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PREPARATION FOR BROODING CHICKS



 PREPARATION FOR BROODING CHICKS
The preparation for brooding chicks should start from about two weeks before the chicks are received. This is to avoid a last minute rush.
The appliance should be moved out and thoroughly washed with a recommended disinfectant solution, like quaternary ammonia, and then allowed to dry. The litter should be completely swept out since any remnant could reduce the strength of the disinfectant subsequently used to wash the floor.
Washing require a hot solution to detergent, under pressure, using a jet stream from a high pressure washing unit. The floor is then rinsed with disinfection.
All crevices should be thoroughly penetrated and caked-up litter dislodged. The house then be sealed up and fumigated. (The open sided buildings used in the tropics do not easily land themselves to this treatment). The cobwebs and dust on the wooding frames should be properly cleaned before the litter is swept out of the floor of the house. In the case of tier brooders, battery brooders or any type of brooder, these should be brushes clean and then washed perfectly clean of droppings. Again, a hot solution of detergent should be used.
The halogens as disinfectants kill quickly but lack residual action and are reduced in effectiveness by organic matter. Quaternary ammonia is more effective though slower in action and with limited residual action. The next stage in the preparation is to leave the house empty for a period of not less than two weeks to destroy any surviving disease organism through starvation.
Two days before the chicks are received; the floor should be littered to a depth of 5cm on a concrete floor. The appliances should be placed in position and the hover switched on for preheating. The feeders and drinkers may be installed only a few hours before chicks arrive. Two hours before brooding starts, feed should be placed in the egg trays and to a depth of one third to one half of the feed troughs. The drinkers should be thoroughly washed and filled with clean cool water.
On arrival of the chicks, they should be rapidly unboxed and inspected individually for defects and quickly placed under the brooders. In the case of tier brooders, they are placed in the heated section of each compartment. Weak chicks should be killed and if they are more than 1 – 1.5 percent they should be sent to post-mortem diagnosis. Usually a 2% allowance is given free of charge over and above the number of chicks ordered to compensate for normal losses during transportation.

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