Herbert C. Jordan Retired Penn State Poultry Specialist Birds in captivity rely totally on the caretaker. Caretakers who neglect birds cost the poultry industry millions of dollars annu ally (v many thousand dollars per farm per year. The Bible teaches we can afflict ourselves with a fast to improve ourselves or our situations. Chicks frequently are afflicted by a care taker intentionally or unintention ally. (Seldom are there accidents, most events are caused.) The fol lowing are cases of affliction resulting in damage or fatal reac tion of a baby pqult, chick, or other animal. Adult animals can also be damaged by caretakers. Fasting two hours off water caused chicks to get hungry and eat more when fed. This may help or hurt chicks. Six hours off water caused chicks to become nervous and eat litter. Productivity fell and some chicks died. Twenty-eight hours off water caused the weaker chicks to dehydrate at 80°F in the brooder, become listless, and fail to eat or drink later. Some chicks fell behind in growth rate, sopie died. Fifty hours off water with air temperature at 70°F caused many chicks to dehydrate, become weak and die before the water fast was over. Two hours off feed caused chicks to get hungry and eat more when fed. This can be a valuable tool to clean up old feed. Eight hours off feed caused chicks to eat litter, get sick and some died. Twelve to sixteen hours off feed • Cold Water • Hot Water • Steam • • Direct or Belt Drive • Gas or Oil Fired • Gas or Electric • • Portable or Stationary • We Reduced Our Prices Authorized Factory Distributors Beco Ask for a Free Demonstration Take advantage of our years of experience in actual cleaning and in sales of cleaning equipment is - Hoses - Parts - Detergents - Accessories 'umi \4 J » 95% of our Supply .are bought direct - We Pass The Savings onto you. Try Us First! « >3 Protect Chicks on a wire floor caused capon bound cockerels to lose intestine size so surgery was a success at nine days old. Water, then feed was provided in the recovery pen. Thirty hours off feed caused commercial layers to reduce egg number so low a $30,000 loss was incurred. A light-time clock change caused breeders to be reduced in day length which resulted in a loss of egg number, increased neck molt and an unknown loss in fertil ity of eggs laid by the breeders. Feeding no granite grit to replacement pullets for a commer cial laying house caused them to get small gizzards ostensibly resulting in poor egg production later. Mortality was higher and feed consumption was too low for normal egg production. To diag nose small gizzard disease, open every bird that dies naturally and size the gizzard. Feeding no oyster shell or cal cite grit apparently caused layers to have poor egg shells before a molt, before being slaughtered and when everything else was normal on three different flocks respec tively. So feed extra calcium grit in the feed to keep egg shells normal. Typically, all broilers or turkeys eat some litter. When many flocks of birds were raised bn the same litter, growth rate became variable, mortality became higher, gut infection was diagnosed more and mysterious illness was more pre valent. Do not afflict baby birds with contaminated litter, old litter, wet litter, or fecal contamination as a ifiajor part of litter. Use clean. Power quipment ||||^^ From Damaging Affliction fresh bedding with each bird. Bed ding materials should be selected to improve fertilizer value of litter when applied to land. Young turkeys were mistakenly fed three percent red rock salt in a ration instead of 0.3 percent They drank more water, fell behind in growth rate and died at a much higher rate than normal. Pheasant breeders apparently eating rat tracking powder fgll behind in egg number, eggs showed lower fertility and lower hatchability of eggs laid. Baby broilers kept at 60 to 70°F the first three weeks of age instead of 7S to BS°F had nearly twice as much ascites. These birds showed fluid in the abdomen when slaugh tered and did not grow well. Deep water in waterers allowed chicks that fell in to get too wet for too long, so they died of hypother mia. So put pebbles or something in waterer to allow a chick to fall in and walk out Broiler mothers with over eating disorder were fed a ration too high in nutrient density, they ate too much feed, became obese and failed to lay adequate egg numbers and had lower fertility in eggs laid. Overeating may cause medicine in feed to be eaten at a toxic level. All species of bird debeaked too severely fail to eat fail to grow or reproduce and typically die more readily. Debeaking is surgery and must be done well and successfully. Detoeing surgery on turkeys appears to encourage more infected feet and legs with ascend ing infection in the foot and leg. • 252 N Shirk Rd. New Holland, PA 17557 • Box 56 RRI, Atglen, PA 19310 610-593-2981 Wap O P* ire WaehtMi PRESSURE WASHERS /• our Business 717-354-2354 EPPS - ALKOTA Dirt Killer Nozzles Effectively Cuts Cleaning Time in 1/2 UncMjir Farming, Saturday, my 6, 1995-D7 Any surgery on bird must be done properly or not at all. My observa tion shows too little significant research done on surgery on indi vidual birds. Feed crumbs or pellets too large for chicks to eat appeared to cause uneven chick growth and more mortality. Mycotoxins in moldy grain apparently killed baby chicks, poults and bunnies on three diffe rent farms and on three different occasions. Young turkeys eat wood splin ters from litter. The splinter punc tures the duodenal loop in the small intestine and the turkey dies. The thermostat or time clock over-ride sticks and the fans blow the brooder house cold. The chicks chill, get sick, slow in growth rate and many die. A waterer runs over about 1,000 gallons on a litter flow before it is stopped. Chicks drink contami- JUNE nated water, wet litter produces odor and toxic gas, chicks slow in growth rate, and many die. Because of the moisture, disease increases. A weasel, mink, skunk, raccoon, or other predator enters a brooder house and kills many chicks. A 10-hour electrical power failure kills chicks. Mice, rats, insects in a poultry house may carry disease or para sites to poultry. Summary - Some reasons given for caretakers afflicting permanent damage on birds are, “I did not know,” “I didn’t see it,” “forgot,” “was trying to help.” “came on duty late,” “had car trouble,” “I hate this job,” “ammonia fumes made me sick,” “dust covered the thermometer,” “I was told two dif ferent directives by two different people,” “I did not have time,” “no one told met” Prevent costly affliction. Soybean Board Funds Research NEWARK, Del.—Thai 1995 Delaware Soybean Board research grants to the College of Agriculture Sciences at the University of Delaware totaled more than $53,000. The funds support research to improve soybean production in Delaware. The check was presented to Dr. John Nye, dean of the college, by Doug Corey, president of the Delaware Soybean Board, and treasurer Olin Gooden. The soybean projects funded for this year are: • An analysis of hedging as a soybean marketing alternative • Continuing grower-Extension research communication • Effect of poultry manure on the ef ficiency of soybean herbicides • Initiation of egg essays to determine soy bean cyst nematode (SCN) population densities • Lower-cost weed control and weed man agement programs for Delaware soybean production • Management schemes for soybean severe stunt virus (SSSV) in Delaware soybeans • Soybean proteins: prediction of function ality in value-added food application • Soybean variety evaluation for site and cropping system adaption and cyst nematode resistance. Delaware soybean farmers fund these pro jects through a per-bushel soybean checkoff. This grower-supported research will be con ducted by Agricultural Experiment Station scientists, cooperative extension .specialists, and researchers in the departments of food and resource economics, plant and soil sci ences, and food sciences. II
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