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 Here is a feature article from the Fall, 2007 IssueLife on the farm: Poultry 101 |
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Editor’s note: Poultry is Georgia’s largest agriculture sector. In 2006, Georgia ranked first nationally in the combined production of broilers, eggs and layers. Some type of poultry production occurs throughout the state in more than two-thirds of Georgia’s 159 counties. Georgia’s 2006 farm gate value of poultry and egg production was $4.4 billion, according to a report issued by the UGA College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences. The same report shows the industry had a total economic impact of $18 billion on the state’s economy and created more than one hundred thousand jobs.
We’re beginning this series with a journal compiled by Keith and Lauren Lord in Madison County. Lord Farms and Custom Services has two heavy breeder houses and two pullet houses, 180 acres of small grains, 100 acres of hay land and a custom farm services operation. The farm is unusual because it includes two different types of poultry operations – pullets and breeder birds. Pullets are the birds that are placed in breeder houses where hens and roosters produce hatching eggs that become the chicks placed in broiler houses, where poultry meat is grown. The pullet chicks come from farms that raise purebreed stock for the chicken companies. Keith started the farm in 1991, after he graduated high school. It’s truly a family farm as Keith is helped by his wife, Lauren, son, Thomas, and parents, Tommy and Peggy Lord. Tommy manages the heavy breeder houses with the help of one employee. This diary follows a flock from their placement as chicks in the pullet houses through their production in the heavy breeder houses. Due to timing, only once in ten years have the Lords actually placed their own pullets in their heavy breeder houses. Usually, their mature pullets (21 weeks) are sent to another breeder farm, and the Lords receive mature pullets for their breeder houses from another pullet producer. Since the Lords raise both pullets and breeders, we asked them to chronicle one flock from beginning to end to more easily illustrate the two types of poultry productions that occur to produce a broiler chick. In the winter issue, we’ll feature a journal that explores broiler production. Compiled by Lauren & Keith Lord Week 1 The time has finally arrived! Our three-year old son Thomas has been anxiously waiting for three weeks for the “peep peeps” to come. On Friday, Harrison Poultry, Inc., the company we grow chickens for, brought 14,000 day-old baby chicks. At this age they look like little balls of fluff. Between the two houses, we can get up to 18,000 chicks, depending on the size of the farm the flock will go to. After 21 weeks, the pullets will go to heavy breeder farms to lay hatching eggs.
At first, the male and female chicks have to be kept separate, because the females eat faster than the males and will starve them out. We separate the genders using portable screen fences made of chicken wire. Some of the adventurous chicks find a way to get through the fences, so the males are dyed green, which makes it easy to spot the birds that have gotten into the wrong group. When you are trying to catch a We place “mini drinkers” and pans of feed around the floor to make it easier for the birds to eat and drink. As they grow they’ll be able to drink and eat from the standard size equipment.
The lights don’t go out in the pullet houses at all for the first three days, so we try to walk through the houses at least three times during the day to make sure the drinkers are working and that the chicks have enough feed. We also have to look for any chicks that may have died due to any number of natural causes. We take them out of the house and discard them in a pit. The pits are covered with concrete tops and are regulated by the Georgia Department of Agriculture. We used to use an incinerator, but the cost of propane was too expensive. After about three days, the birds are released from a quarter of the house to half of the house. They get Week 2 We walk the houses early in the morning and try to check back later in the day. The birds are big enough so we can start running the chain feeder. It usually takes at least two people to help feed - one person to run the feeder and the second to keep the chicks from riding the conveyor styled feeder. It normally takes a few days for the chicks to learn that the feeder is just for eating. The chicks aren’t nearly as cute because their feathers are growing in. During this week the birds are vaccinated against LT, a poultry disease that affects birds’ respiratory system. This disease is not transmittable to people but is easily spread among chickens and can cause high death rates in a flock. The chicks are vaccinated by placing the vaccine in their water. Anyone who walks in the pullet houses has to avoid contact with the birds in the heavy breeder houses to avoid a mutation of this disease. Week 3 The temperature is dropped to 85ºF. The birds receive another vaccine in their water, this time for Newcastle Bronchitis. Week 4 The pullets have been given full run of the whole house and are given a smaller feed ration to keep them from reaching their reproductive stage too early. Week 10 The birds receive another round of the LT vaccine. This time the vaccine is administered by Harrison employees with shots under their wings and drops in their eyes. The daily routine of walking through the houses and weight control diet continues. The house temperature is dropped to 75&Mac251;F. Week 18 You can now distinguish the males from the females by looking at their heads. The males are beginning to look like roosters. Their combs and wattles are a darker red and are more fully developed. Week 21 Workers from Harrison Poultry pick up the pullets early in the morning over two days and move them Over the next two weeks we will wash down the pullet houses, disinfect, and then spray insecticide. It always smells so good when the fresh wood shavings are put down! We have to check all the drinkers and the brooders to make sure they work. To get ready for the next flock, we put out pans of feed and hook up the mini-drinkers. The day before the chicks arrive, we light the brooders, so the house will be warm for the next flock of “peep peeps.” • Breeder Houses - Week 21 Over 2 days the chicken company moves the pullets to our heavy breeder houses. The larger house gets about 10,500 hens
Tommy, Keith’s dad, assumes most of the day-to-day responsibility for the breeder houses. We walk the house to check the drinkers, feed lines and pick up any dead birds. The dead birds are disposed of in the pit. The first few weeks are kind of like babysitting as the birds get settled and mature enough to lay eggs. The hens start laying eggs slowly. It’s exciting the first day we get two or three eggs! The hens and roosters have full run of the hen houses. The birds like to scratch in the dirt floor that runs down the middle of the house. Wooden platforms run the length of each side of the house. Metal nests rest on top of the platforms, providing the hens with a place to lay their eggs. Instinctively, the hens usually lay their eggs in the nests, but there will be some floor eggs. The nests sit at a tilt so that the eggs roll down onto a conveyor belt that carries them into the egg room. We run the conveyor belts multiple times a day to bring the eggs into the egg room to be sorted. Harrison pays us a set amount for every dozen eggs they pick up. We are also paid a smaller amount for the eggs that can’t be hatched and are used for commercial purposes. Week 25 The integrator ensures that there is a 10:1 ratio of hens to roosters. Any extra roosters are taken to other breeder farms to spike their flocks. Once the flock starts laying 1,000 eggs a day, we have to weigh the eggs – yes, each egg individually! They need to weigh between 19 and 24 ounces per dozen to be considered large enough to hatch. The smaller eggs, or culls, are boxed up, with 360 eggs to a box. They are considered commercial and used in cake mixes, etc. Double yolk eggs are also boxed up, with 150 eggs to a box. There are usually a lot of double yolk eggs when the hens start laying. These eggs are obvious due to their size. We just have to weigh the eggs for a couple of weeks until the hens settle into a consistent laying pattern. Someone, usually Tommy and a helper, sort the eggs three times a day. The hatching eggs are put on flats with the small end down, so the air cell is at the top. The flats are put on buggies that hold a total of 5,040 eggs. The buggies are placed in the cooler room, which stays at 68ºF. This temperature keeps the eggs from maturing so they can be Week 33 The birds reach their peak production. The average hen will lay an egg every 23 to 26 hours. Week 65 Production has tapered off. As the birds get older, their eggs become more brittle due to a lower calcium content. We have to handle the eggs carefully to prevent them from breaking. A contractor hired by Harrison Poultry will pick up the birds late at night. When the birds leave our farm they may be processed for baking hens, canned chicken or used in soups. We normally have four weeks to clean out the houses and prepare for the next flock. Although we have other chores to take care of, like monitoring the pullet houses, cutting hay in the summer and feedgrains in the spring, it is nice to have a few weeks off from the daily grind of checking the eggs. |
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