In this lesson, you will learn to
- ✓Settle the chicks in successfully and carry out the checks of the first 24 hours
- ✓Set temperature, humidity and air speed according to age
- ✓Apply a lighting programme suited to the open-sided house
Why you provide the heat
Until 5 days old, the chick cannot regulate its own temperature; it only does so fully at 14 days. During this period, it is the farmer who gives it the right heat. A chick that is cold eats and drinks less, huddles against the others and falls behind; a chick that is too hot pants and dehydrates.
The golden rule
A bad start is hard to make up, but a good start lasts until sale. The whole team’s attention goes to brooding.
The chicks’ arrival
- Place the chicks quickly, in soft light, close to water and feed.
- Weigh a few boxes (about 5%) to know the starting weight.
- Check all the equipment 1 to 2 hours later: drinkers full, papers covered with feed, heating stable.
- Look at the chicks 2 hours after arrival: their position tells you whether the heat is right. Evenly spread and active: the heat is right. Huddled under the heat source: they are cold. Spread far from the heat, beaks open: they are too hot. Grouped on one side only: look for a draught.
Two simple checks
| When | How | Good result |
|---|---|---|
| 4 to 6 hours after arrival | Hold the feet of a few chicks against your neck or cheek | Warm feet. Cold feet = floor too cold |
| 24 hours after arrival | Feel the crops of 100 chicks | 95% of crops full and soft (water + feed) |
Source: Cobb.
- Hard crop: the chick has eaten but not drunk enough. Check the water (enough drinkers, full, within reach).
- Soft crop swollen with water: it is drinking but cannot find the feed. Add paper or trays.
- Empty crop: the chick has neither eaten nor drunk. Look for the cause straight away (cold, light too dim, equipment too far away).
Temperature and humidity by age
| Age | Temperature | Air humidity |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | 32 to 33 °C | 30 to 50% |
| 7 days | 29 to 30 °C | 40 to 60% |
| 14 days | 27 to 28 °C | 50 to 60% |
| 21 days | 24 to 26 °C | 50 to 60% |
| 28 days | 21 to 23 °C | 50 to 65% |
| 35 days and over | 19 to 21 °C (or as cool as possible) | 50 to 70% |
Source: Cobb.
In Côte d’Ivoire, after 21 days, it is often hotter than these recommended temperatures: the problem is no longer cold but heat (lesson 5 of this track). In every case, the birds remain the best thermometer: look at their behaviour before touching the heating.
Air speed over the birds
| Age | Air speed at bird level |
|---|---|
| 0 to 14 days | Still air (no draught at all) |
| 15 to 21 days | 0.5 m/s maximum |
| 22 to 28 days | About 0.9 m/s |
| Over 28 days | 1.75 to 2.5 m/s (very useful in strong heat) |
Source: Cobb. Up to 14 days, you renew the air without ever creating a draught at chick level: you open the curtains from the top.
The lighting programme
- Day 1: light 24 hours a day, bright (about 25 lux), so that the chicks find water and feed.
- From the 2nd night: a single dark period per 24 hours, always at the same time.
- When the chicks weigh 100 to 160 g, lengthen the night gradually: 6 hours of continuous darkness strengthen the bird’s defences.
- In an open-sided house with light-coloured curtains, lighting mostly follows daylight: the natural night does the rest.
- In the last days before sale, shorten the night by one hour a day.
Source: Cobb.
For the entrepreneur
- ›Concentrate your presence and the team’s on the first 14 days: that is where the flock is won or lost.
- ›Ask for the result of the crop check at 24 hours: 95% of full crops is the target.
- ›Equip the house with a thermometer and a hygrometer at chick level.
For the technician
- ›Feet against your cheek 4 to 6 hours after arrival, crops of 100 chicks at 24 hours.
- ›Follow the temperature and humidity table, but adjust first according to the chicks’ behaviour.
- ›No draught before 14 days; a single night per 24 hours, always at the same time.
The 3 questions to ask your technician this week
- How many full, soft crops out of 100 chicks checked at 24 hours?
- What temperature and humidity did you read at chick level this morning?
- What time does the night start, and how many hours does it last now?
Key points
- •The chick cannot regulate its temperature before 5 days, and only fully at 14 days.
- •Warm feet 4 to 6 hours after arrival; 95% of crops full and soft at 24 hours.
- •Hard crop = lack of water; soft crop swollen with water = lack of feed.
- •Temperature: 32 to 33 °C on day 1, 29 to 30 °C at 7 days, 27 to 28 °C at 14 days.
- •Still air up to 14 days: curtains opened from the top.
- •Light 24 hours on day 1, then a single night; 6 hours of continuous darkness once the chicks weigh 100 to 160 g.