1. BROODING MANAGEMENT THE CRITICAL PERIOD Present by : JIRAWAT SEETHAO
Technical Service
Charoen Phokphan Food Public Company Limited

2. The objective of proper brooding is to develop
appetite as early as possible.

3. Back To The Basic Houses Preparation and Biosecurity.
Chick Quality and Transportation.
Feed Quality and Feeding.
Water Quality and Drinker.
Management and Knowledge.

4. THE FIRST 48 HOURS:
Maximize
Immunity
Performance
Livability
To achieve all of them come from yolk and feed consumption.

5. THE FIRST 48 HOURS: Proper Temperature Humidity Feeding programs
water management
Air quality
are also essential components of brooding to avoid stress.

6. THE FIRST 48 HOURS:
It is essential to assess and correct early management problems to achieve full genetic performance potential and maximum immunity.

7. Building Performance
Proper management during the first 48 to 72 hours of a broiler chicks life is critical to:
maximize immunity,
performance and
livability.

8. Building Performance
Chickens yield breeds in particular are still developing
The immune system,
The thyroid gland and
Intestinal tract

9. Building Performance
The thyroid gland is responsible for producing thyroxine (and ultimately, T3), a hormone involved in :
protein synthesis
growth
development of the skeleton
development of the nervous systems
tolerance of stress.

10. Building Performance
They help form the basis of performance that reaches the genetic potential.
It is essential to protect the development of these organs through stress-free early management.

11. Building Performance
Damage to these systems will irreversibly affect growth and feed conversion for the life of the flock.

12. Building Performance
Avoiding stress through proper management is critical because stress induces the release of immunosuppressing hormones called corticosteroids.
It can also encourage the growth of unwanted pathogens such as salmonella or campylobacter.

13. Building Performance
Stress can turn very minor infections into life and performance-threatening infections.

14. Environmental Factors to Consider When Brooding Chicks

15. Thermoneutral Zone The thermoneutral zone is the place where the
temperature
humidity
Ventilation
interact to produce a chick that is neither heat nor cold-stressed.

16. All 3 components
are
significant

17. Temperature Ambient Temperature (Air Temperature)
Effective Temperature (Chick Feel)

18. Temperature Maintain the correct temperature.
This factor is crucial in chick brooding, especially during the first seven to ten days of the chick's life.

19. Temperature
Early in life, the chick is poorly equipped to regulate its metabolic processes to raise or lower body temperature.
Chilling or overheating during this crucial period can be disastrous.

20. Temperature
Death is often the result of temperature extremes, but chilling or overheating can damage young chicks without causing death.

21. Temperature and Chick Physiology
Temperatures of 35 °C or higher cause a highly significant drop in cardiac output and blood pressure.

22. Temperature and Chick Physiology
Table 1. Average body temperature as influenced by age.
Age of Chicks
Average Body Temperature
1 day
39.7 °C
2 days
40.1 °C
4 days
41.0 °C
5 days
41.4 °C
10 days

23. Temperature and Chick Physiology
Maintain proper temperature levels and use good husbandry practices to prevent long-term effects such as:
low growth rate.
reduced uniformity.
poor feed conversion.

24. Recommended Brooding Temperatures by House Type and Age
Table 2
Age
Brooding Temperatures
Conventional House*
Controlled Environment House**
1st wk.
32.2oC (90oF)
oC (85-88oF)
2nd wk.
29.4oC (85oF)
oC (80-83oF)
3rd wk.
26.7oC (80oF)
oC (75-78oF)
4th wk.
23.9oC (75oF)
5th wk.
21.1oC (70oF)
6th wk.
Usually measure at chick height, one foot from edge of hover
** Usually measure at chick height

25. Temperature
If a house is too cold, a chick's body temperature will decrease,
which can stunt its growth and/or make it more susceptible to disease.

26. Temperature
If the house is too hot, the chick's body temperature will rise,
which can lead to dehydration problems.

27. Temperature
Avoidance of temperature stress, either hot or cold, is key to proper development of the thyroid and gastro-intestinal tract of the young bird.

28. Temperature
The actual environmental temperature is the single greatest determinant of chick temperature,
But it is influenced by both humidity and airflow.

29. Humidity
Humidity is the heat transfer agent.
Sufficient humidity must be present to
transfer heat to cold chicks
or away from warm chicks.
Chickens lose heat to the environment by evaporation of moisture primarily from the respiratory tract.

30. Humidity
High RH increases the apparent temperature at a particular dry bulb temperature,
Whereas, low RH decreases apparent temperature.

31. Humidity
High temperatures have a more adverse effect when the relative humidity is 65 percent or higher.
House is near 60 percent relative humidity, the combination of high temperature and humidity can cause serious problems.

32. Humidity
High humidity at the wrong temperature may increase the speed at which
heat is lost from chicks in a cold environment
may cause rapid overheating in a hot environment.

33. Humidity The level of humidity appears to be critical for poultry.
Results show that increased relative humidity results in depressed feed consumption.

34. Table 3 : Feed Consumtion
Relative Humidity (%)
Dry-Bulb Temperatures 37 49 56 67 73 82
Feed Consumed (grams)
32.2°C 44 14
27.2°C 50
22.2°C 61 47

35. Interaction Between Temperature and Relative Humidity

36. Effective Temperature

37. Relative Humidity recommended : first three weeks = 60 % to 70 %
next four weeks = 40% to 60%

38. Recommend Brooding Temperature (Ross2003)
Too Low OK

39. Optimum Temperature
Maximum
Relative Humidity 60%
Minimum
Average

40. VENTILATION

41. VENTILATION Air quality is critical during the brooding period.
Ventilation is required during the brooding period to maintain temperatures at the targeted level and to allow sufficient air exchange to prevent the accumulation of harmful gases such as:
carbon monoxide.
carbon dioxide.
ammonia.

42. VENTILATION
Gases such as carbon dioxide and ammonia (in water vapor) are heavier than oxygen.
If they are present in the house, they will tend to sink to floor level, displacing oxygen.

43. O2
CO2 + NH3

44. VENTILATION
The result can be the dual problem of ammonia blindness due to ammonia concentration at the floor,
and ascites due to low oxygen at floor level!.

45. Lack of Oxygen (High Co2 )

46. VENTILATION
Establishing minimum ventilation rates from one day of age will ensure fresh air is supplied to chicks at frequent, regular intervals.
Stirring fans can be used to maintain evenness of air quality at chick level.

47. Airflow
Airflow impacts the temperature of the chick through wind chill.
It is also needed to distribute temperature uniformly throughout the environment.

48. Airflow
Significant airflow is necessary in stacked chicks to remove excess heat.
Too much airflow may chill chicks after placement in the houses.

49. Air velocity and Cooling Effect Michael Garden: Aviagen 2005
(FPM)
1 week old (°C)
4 weeks old (°C)
7 weeks old (°C)
100 -2 -1
200 -6 -3
300
-12
400 -8 -4
500
-10

50. Estimate wind chill effect broiler chick
1wk
2wk
3wk
4wk
5wk
6wk
7wk
100 2
1.75
1.5 1
0.5
0.25
200 6 5 4 3
300 12 10 8
400 14 9 7
500

51. Chick Felt at Air Temperature 32°C
Age
Target
Air Velocity (FPM) °C
100
200
300
400 1 33 30 26 20 2 27 22 18 3 29
30.5 28 24 4 31 5
31.5 25 6 32

52. The Effective Temperature of Different Age of Bird

53. Minimum Ventilation Rate
The most practical way to calculate the air-flow is by the rule of thumb;
provide 0.22 cubic feet of air-flow per minute per kilogram of body weight of the chickens in the house for each 1° F of temperature of outside air (Table 2).
Key Factors for Poultry House Ventilation
Larry Vest, Extension Poultry Scientist & Bobby L. Tyson, Extension Engineer

54. Table2 :Suggested Air Flow
Outside Air Temperature
CFM per kg bodyweight
at 30-60%RH
(°F)
(°C) 40
4.4
0.236 60
15.6
0.353 80
26.7
0.471
100
37.8
0.589

55. How to Calculate CFM Bird Age Bwt. No. bird Total wt. CFM/B Total CFM1
0.075
10,000
750
0.5
375 2
0.225
9900
2228
1114 3
0.680
9850
6698
3349 4
1.086
9800
10643
5322 5
1.708
9750
16653
8326 6
2.040
9650
19686
9843 7
2.480
9550
23684
11842

56. estimate wind chill effect broiler chick
1wk
2wk
3wk
4wk
5wk
6wk
7wk
100 2
1.75
1.5 1
0.5
0.25
200 6 5 4 3
300 12 10 8
400 14 9 7
500

57. Chick Felt at Air Temperature 32°C
Age
Target
Air Velocity (FPM) wk °C
100
200
300
400 1 33 30 26 20 2 27 22 18 3 29
30.5 28 24 4 31 5 25
31.5 6 32

58. Chick Felt at Night Time (22°C)
Age
Target
Air Velocity (FPM) wk °C
100
200
300
400 1 33 20 16 2 30
20.25 17 3 29
20.5 18 14 4 28 21 19 5 25
21.5 6 22
21.75
Air Velocity can Chill The Bird and induce to infect by diseases.

59. WATER AND FEED
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60. WATER AND FEED
Prior to chick delivery, a final check must be made of feed and water availability and distribution within the house.
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61. Feed Feed must be within the comfort zone of the chicks.
Proper physical composition (good crumbles, not pellets or mash) will encourage uniform distribution of nutrients and efficient consumption by the chicks.
Proper nutritional composition will give the chicks a good start.

62. Water
Water must be easily available to the chick, and it must reside within the chicks comfort zone.
Nipple drinker height is important to adjust according to the actual size of the chick delivered.
Pressure must be low enough to allow easy access to water for a small chick, while not wetting the floor.

63. Water
Water Temperature =18-24°C

64. Water
360o nipples are easier for chicks of all sizes to trigger than nipples that must be pushed straight up.
Check nipples by depressing them lightly from the side, to see how easy it is to access water.
Older drinkers may become less responsive to the light pressure a small chick might apply.

65. MONITORING EARLY CHICK PERFORMANCE

66. Overheating in the holding area or during transport
Careful troubleshooting by taking rectal temperatures is needed to discover and correct overheating problems in the holding area or during chick transport to the farm.

67. Overheating in the holding area or during transport
The air temperature within the basket of chicks will be higher than the surrounding air temperature.
One hundred 40-gram chicks at 32.2°C will produce 165 Btu’s per hour.
If the air circulation stops, the temperature within the basket will rise 0.75°C per minute resulting in an ambient temperature around the chicks of 40°C in about 10 minutes.

68. How do I know when my chicks are in the zone?
The only way to know for certain is to take rectal temperatures of chicks throughout the house (at least 3 locations).

69. Comfortable: Rectal temperatures are solidly at 40-40.8oC.
At the farm, the chicks will spread out, eating and drinking.
The chicks have warm feet.

70. Hot: Rectal temperature is over 41.1oC. The chick is panting.
In the houses, a chirping distress sound may occasionally be heard.
Chicks may move away from the heat source and line up along the wall.

71. Hot:
At the hatchery or during transport, the chicks cannot move out of their uncomfortable environment - panting is their only option.

72. Cold: Rectal temperature less than 40oC.
The chicks will be less active.
At the house, the cold chicks may huddle or bunch around the heat source or in feed lids.
The low temperature chick has cold feet.

73. Struggling Rectal temperature just at 40oC. The chick has cold feet.
These chicks may be more difficult to pick out of the group without actually taking temperatures.
Struggling chicks are diverting energy that should be used for growth and development to temperature maintenance.

74. Chilling in the first 12-48 hours of brooding
Chicks do not have the ability to control their body temperature completely until they are 2 weeks old.
They are reacting as a cold-blooded animal during the first few days.
Floor temperature and insulation will be more important to chicks during this time than the air temperature.

75. Chilling in the first 12-48 hours of brooding
Floor temperature in the area of the feed and water should be 32-33°C at placement.

76. Chilling in the first 12-48 hours of brooding
Smaller chicks from young flock sources have more trouble controlling body temperature than larger chicks:
They will be the easiest to chill.
Floor temperature is more critical to these chicks, and warm temperatures must be held longer to achieve maximum survival and performance.

77. Chilling in the first 12-48 hours of brooding
Insulation from the cold and condensation inherent with concrete flooring is also essential.
At least 5 to 7 cm of fluffy dry litter material is needed.

78. Chilling in the first 12-48 hours of brooding
Students at the University of Georgia6 submitted chicks to 12.8°C for 45 minutes.
At 35 days of age, the liveweight of the cold-stressed chicks was 0.11 kg less than the normally brooded controls.

79. Chilling in the first 12-48 hours of brooding
Increased metabolism required to meet the demand for heat production in a chilled chick requires increased oxygen.
The heart works harder to meet this need, predisposing the chick to ascites later on.

80. Chilling in the first 12-48 hours of brooding
Litter with a tendency to mat and hold moisture at the surface should be avoided.
Thin floor coverage may be adequate for summer brooding,
but doesn’t provide enough protection from cold concrete and moisture in the cooler seasons.

81. Key Point
Litter temperature is
critical
Not air temperature.

82. Over Heating in the first 12-48 hours of brooding
Ernst et. al.4 found that heat stress at 40°C (environmental temperature) for one hour significantly reduced growth rate to 16 days.
The weight difference persisted with no compensatory gain!

83. Over Heating in the first 12-48 hours of brooding
Van der Hel et. al.5 examined feed intake at environmental temperatures over 35-36°C, especially during the first 48 hours.
He note that exposure to temperatures above this is critical temperature resulted in decreased feed intake during the following 14 days, as well as increased mortality.

84. Chilling in the first 12-48 hours of brooding
Cold stress negatively impacts all chicks,
young flock sources suffer the greatest impact,
most noticeably reflected as dehydration or starve-out losses.

85. Remedial Measures?
Studies have shown that some of the damage caused by early stress is irreversible:
A percentage of the genetic potential will be permanently lost.
Measures can be taken to minimize the impact of short-term management lapses and the subsequent performance loss:

87. Culling
Avoid culling before day 7, especially in flocks composed of chicks from
young breeders,
mixed breeder sources or
split placements.
Give chicks an opportunity to start.

88. Culling By day 7, however, poor chicks should be obvious.
These struggling chicks will serve as an infection source and a drain on feed and floor space.
No amount of medication will fix this chicks. Cull them from the flock.

89. Walk the chicks!
When chicks are congregating in feed lids, along walls or in corners, frequent walking will force the birds to move out.
This allows the chicks in the center to access feed and water, and may prevent sweating due to condensation in the groups.

90. Walk the chicks!
Attempt to correct the temperature, humidity or air movement issues that are causing the bunching in the first place, but try to manually keep the chicks spread out in the meantime.

91. Be alert to flock differences!
The identical environment may produce 40°C rectal temperatures in chicks from older flocks but only °C rectal temperatures in chicks from younger flocks.
Don’t assume that the birds will always respond to management the same way!.

92. Be alert to flock differences!
All of these measures may be helpful to the borderline chick.
The unstressed chick does not need them, and the severely stressed chick will probably be irreversibly damaged,
and ultimately culled.

93. Vitamins? Electrolytes? Antibiotics?
The use of vitamins, electrolytes or antibiotics will not be deemed cost-effective by a large integrated operation.
On a house-by-house basis, however, logical use may improve the performance of the struggling chicks.

94. Take time to Assess and Correct the Problem!
The first 48 hours go by quickly.
It is easy to let the problems go, especially since the rectal temperatures of most birds will be °C after 48 hours anyway.

95. Take time to Assess and Correct the Problem!
Do not let it slip by!
Failure to properly assess and correct problems flock after flock lets the genetic performance potential of every flock slip through your fingers!

96. Take time to Assess and Correct the Problem!
Check rectal temperatures of chicks in hatchers, holding areas and during delivery to make adjustments in airflow where possible to correct problems.
Check rectal temperatures of chicks in the barn after placement.

97. Take time to Assess and Correct the Problem!
Make corrections in early management for the current flock, or adjust management for future flocks as needed.
Be sure to walk chicks to keep them spread out, eating and drinking, until the corrections take effect.

98. Take time to Assess and Correct the Problem!
Observe feeding and drinking behavior.
Note any repeated incidence of the indicators of poor air quality:
ascites and ammonia blindness.
Correct early air quality issues with improved ventilation and temperature control.

99. Take time to Assess and Correct the Problem!
Do not rely on remedial measures once damage is already done!
Some of the lost performance is irretrievable!

100. Conclusion
Before chicks arrive, inspect the house closely to ensure proper setup.
After a poor start, there is little time to compensate for the lost growth as a chick's life is only approximately 1000 hours.

101. Conclusion
Thus, every hour represents 0.10% of the chick's life. In a 24-hour period, 2.4% performance can be lost.
Many producers recognize that performance lost the first day or first week will be reflected in final performance results.

102. Take Time For a Good Start

103. THANK YOU

104. References
1. Hill, D, The crucial first 48 hours in the life of a chick. Proceedings of Virginia Poultry Health and Management Seminar, Roanoke, Virginia, 2001.
2. Hulet, R. M. and R. Meijerhof, Multi- or single-stage incubation for high-meat yielding broiler strains. Proceedings of Southern Poultry Science and Southern Conference of Avian Diseases, Page 35.
3. Savage, S. The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Broiler Tip, March, 1991.
4. Ernst, R. A., W. W. Weathers, and Jean Smith Effect of heat stress on day-old broiler chicks. Poultry Sci. 63:
5. van der Hel, W., M.W.A. Verstegen, L. Pijls, and M. van Kampen, Effect of two-day temperature exposure of neonatal broiler chicks on growth performance and body composition during two weeks at normal conditions. Poultry Sci. 71:
6. Lacy, M. P., The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service Broiler Tip, January, 1994.