Poultry Flashcards
Why has the poultry meat production rapidly expanded over the last 5- years?
- tolerated by most cultures
- reasonably cheaper
- easily flavoured’
- minimal zoonoses
Why has egg production rapidly expanded over the last 50 years?
- multiple uses
- highly nutritious
- easier storage and safety properties
Explain the advantages of the poultry industry
- low cost of production
- efficient disease control mechanisms
- suitable for backyard, small holders and commercial systems
Approx how many boiler chickens and layers are there?
875 million broiler
36 million layers
What are the two main genetic improvements that have advanced in poultry?
1) increased growth rates
2) increased number of eggs layed
How is the structure of egg production catagorised?
Size of flock
What are the main reasons for veterinary involvement in the poultry industry?
Health - Prevention and treatment Performance Welfare Biosecurity Food hygiene Enforcement
What conditions are required in the environmentally controlled transportation of chicks?
26-29 degrees
70% humidity
How must a house be prepared before the arrival of chicks?
- cleaned and disinfected
- min of 2 weeks downtime without any chicks
- prepare at 33-36 degrees and 60% humidity
- bright light
- food and water supply
How long is the brooding period?
10-21 days depending on type of bird and local climate
What is the correct distribution of chicks during the brooding period?
Chicks are evenly spread
What does uneven feed distribution result in?
- lowered performance
- scratching damage associated with competition
- increased feed spillage
What are the 4 feed forms given to chickens?
Mash, crumble, whole grains and pellets
What are some of the effects caused by an undersupply of nutrition?
- poor chick quality
- decreased egg size, number and quality
- poor shell quality
- impaired hatchability
Which 3 factors of the housing environment need to be continuously monitored?
- Temperature
- Ventilation
- Humidity
What factors are assessed to determine body condition?
- body weight
- skeletal frame size
- overall health
- egg production/fertility
How can the body condition of a flock be determined?
Weekly weighting of up to 50 birds - 2% of females and 10% of males
A further 20-30 females and 15 males picked for physical assessment
What would be assessed during the physical examination of a male?
- alertness and activity
- body condition
- legs and feet
- head
- feathering
What would be assessed during the physical examination of a female?
- skeletal frame
- shank length
- uniformity
- pin bone spacing
- abdominal fat
At how many weeks old are males and females mixed together?
18 weeks onwards
Males and females must feed seperatly, how can this be achieved?
size and height of feeder is different
Controlled lighting is used, for how many hours daily should it be on at age:
1) 0-3 days
2) 4-7 days
1) 22 hours
2) 21 hours
What is the purpose of having a high light intensity?
- promoting early development and growth
- promotes good quality egg shell
- encourages chick activity
What are some broiler/layer routine management procedures?
- debeaking
- comb trim
- de-spun
- toe clip
What are the characteristics of a good egg disinfectant?
- Egg shell bacterial count before and after treatment
- egg content bacterial count after treatment
- impact on the egg cuticle cover
- hatchability
What is the role of a hatchery?
Provides controlled environment for optimal incubation and hatching of healthy, viable and usable chicks
How should the temperature of an egg change from hen to hatchery?
- From 40-41 in the hen body
- 24-29 in house
- 19-21 in hatchery
What is the incubation period of a chicken?
21 days?
What are the 4 important parameters of incubation?
- temperature
- humidity
- ventilation
- microbial
How many times a day should an egg be turned? what is the importance of this?
5-6
Important for proper embryo development
What advance information does candling provide?
- condition of the farm
- percentage fertility
- storage condition of eggs
- condition of embryos
How does a hatcher differ to an incubator?
- no egg turning
- higher humidity
How can a female chick be sexed?
The primary feathers are longer than the covert feathers
What are the 3 methods of vaccination chicks can receive?
1) Spray
2) SC injection
3) In ovo
Name 4 commercial laying egg breeds
- Isa brown
- Hy-line brown’
- Iohman brown
- Novagen brown
What are the 3 housing/management systems?
- Barn - deep litter
- Aviary - multi tiered
- Free range
Within the rearing period (15-16 weeks) how would a temperature too high affect them?
- limits good feathering
- limits food intake
- growth rate affected
Over how many weeks is the temperature reduced from 32 to 20?
5 weeks
What is the body temperature of a chick?
40.5 degrees
What is the purpose of perches?
- Expression of natural behaviour of birds
- Train birds to jump in the production system
- Offer an escape route from aggressive birds
- increases usable surfaces and floor density
At 18 weeks old what is the mean body weight a chicken should be?
1.50Kg
Where are photo receptors located?
- Pineal gland
- Deep brain tissue
What is the reproductive path of an egg?
- Infundibulum
- Magnum
- Isthmus
- Uterus
- Vagina
Describe the egg laying curve
- x axis = age (weeks)
- y axis = % production
- Sharp increase from 18-26 weeks up to 95% efficiency
- Gradual decline to about 70% until 80 weeks
What are the main characteristics of a broiler?
- 95% liveability at 42 days (opposite = mortility)
- live body weight = 2-2.3Kg
- FCR = 1.8-2
- skeletal strength
List the important factors of broiler production
Health Ventilation Brooding Body weight Water and food Housing - lighting
What are the steps in a chick start assessment?
- chick fill
- vent temperature
- body weight recording
What are the 3 types of feed giving at different points in the rearing period?
initially - crumble feed
then - grower feed
finally - finisher feed
Why is there best feed efficiency when fed with pelleted feed?
- decreased feed waste
- reduced selective feeding
- less time and energy expended for eating
What are the different types of feeder?
pan feeder
flat chain
tube feeder
What could be the results of wet/moist litter?
- increased welfare issues
- respiratory issues
- footpad dermatitis
What factors can affect the litter quality?
- protein quantity
- minerals
- raw material digestibility
- fat quality
- feed physical form
How can bio-security be controlled?
- farm location
- one way flow
- easy cleaning and disinfection
- dead bird disposal
- rodent control
- ill bird control
What are the slaughter ages of male and female turkeys?
Male = 18-21 weeks Female = 12-14 weeks
