luii
Poi
Penn State
Poultry
Pointers
MAXIMIZE YOUR
POULTRY’S
WEIGHT GAIN!
Dr. Michael Hulct, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Poultry Science
Weight gain (weight of bin!
divided by days of age) is a way of
determining how fast your birds
are growing.
Fall is the ideal time for the
growth of poultry. In fact, for most
growers, the time required for
commercial poultry flocks to reach
market weight is decreased or the
time required is the same and the
mean body weight is increased
Why? Have you ever considered
the factors that maximize growth?
Are they factors that a producer
can control, or are they simply
related to the season?
Let’s look at some major envir
onmental factors to see how they
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change with the season and how
their changes affect performance.
If 1 were to list the critical pro
duction factors affected by season
al changes they would be 1) venti
lation; 2) temperature, and 3)
environmental challenge.
Ventilation is the most critical
element of production for main
taining weight gain. The elements
of ventilation involve air direction,
air speed, and air exchange. Dur
ing the summertime, air is typical
ly directed toward the birds in
order to reduce the effects of high
temperature. With no means of
cooling other than with air velocity
and fogging systems, summer ven
tilation is used strictly for tempera
ture control.
On the other hand during the
wintertime, ventilation controls
minimize air flow. This practice
tends to allow air quality to
become borderline for air fresh
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effects are deleterious for optimum
performance.
The wintertime situation is usu
ally accentuated by the producer’s
desires for economical production
that is, if air flow is reduced,
less heat is required. However, a
poorly ventilated house increases
ammonia and dust, causes respirat
ory distress, increases the possibil
ity of a disease challenge, and
holds unwanted moisture
Common complaints during the
winter are wet litter and ceiling
condensation in the houses. This
practice is penny-wise and pound
foolish. We should be willing to
use some gas and run fans when
needed to provide adequate venti
lation in our houses.
Houses that have curtain sides
and no exhaust fans cannot be
adequately ventilated during the
winter months. It is almost impos
sible for producers that depend on
natural ventilation to maintain
temperature without reducing or
restricting air exchange.
This strategy makes air quality
poor and reduces growth, perfor
mance, and flock uniformity. This
is especially true for flocks of tom
turkeys or heavy broilers that have
a tendency to develop respiratory
problems. Many producers have
recognized the inadequacies of
natural ventilation systems during
the winter and are trying some
combination of curtains and air
inlet vents to increase air exchange
and moisture removal while main
taining temperature.
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I’m not advocating constantly
running fans during the winter
without regard to temperature, but
maintaining minimum ventilation
to control ammonia and dust.
Appropriate fan running time and
running a sufficient number of fans
to promote good air speed, direc
tion, and volume are essential.
If you can obtain a static pres
sure of 0.08 or 0.10 inches of water
column with one fan, that is terrif
ic. If it takes two, then these fans
need to be synchronized to run at
the same time or be allowed to
operate on one timer control.
During wintertime, static pres
sure is used to produce adequate
air velocity to allow mixing in the
house. Proper direction of air vol
ume. at the velocity that would
allow air to reach the middle of the
house, mix with ambient air and
pick up moisture from the litter,
and then remove ammonia and
dust from the house is what is
desired to promote growth by opti
mizing the birds’ environment.
The next critical factor for opti
mizing weight gain is temperature.
As you noticed, maintaining prop
er temperature is inextricably asso
ciated with ventilation.
Brooding temperature for poul
try is usually set at 88 to 90 degrees
F for the first day. This may how
ever. be adjusted due to the size
and quality of the chick. Baby
chicks and poults lack the ability to
maintain their own body tempera
ture for the first 10 days. This
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means that the temperature during
this critical age must be main
tained carefully to avoid large fluc
tuations (2-3 degrees F). Tempera
ture should be gradually reduced
and correlated with increases in
ventilation rate to allow for adequ
ate air flow, removal of carbon
dioxide and moisture, and early
stimulation of appetite.
Maintenance of too high brood
ing temperatures and too low ven
tilation rates (increased carbon
dioxide) causes dopey and letharg
ic birds that don't start or gain as
fast Room temperatures should
gradually be reduced to reach
between 68 to 70 degrees F by the
fifth week of age.
Fall is clearly an ideal time to
drop temperature to comfort levels
and maintain them by minimal use
of heater and adequate ventilation
rates. Although temperatures of 68
to 70 degrees F have been shown to
maximize growth for turkey hens
and broilers, temperatures as low
as 55 degrees F have been shown
to be commercially efficient for
turkey males more than 14 weeks
of age.
The lower temperature stimu
lates feed consumption and
increased air flow associated with
the lower temperatures lowers
mortality. With die combination of
proper temperature and adequate
ventilation, litter moisture should
be maintained at between 25 and
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SOS Cliff St.
Honatdalt, PA 18431
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CHIDESTER FARMS
RD 2, Box 75
Kingsley, PA 18826
(717) 289-4260
MELVIN G. MILLER
RT 2, Spring Mills, PA 16875
(814) 422-8279
PIKEVILLE
EQUIPMENT INC.
RT 2, Oley, PA 19547
(215) 987-6277
BHM FARM EQUIP. INC.
RR 1, Annville, PA 17003
(717) 867-2211
SHOW EASE STALL CO.
573 Willow Rd.
Lancaster, PA 17601
(717) 299-2538
DEERFIELD AG &
TURF CENTER, INC.
RO 2, Box 212
Wattontown, PA 17777
(717) 538-3557
HEFLIN SALES
& SERVICE
12312 Oak Hill Rd.
Woodsbore, MD 21798
(301) 898-3233
CHAMBERSBURG
FARM SERVICE
975 S. Main St.
Chambersburg, PA 17201
(717) 264-3533
SOMERSET BARN EQ.
RD #5
Somerset. PA 15501
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McMILLEN BROS.
RD 1 Box 134
Loysville, PA 17047
(717) 789-3961
HESS' EQUIPMENT
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RR 3, Mlfflmburg, PA 17844
(717) 966-2720
966-1998