BASIC CARE FOR YOUR CHICKS, TURKEY POULTS, PULLETS, DUCKLINGS AND GOSLINGS
The following are instructions that Shur-Gain recommendes for starting and growing meat type poultry and pullets (young layers)successfully.
What you need to start:
- 1 water fountain of 5 litre capacity for every 25 chicks or poults
- feeders - 1 metre of feeder space per 75 chicks or poults
- Heat lamps
- Litter (bedding) - wood shavings, chopped straw, sawdust or peat moss are best.
Starting:
- At least 2 days before the chicks or poults arrive, clean the floor and walls of the pen with heavy duty cleaner and disinfect for general sanitation (see directions on containers).
- Spread the litter 7 cm thick throughout the pen. It is a good practice to fill the waterers before the poultry arrive so the water will be at room temperature. Stress-Lyte should be added to the drinking water for the first 5 days to aid the chicks and poults through the stress of brooding.
- Confine the chicks or poults to a circular brooding area. This will prevent the birds from huddling and smothering each other.
- Start the poultry in a warm pen. The temprerature should be 30-32 degrees celcius at chick level for the first week. Use a heat lamp 50 cm above the chicks or poults. Decrease the temperature 3 degrees celcius per week until the chicks are feathered. After that, ensure that the temperature does not drop below 13 degrees celcius. Adjust the temperature by raising the lamps.
- Use our Homestead starting feed that is recommended lower on the page for the type of poultry being grown. It is a good practice to provide additional egg trays to make it easy for the young birds to locate feed and begin eating.
- Provide 2.5 metres squared of area per 100 chicks or poults. Begin to increase the area by moving the chick guard after one week. If the birds crowd to one side of the pen, there is a draft. If the birds are huddled all along the chick guard, the pen is too hot, so raise the heat lamps. If the birds are huddled below the heat lamps, the brooding area is too cold, so lower the heat lamps slightly or add more lamps. Ideally, the chicks or poults should be spread evenly throughout the pen.
- Coccidiosis is a parasitic disease that is common to poultry. The mortality resulting from an outbreak of coccidiosis can approach 90% in a young flock, so it is strongly recommended that starter birds receive a feed containing an anticoccideal medication. Homestead poultry starting feeds are medicated to prevent coccidiosis. Birds will develop a natural immunity to coccidiosis, so after 10 weeks the use of medicated feeds may be discontinued. If you experience sudden mortality that cannot be explained after examining your management practices, we suggest that you contact your veterinarian or the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, who have several poultry pathologists available.