The first 72 hours: reception, counting, drinking, crop fill, floor temperature

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.

Between the moment the transporter opens his vehicle and the end of the third day, the chick moves from the yolk that was still feeding it to the water and feed of your farm. These 72 hours cannot be made up. In level 1, you learned the actions; here, you put figures and times on them, to the hour, on the example flock of 2,000 chicks: how many dead at opening is normal, how many litres must disappear on the first day, how many full crops out of 20 at 8 hours and at 24 hours, what to correct within fifteen minutes when the night reading is not right.

• ✓Run the reception hour by hour, from the collection point to the end of the third day, with a figure as a benchmark at each step
• ✓Count and set the zero point of the flock: received, dead at opening, weak ones isolated, and judge whether transport mortality is normal
• ✓Measure the success of drinking and feeding: litres drunk on the first day, feet at 4 hours, crops at 8 and 24 hours
• ✓Read the floor temperature from the way the chicks spread out and correct within fifteen minutes, especially during the first night

1. Reception hour by hour
2. Counting and setting the zero point
3. Drinking: the first victory
4. The crop: proof in figures
5. Floor temperature and the first night
6. Days 2 and 3: setting up the routine
7. Going further

• •Reception hour by hour: collection point in the shade and immediate departure, boxes opened in the warm house, water first, feed 2 to 3 hours later, feet at 4-6 h, crop at 8 h and 24 h.
• •Zero point = received − dead at opening; normal transport mortality at most 0.5 % (10 out of 2,000); above 1 %, photos and video the same day to +225 05 44 83 27 79.
• •A white broiler chick drinks about 20 mL on the first day (40 L for 2,000) and consumption rises every day; drinkers still full in the evening = chicks not drinking, cause to be found within the hour.
• •Full, soft crop on 20 chicks per circle: at least 80 % at 8 hours, more than 90 % and ideally 95 % at 24 hours; full and hard = not enough drunk; empty = not found.
• •Look at the spread, then the thermometer, then the feet against the cheek; round every 2 hours on the first night; correction within 15 minutes; call from 1 % dead in one day.