- ✓Anticipate the five effects of the rainy season on a poultry farm
- ✓Prepare the house, the stock and the organisation before the rains
- ✓React after a storm or a flood
Five effects, five responses
| Effect | Risk | Response |
|---|---|---|
| Air humidity and driving rain | Wet litter, ammonia, coccidiosis, damaged feet | Thicker litter and a dry stock under cover; curtains lowered on the wind side; wet patches removed daily; ventilation as soon as the rain stops |
| Roof and drainage channels | Leaks, water coming in through the floor, house flooded | Roof checked before the rains; drainage channels cleared out; floor raised or drained; carcasses and used litter kept away from water |
| Feed | Damp bags, moulds, aflatoxins (liver, growth, mortality) | Dry store, pallets, stock limited to 2-3 weeks but never below one week, every bag checked |
| Roads and deliveries | Feed and chicks late, sale delayed | Safety stock, orders placed early, buyer warned; choose chick dates according to the roads |
| Insects and pests | Flies, mosquitoes, worms, rats coming in to the dry | Pits covered, litter removed, baits, fine mesh, surroundings cleared |
Before the first rain
- Get up on the roof: sheets, nails, overhangs, gutters; a leak is repaired in the dry, not in the storm.
- Clear out the drainage channels, clear the surroundings, check that water flows away from the house.
- Buy the season's dry litter and store it under cover, raised off the ground.
- Check the feed store: watertight, ventilated, pallets, no bags on the floor.
- Review the prevention of coccidiosis and respiratory diseases with the veterinarian.
- Have spare curtains and ropes ready: a curtain flapping in the wind at night panics the flock.
After a storm
The round of the house is done as soon as the rain stops, even at night: has water come in? is the litter wet? has a curtain been torn off? are the birds crowded into a dry corner (risk of suffocation)? is the feed in the feeders wet (to be removed, it goes mouldy within a few hours)? Then you open up again to ventilate, replace the wet litter, and refill the footbath from scratch (the rain dilutes it).
If the house is flooded: move the birds to the dry part or to another house, remove all the litter, wash, dry, disinfect; watch for coccidiosis and respiratory diseases over the following two weeks; call the veterinarian at the slightest sign.
Chicks during the rains
Chicks that arrive in the rainy season are more often cold at night (humidity) and breathe heavy air. You increase the heat, close the curtains, watch how they spread out. The carriers' departures remain on Mondays and Thursdays, but late arrivals are more frequent: stay reachable, plan to collect the boxes at the route's arrival point without leaving them waiting in the rain.
For the entrepreneur
- ›A “before the rains” budget every year: roof, drainage channels, litter, curtains. It is the farm's best health investment.
- ›A safety stock of feed of at least one week, and orders placed in advance when the roads deteriorate.
- ›Schedule fragile flocks (heavy white broilers) outside the worst weeks of rain if your area is very exposed.
For the technician
- ›Round of the house after every storm, even at night; wet feed removed; litter replaced; footbath redone.
- ›Curtains lowered on the wind side, raised as soon as the rain stops to ventilate.
- ›Every bag checked when opened; a damp or mouldy bag set aside.
The 3 questions to ask your technician this week
- Were the roof and the drainage channels checked before the rains, and where did water come in during the last storm?
- How much dry litter do we have under cover, and has the feed store stayed dry?
- What do we do with the contents of feeders wetted by the rain?
Key points
- •Five effects: humidity (litter, coccidiosis), roof and drainage channels, mouldy feed, roads cut off, insects and rats.
- •Before the rains: roof, drainage channels, dry litter under cover, feed store, prevention with the veterinarian, spare curtains.
- •After a storm: immediate round, wet feed removed, litter replaced, ventilation, footbath redone.
- •Flood: birds moved, litter taken out, washing, disinfection, two weeks of monitoring.
- •Chicks in the rainy season: more heat at night, curtains closed, boxes never left in the rain.