- ✓Identify each batch from reception to sale
- ✓Keep the expected registers: rearing, treatments and withdrawal periods, vaccinations, visitors, mortality, sales
- ✓Answer a traceability question in one minute, in both directions
Identifying the batch
Each flock receives a batch number (for example B3-2026-07: house 3, year, seventh flock) written on the record sheet, the register, the bags of litter sold and the sales sheets. On reception of the chicks, you note the hatchery of origin (NEXTEKCI), the hatch date, the type, the number of boxes and the details shown on the boxes or the delivery note. For feed: supplier's name, phase, manufacturing number or date printed on the bags, noted on reception. For vaccines and medicines: name, batch of the vial, expiry date.
The registers
| Register | Contents | Who asks for it |
|---|---|---|
| Rearing register (per house) | Batch, origin of the chicks, numbers, dates in and out, daily record sheets | Veterinary services, buyers, bank |
| Treatment register | Product, batch, dose, dates, route, prescriber, withdrawal period, end date of the withdrawal period | Veterinary services, slaughterhouse, buyers |
| Vaccination register | Vaccine, batch, date, age, route, who, result observed | Veterinarian, veterinary services |
| Mortality register | Deaths and culls per day, presumed cause, post-mortems, disposal | Veterinarian, insurer |
| Visitors’ register | Name, date, where from, reason, measures (boots, footbath) | Investigation in the event of disease |
| Sales register | Batch, buyer, date, number, weight, price, documents handed over | Product recalls, tax authorities, disputes |
These registers can fit in one binder per house or a spreadsheet. What matters: filled in the same day, signed, kept for at least two years (some documents longer, depending on the regulations).
The withdrawal period, the key element
Every medicine has a withdrawal period: the number of days between the end of the treatment and the moment when the birds (or the eggs) may be sold for consumption. It appears on the leaflet and on the prescription. The treatment register calculates the end date of the withdrawal period for each treatment; no bird and no egg leaves before it. It is a public health obligation, and the first thing a slaughterhouse or a supermarket checks. A farm that sells within the withdrawal period loses its customer and exposes itself to penalties.
In both directions
Upstream: “did these chickens sold on the 12th receive a treatment?” → sales register (batch) → treatment register (batch) → answer in one minute. Downstream: “feed batch X is suspect, which houses received it?” → rearing register (receptions) → houses concerned → surveillance. In the event of disease: “who came in over the last 15 days, where did the cages come from?” → visitors' register. Test yourselves: put one of these questions to your team and time them.
The documents handed to the buyer: signed sales sheet with batch, number, weight, and on request, an extract from the treatment register with the end of the withdrawal periods. For slaughterhouses and organised supply chains, a health certificate from the veterinarian may be required.
For the entrepreneur
- ›One batch number per flock, six registers in one binder per house, filled in the same day: that is all it takes to answer any inspector.
- ›Run the timed test once a quarter: one traceability question, one minute.
- ›The treatment register with the end dates of withdrawal periods is your legal and commercial protection.
For the technician
- ›At every reception (chicks, feed, vaccines, medicines): origin, batch, date noted before opening.
- ›Registers filled in the same day and signed; withdrawal period calculated and written for every treatment.
- ›Sales sheet with batch, number, weight, and extract of the treatments on request.
The 3 questions to ask your technician this week
- What is the batch number of this house, and where do the chicks come from (hatch date, boxes)?
- Is there a treatment whose withdrawal period is not over, and what is its end date?
- Who has come into this house over the last fifteen days?
Key points
- •One batch number per flock, written everywhere; origin of chicks, feed, vaccines and medicines noted on reception.
- •Six registers: rearing, treatments (with end of withdrawal period), vaccinations, mortality, visitors, sales; filled in the same day, kept for at least two years.
- •No bird and no egg sold before the end of the withdrawal period.
- •Traceability in both directions, in one minute; documents handed to the buyer; health certificate for organised supply chains.