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Pullet Rearing for Modern Hen

Production

Pennsylvania Sales and Service Meeting

State College, PA

Sept. 17, 2015

John G. Brown, DVM, MAM

Senior Veterinarian

Zoetis

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Introduction

• Goal is to have a ready to lay pullet at target body

weight, with good skeletal development and high levels

of immunity to disease.

• This is not significantly different than in the past despite

the dramatic changes in hen housing and space

requirements for layers.

• Some differences approaches are needed depending on

the layer housing that pullets are going into.

• Let’s start with the basics, then discuss some

differences.

* Source: “Americans want antibiotic-free chicken, and the industry is listening,” National Public Radio, Feb. 19, 2014

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Preparing for the Arrival of Baby Chicks

Surprising as it may seem, pullet growing does not start the morning the chicks arrive.

Several weeks of planning and work should have occurred before the chick truck arrives.

1). Remove old feed, manure and stray live chickens from previous flock

2). Repair broken or malfunctioning equipment, water lines, etc.

3). Disinfect water lines.

4). Place rodent bait and traps after old feed is removed and before cleaning and

disinfecting house to allow rodents to get hungry and eat the bait.

5). Clean and disinfect the house thoroughly. Test to ensure efficacy of cleaning.

6). Downtime….though this is an economic issue, downtime is your friend. A minimum of

two weeks is recommended from cleaning and disinfecting to placement of chicks.

This is just the beginning of the journey to produce top quality pullets.

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Preparing for the Arrival of Baby Chicks

Next is the preparation of the cleaned and disinfected house to accept the baby chicks.

1). Fog or fumigate the house about a week prior to chicks arriving.

2). Begin warming the house about 2 days prior to chick arrival depending on

environmental temperatures.

3). Equipment and air temperatures should be acclimated to the set point temperatures to

avoid chilling the chicks.

4). Place cage papers on the cage floor covering the entire floor up to the front of the cage

and almost to the drinkers…remember the chick is small and has never been on wire

before and will not walk on wire to get to the drinker.

5). Check humidity…I prefer humidity for baby chicks to be at least 60% though some

breeder management guides suggest slightly lower levels.

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Placing of the Baby Chicks

Where in the house you place the baby chick is as important as how you place them.

1). Higher cages are brighter and warmer than cages in the middle or lower levels. Ensure

there are no shadows on feeders or especially water nipples.

2). Baby chicks can not regulate their own body temperatures so it is up to us to do that for

them. Brooding temperatures vary by breed but typically are between 88-95°F.

3). Have feed on the cage papers in the center and towards the front of the cage to try and

draw the chicks toward the feeder troughs.

4). Water nipples should have a drop of water hanging and water lines with low water

pressure to make access to water simple. Use 360° nipples.

5). Trigger water several times and have the nipple lines at eye level initially then slowly

raise to lines so that the birds have to look up slightly for water.

6). Cold water can chill the chicks so care should be taken to not flush the water lines

initially to create colder water than the chick can handle.

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First Week of Life

The baby chick should virtually double in size during this first week of life. This early

growth is critical for development of organ tissues and initial framework for the skeletal

development that will occur during later growth.

1). Feed on cage papers for first 3 days unless hatchery trimmed, in which case you

probably want to feed on the paper for a few more days.

2). Cage papers need to be removed between 7-10 days of age to keep them from getting

to wet or covered with manure.

3). Lighting programs—Personally I like the intermittent lighting program with two hours off

and four hours on around the clock for a few days to one week. This appears to get the

birds time to rest and time to eat and gets them off to a better start. If this program is not

used, at least 1-2 hours of darkness per day is recommended.

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Weeks 2-6

• This is the time of the chicks development when the internal organs undergo rapid

development especially the intestinal tract, the skeletal foundation, muscle, and the

immune system.

• Stresses during this time can lead to long term problems associated with the immune

response and the absorption of nutrients later in life.

• Pullet managers must keep in mind that the chick is still an infant at this time and

temperature, water availability, feed availability and humidity are still very critical to the

chicks development.

• Monitoring of body weights should begin during this time and continued through the rest

of the pullet cycle.

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Weeks 7-12

• This is the time frame when the majority of the skeletal system is deposited and the

major muscle growth occurs.

• By 12 weeks of age, the flock is typically at about 80% of the stimulation body weight.

• During this phase of growth, stress that occurs can reduce the skeletal development and

body weight development.

• Monitoring of body weights will signal a problem and allow time to react to reverse the

negative effects of whatever it is that has happened. If you are not looking at body

weights and wait until the flock is 17 weeks of age and weigh the birds and find out they

are light or lack uniformity it is too late to fix it.

• During this time the flock should reach the constant day length that they will be

maintained on until stimulation into production. Some breeds might recommend reach

that target earlier some a little later so I would refer you to the breeder management

guides for specifics.

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Weeks 13-17

• This is the time when the birds growth is slowing but the growth that is occurring is critical

in nature.

• Ovaries are beginning to develop, fat reserves are being placed, cortical bone is being

deposited for use during high egg production.

• During this stage, there is a gradual increase in the amount of estrogen being produced

and thus overfeeding can lead to excess fat deposition especially in the pelvic area and

can lead to prolapse and higher mortality.

• Also lack of feed consumption can slow the development of reproductive organs and fat

and result in delayed onset of production.

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What about Floor or Aviary Pullets

• The basics remain the same…good body weight, strong vaccination program,

appropriate lighting program, good uniformity.

• Starting chicks on floor involved slightly higher (2-5°F) temperatures, brooder rings!!!

• Aviary pullets need to be kept “in the system” for several weeks (6-8 weeks) to ensure

easy access to feed and water, good early muscle development to allow for jumping up

and down off slatted area, ease of applying early vaccinations.

• Once released from the “system” the flock needs to be walked in the evenings to

encourage the birds to go up in the system during the night. This helps reduce floor eggs

in the lay house.

• Watch for coccidiosis once the birds have access to floor. Vaccination for coccidia (as is

the case in cages) has been met with mixed results due to lack of cycling needed to

develop immunity.

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Lighting Programs

• As discussed in the section on first week, intermittent lighting program for the first week is

an excellent way to start the flock off.

• Following that first week, generally there is a stepdown of the day length weekly until a

constant day length is attained based on breed and light leakage in the pullet house.

• I personally prefer to use the shortest day length longer than 10 hours on whites and

longer than 8 hours on browns that allows for the flock to attain desired body weights and

the house light leakage allows.

• This allows for longer stimulation into production. Egg size needs and breed of pullet also

must be considered.

• Management Guides!!! Available and have excellent information so use them!

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Ventilation

• I am not a ventilation expert so will refer you to the management guides for their

recommendations.

• A rule of thumb is to make sure the temperature is at the recommended level and the

birds are not panting or huddling. In many situations, the birds will tell you how the

temperature in the house feels to them.

• If in doubt or having issues, contact someone with ventilation expertise as soon as

possible.

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Water

• Water is the most important nutrient but is one that is oftentimes overlooked.

• Little research has been done on pullet water quality needs. In general my philosophy is

that if you won’t drink the water, neither should the chicks.

• How many waterers per chick depends on the system. Usually 8-10 chicks per nipple in a

cage but want access to two waterers if the number is greater than 8.

• Water flow should be sufficient that there is plenty of water available at maximum water

demand which is usually just after lights go on and the first feeding occurs.

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Feeding

• Feeder space should be close to 2 inches per bird in a cage system. On floor systems

with round pan feeders, 35-50 birds per pan is adequate and 2 inches of feeder space if

a trough feeder is used.

• Feeding frequency is a valuable tool to ensure pullet uniformity. Stacking the feedings

fairly close together in morning and evening will allow both the “boss” bird in the cage and

the more timid bird in the cage to get access to sufficient feed.

• Allow for time to clean the troughs out during the day to ensure fines are consumed.

• Weigh the birds at a minimum every other week during grow to know where you stand.

• Contact your nutritionist if body weights are significantly lower than expected and feed

consumption is normal.

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Space Requirements

• Pullets should be grown on 48-54 square inches per birds after reaching 4-5 weeks of

age. Prior to this, the flock can be started on higher density but should be spread out by 5

weeks of age.

• Floor space on pullets should be about 1 square foot per pullet. This allows for good

growth and more easy flow through the house.

• Pullets that are crowded typically have low body weights, poor uniformity, and will likely

have more mortality.

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Lighting

• Pullets should be started on bright lights to be certain the pullets can find feed and water.

• Once they have found the feed and water well, the light intensity should be reduced to

approximately 0.5 ft candle. This reduction should be done over a period of a few weeks

but can be done quickly should cannibalism be observed.

• Cannibalism can be easily controlled if you act quickly. At first sign of tail head pecking,

my recommendation is to drop the light intensity and add some salt to the water for a few

days.

• Be certain that the light intensity in the pullet houses matches or is less than the layer

house or you run the risk of delaying onset of production due to the intensity drop from

pullet to layer.

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Vaccination Program

• Vaccination program should be designed to include only vaccines for which exposure to

the disease causing agent is likely.

• Program should be designed to produce as little stress as possible.

• Typical vaccination programs include Marek’s Disease, Newcastle Disease, Infectious

Bronchitis, Fowl Pox, Infectious Laryngotracheitis, Salmonella, Infectious Bursal Disease,

and AE. Other vaccines that are used in areas where necessary include MG and E. coli.

• Vaccines that require handling of the pullets should be planned so as the flock has

attained most of its skeletal growth before being handled. The fewer the handlings the

better.

• I will show an example of a vaccination program with all the above vaccines included.

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Layer Vaccination Program (sample)

• Hatchery HVT/IBD + CVI988, Salmonella typhimurium, E. Coli, (Cocci??)

• 14-18 days Newcastle-Bronchitis

• 35 days Newcastle-Bronchitis, Salmonella typhimurium

• 56 days Newcastle-Bronchitis, E coli

• 84 days AE/Pox, ILT, MG, inactivated NCIBSE

• 91 days Newcastle-Bronchitis

• Cocci vaccines can be administered at the hatchery if being grown on the floor. If cocci is

added at the hatchery the program is often changed to administer E coli and Salmonella

after day 3.

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Overview

• Raising good quality pullets comes down to paying attention to the details.

• Those details can be summarized in the acronym below:

• F – Feed

• L – Lights

• A – Air

• W – Water

• S – Space

A salesman that I first worked with in this area had a saying that has stuck with me

since…he always said to “plan the work and then work the plan”.

QUESTIONS?

COMMENTS?