feed. Restrictions do not allow anything to be put into the feed, the growers will have to sign a contract abiding by this rule.
Reflection
• What new technology is used in modern chicken houses
• How many chickens can a single person raise with todays technology.
• What job opportunities are there with a broiler operation.
? To answer
• Why is chicken important to agriculture.
• What new technology is used in modern chicken houses
• How many chickens can a single person raise with todays technology.
• What job opportunities are there with a broiler operation.
Reasons to learn
• Job opportunities in nw arkansas• Simmons• Cobb Vantress• Tyson• Georges
• Knowledge of where food comes from