Choosing your chick: white broiler, coloured, layer, and what a good day-old chick tells you

This lesson is part of The day-old chick: the first 30 days specialisation. It opens to every registered student, from free registration. Levels 1 to 5 and the tracks remain readable by everyone.

Everything you will do for thirty days depends on a decision taken before the first box arrives: which chick, for which buyer, in which house, with what experience. In levels 1 and 2, you learned the types of chicks and the actions of reception. Here, you learn to choose like a professional: compare the three trades with figures, base the choice on your market and your house, then judge a batch of day-old chicks criterion by criterion, scale in hand, before placing them.

• ✓Compare the three trades (white broiler, coloured chickens, brown layer) and the cockerel on quantified technical criteria
• ✓Base the choice of chick on four questions: the buyer, the house, the feed available, the experience
• ✓Judge a batch of day-old chicks criterion by criterion and measure its average weight and its uniformity
• ✓Read a batch when the boxes are opened and decide what to record and what to report the same day

1. Three trades, not three colours
2. Four questions before choosing
3. What a good day-old chick tells you, criterion by criterion
4. The arrival weighing: a worked example
5. Reading the batch when the boxes are opened
6. Going further

• •Three trades: white broiler (35-45 days, demanding, heat-sensitive), coloured chickens (hardy, longer cycle), brown layer (eggs, long cycle, Marek before leaving NEXTEKCI); the cockerel for learning.
• •Four questions before choosing: who buys and when, which house (5 per m² in heat, NEXTEKCI's advice; manufacturers 8 to 10), which feed in bags, what experience.
• •Good chick: 38-45 g, lively, round eyes, closed dry navel, waxy straight legs, dry down; uniform batch if more than 80% of chicks are within ± 10% of the average (CV under 10%).
• •Arrival weighing of 100 chicks (5%): 4,100 g ÷ 100 = 41 g; day 7 target = 41 × 4 = 164 g.
• •Zero point of the record sheet: received, dead on arrival, weak isolated, average weight, uniformity; photos to +225 05 44 83 27 79 the same day in case of doubt.