Brooding chicks

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Brooding chicks

• Michael Czarick
• The University of Georgia

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Canada
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Canada brooding
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Canada
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Barbados
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Chicks cannot regulate their body temperature...
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Chicks cannot regulate their body temperature...

• Air temperature goes down.
• a chicks body temperature goes down.

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Chicks cannot regulate their body temperature..
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Chicks cannot regulate their body temperature..

• Air temperature goes down
• a chicks body temperature goes down.
• Chicks spend more time huddling.
• Digestion and immune systems are impaired.

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Chicks body temperature(air temperature of 68oF)
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Hypothermia in humans

• 97oF
• begin to shiver
• 95oF
• violent shivering
• speech difficulty
• sluggish thinking
• will require assistance to get out of hypothermia

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Chicks cannot regulate their body temperature..

• Slightly low brooding temperatures can have a big
  effect on performance.

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Brooding Temperatures

• Floor temperatures

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Stratification
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Stratification
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Large differences in temperature with small
changes in height
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Floor temperatures
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Hot ceilings
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Hot ceilings
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Ceilings are cool at night or when it is raining
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Brooding at 80oF vs 90oF(weight at 10 days)
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Brooding at 80oF vs 90oF(feed conversion at 10
days)
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Brooding temperatures and bird performance

• Four different temperature schemes
• week 1 week 2 week 3
• 95 F 90 F 85 F
• 90 F 85 F 80 F
• 85 F 80 F 75 F
• 80 F 75 F 70 F

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Brooding temperatures and bird performance
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Brooding temperatures and performance
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Brooding temperatures and performance
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Short term cold temperature exposure can also
have long term effects...

• Subjected day-old-chicks to an air temperature of
  55oF for 45 minutes
• Grew the birds out at normal temperatures and
  checked weights at 35 days of age
• Compared to chicks which were not cold stress

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Effects of a short term cold stress
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Bird health issues

• Runting/Stunting Syndrome

Helicopter wings
Uniformity problems
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Runting/Stunting

• Symptoms
• Number of immobile chicks upon placement huddling
  around feed and water
• Sometimes see feather abnormalities
• Peak of problem 10-12 days
• Large differences in weights

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Runting/Stunting
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Runting/Stunting

• Built-up litter is clearly infectious
• Short downtime appears to exacerbate the problem
• Multi-age houses
• Low brooding temperatures increase the effects of
  runting/stunting
• lower bird weights poor uniformity

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Runting/Stunting

• Ways to minimize
• RSS agents are clearly sensitive to heat.
• heat treatment of house between flocks should
  help.
• Clean house between flocks
• Make sure you have 10 days of downtime
• Brood chicks properly

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Weight distribution
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I am doing the same things so why am I doing
worse
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Broiler Performance
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Broiler Performance(sale age)
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Broiler Performance(weight)
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Broiler Performance(gain per day)
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Broiler Performance(feed conversions)
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1950s Bird
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Genetics have changed
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Modern broiler is very different...

• In order to get the most out of the bird it is
  crucial to have the proper growing environment.
• Air temperature
• Air quality
• Air movement
• etc.
• The bird is fine tuned for performance not
  hardiness.

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Modern broiler

• Is designed for performanceand as a result is
  not as tough as those grown in the past.

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Potential performance problems

• Heat stress

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Potential performance problems

• Health stress issues
• Heart problems
• Leg problems
• Respiratory problems
• Runting/stunting

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Bird Weights (1991 - 1999)
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Gain per day (1991 - 1999)
Daily Rate of Gain has Increased 12
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Changing broiler
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Brooding at 80oF vs 90oF(weight at 10 days)
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Brooding at 80oF vs 90oF(weight at 10 days)
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Dramatic changes in growing chickens

• Genetics
• Nutrition

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Housing?
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Brooding Temperatures

• Floor temperature is crucial
• MINIMUM floor temperature of 85oF
• Ideal floor temperature 90 - 92oC with some areas
  of the house as warm as 105oC

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Floor temperature in furnace house with
circulation fans
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Floor temperature histogram
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Floor temperatures in house with radiant brooders
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Brooding Temperatures

• Floor temperature is crucial
• MINIMUM floor temperature of 85oF
• Ideal floor temperature 90 - 22oF with some areas
  of the house as warm as 105oF
• Dry litter

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Damp Litter
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Damp Litter
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Wet Litter
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Wet litter
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Wet litter/no heat
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Supplement heat

• Unless the outside temperature never drops below
  85oF, houses should have supplemental heat to
  maintain 90oF.

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House without supplemental heat
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House without supplemental heat
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Supplemental heat not added
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Are heat lamps sufficient?

• How much heating do they really do?

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Small floor heated area
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Cool floors away from lamp
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Cool floors away from lights
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Adjusting lamp height can help a little
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Target temperature beneath should be 105oF
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Are the chicks attracted to the heat or the light?
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Are the attracting birds more than heating?
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Chicks crowding to light
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Chicks piling
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Chicks piling
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If lights primarily attract chicks

• they should be placed near feed and water

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Heat Lights/Lamps

• Cover a VERY small area
• Three square feet per lamp
• 100 chicks per lamp?
• Questionable benefits in most situations
• Coverage area can be increased slightly by
  increasing height of lamp

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Heat Lights/Lamps

• Cover a VERY small area
• Three square feet per lamp
• 100 chicks per lamp?
• Questionable benefits in most situations
• Coverage area can be increased slightly by
  increasing height of lamp
• Not all heat lamps are the same
• Different lamps need to be studied

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Heat Lights/Lamps

• Cover a VERY small area
• Three square feet per lamp
• 100 chicks per lamp?
• Questionable benefits in most situations
• Coverage area can be increased slightly by
  increasing height of lamp
• Not all heat lamps are the same
• Different lamps need to be studied
• Lights are not a heating system!

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Are heat lamps really doing anything?

• Some produces dont even use them and their
  performance is not that much different

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Chick weights
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If you want to produce good birds

• You must have a heating system.

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Pancake Brooders

• Heat a much larger floor area than lights

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Floor temperature profile(room air temperature
85oF)
Seek their own comfort zone
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The amount of floor heating produced by an
individual brooder is much greater than a
light/lamp
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Floor heat profile of pancake brooder
4 - 6
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Coverage area can be increased by raising a
brooder
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How much floor area is heated by a conventional
brooder?

• Area 3.14 X R2
• 3.14 X 25 ft2
• 80 ft2 (approximately)

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Pancake brooder floor heating coverage area

• Approximately 100 square feet per brooder
• Or
• Approximately 1,200 chicks per brooder

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Radiant brooders

• Larger emitting surface tends to produce more
  radiant heat

110 in2
250 in2
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Radiant brooders

• Installed high above floor to distribute the
  large amount of radiant heat produced by a
  radiant brooder over a larger area.

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Radiant brooder floor coverage area
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Floor temperature profile
Radiant heat zone approximately 16 in diameter
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How big is the active radiant heat zone of a
radiant brooder?

• Area 3.14 X R2
• 3.14 X 64 ft2
• 200 ft2 (approximately)

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Radiant brooders
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Radiant brooders
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Floor temperatures
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Radiant brooders produce even more radiant heat
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Radiant brooder coverage area

• Approximately 200 square feet per brooder
• Or
• Approximately 2,400 chicks per brooder

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Radiant brooders in Barbados
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Ideal brooding temperatures
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Ideal brooding temperatures
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Chick weights
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Radiant brooders too low
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Radiant brooders too low
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Radiant brooders too low
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Radiant brooders too low
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Brooder rings

• In loose, poorly insulated houses where
  maintaining the proper house temperature is
  difficult if not impossible brooder rings should
  be strongly considered.

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Brooding rings
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Brooder ring acting as a thermal barrier
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Brooding ring
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Brooder ring
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Brooding ring
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How large should the brooder ring be?

• It should be large enough that the chicks can get
  away from the heat if they want.

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Brooder ring size
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Radiant brooders
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Brooder ring size
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Brooder ring size
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Radiant brooder too low in ring
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Radiant brooder too low in ring
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Brooder ring size

• The higher the brooder heat output, the higher
  the brooder should be installed, the larger the
  ring should be.

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Small radiant brooder
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Brooder ring size
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Medium sized brooder
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Brooder ring size
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Medium sized brooder
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Medium sized brooder
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Medium sized brooder
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Large radiant brooders
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Radiant Tube Heaters
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Infrared Thermometers
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If you are going to add brooders

• You must tighten your houses.
• Half the heat produced by a brooder is in the
  form of hot air.

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Openings must be closed
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Curtains must be held tightly against side wall
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Top of curtain is not held tightly against side
of house
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Curtains must be held tightly against side wall
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Curtains must be very tight
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Loose curtain
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Curtains must have at least a 8 overlap at top
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Curtains must be sealed at bottom
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Curtains should be with stripped at bottom
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Tight curtain
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Curtain flaps with wood strip

• Concept taken from pullet breeder houses to
  prevent light leakage.

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Curtain flaps with wood strip
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Curtain flaps with wood strip
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Curtain flaps
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Full curtain pocket
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Tent brooding
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Ideally the houses would be insulated
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mczarick_at_engr.uga.edu
www.poultryventilation.com