Water, heat, health and depopulation: holding laying to the end

Water follows the heat

A hen drinks about 1.8 times what she eats, and almost double that when it is very hot. In strong heat, cool water, below 20 °C if possible, helps the hen hold her laying rate and the strength of the shell.

Source: Novogen (Novogen Brown management guide, 2024, after ITAVI 2012).

To keep the water cool: reserve and pipes in the shade, reserve painted a light colour or covered, water renewed in the hot hours. Water that heats up in the sun is drunk less, and laying pays for it.

The house and management against heat

• Density: on the floor, about 4 to 5 hens per m² when it is 30 °C. Example: a 500 m² house takes about 2,000 to 2,500 hens.
• Drinkers: more drinkers when it is hot, about 1 nipple for 10 hens at 30 °C (1 for 20 at 25 °C). For 1,000 hens, that is about 100 nipples at 30 °C, against 50 at 25 °C.
• House: oriented east–west, light-coloured roof, good roof overhang, air moving at hen level.
• Feed: distribute part of the feed in the cool hours, early in the morning and late in the day.

Ref. Lohmann, hot climate

A hen that is too hot pants, holds her wings out, eats less and lays less. When you see these signs, it is not the time to move hens or do building work: cool water, air, calm.

Health: what is done at the hatchery, what is done on the farm

Brown layers are vaccinated against Marek’s disease at the hatchery (certificate on request). The other vaccines are given on the farm during pullet rearing, following the protocol of your area’s veterinarian: ask for it before the chicks arrive, and follow it without improvising.

• A single age group per house: pullets and laying hens are not mixed.
• Footbath at the entrance, clothing reserved for the house, few visitors.
• Rat and insect control; no backyard poultry next to the farm.
• Daily monitoring: eggs collected, deaths, feed and water consumed, recorded every day.

These four daily figures are the farm’s alarm system: water going down, feed left over, deaths going up or eggs missing often announce a problem before it can be seen.

Depopulation: ending the flock

Depopulation takes place around 72 to 80 weeks. Spent hens are sold: they are part of the flock’s income and must be planned in the calendar, just like egg sales.

To choose the date, compare what the flock still brings in with what it costs. According to the strain targets, laying goes from 84.7% at 72 weeks to 80.9% at 80 weeks, and each hen still lays about 44 eggs over those eight weeks (from 318 to 362 cumulative eggs). With your own feed and egg prices, the site’s profitability calculator tells you whether these eggs pay for the feed.

Source: Novogen (Novogen Brown management guide, 2024).

• Find buyers for the spent hens several weeks in advance.
• Take all the hens out of the house at once: a single age group.
• Clean, disinfect and respect the downtime before the next flock (level 2).
• Order the chicks for the next flock taking this calendar into account.