LAYER FLOCKED

MANAGEMENT
 1. HOUSING

The designed and construction of house for layers

should be such as to provide for:
 Top performance of the layers
 Optimum environment control
 Maximum labor efficiency
 Satisfactory waste disposal
 Maximum housing and care costs per dozen
eggs produced
Layer houses can either be:

Litter floor pens Slat floor pens

Combination of litter and slatted floor

Very few or none at all are keeping commercial
egg flocks in litter floor because they have to
provide nest, roost, culling equipment etc.

Many raisers are still using slat floor in relatively

small pens with sloping floor.

Recent trend in poultry houses is the use of cages

in the raising of layers. Many of the modern and
successful commercial egg farms use cages system
layer operation. From single or individual birds
cage, doubles, 3 in a cage or more birds per cage
2. TRANSFERRING THE PULLETS TO THE LAYER HOUSE

Before the pullets actually start laying eggs they

must be transferred to the laying house.
They should not be allowed to lay eggs on rearing
floor to avoid the development of eating habit.

Also if they have started laying, transferring birds

from the rearing pen to laying houses may affect
the laying performance.
 If everything is so programmed so that the
layer houses are prepared at the proper time,
whether it is a first batch of pullets or a
replacement stock, pullets are best transferred
before they commence laying. This should be
done at approximately 16-18 weeks or a month
before laying.
Handling pullets when they started laying
is very dangerous. Handling itself can cause stress
that can depress the production.
 3. DAILY ROUTINE OF WORK IN THE LAYER
HOUSE
A. FEEDING – Layers must be fed a dietary composition
referred to as layer ration or breeder ration. Layer ration will
generally contain a protein level ranging from 15% to as high
as 18%.

The amount of feed consumed by layers is influenced

by variety of factors
1. age, size and egg production rate of the particular layer
2. Energy content of the diet
3. Climatic condition
4. Health status of the hen
Mature laying hens will consume about 90 grams to as high
as 140 grams a day. One year consumption varies from 40
to 42 kilos per year.

The frequency of feeding during the day will depend on

the kind of feeder used and the feeding system chosen.

Many follow feeding layers two times a day, once in the

morning and once in the afternoon. Automatic feeders are
usually set to move every 2 to 3 hours

Whatever of the system ever employed, always be

cautious about minimizing the wastage of feed if it cannot
totally be prevented
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F Circular feeder
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Shell grit box

 B. WATERING
Drinking water must be available to the layers all
time. The eggs is about 65 to 70% of water.
100 layers can consumed about 7 gallons of water
during a normal day and will drink more when the
temperature of the environment becomes higher
Layers can take certain point of starvation (without
feed) when water is available and keep a normal egg
production rate.
When they are deprived of drinking waters for
couple of hours, even when there is feed all the time,
this will certainly be reflected in a declined egg
production rate
 C. EGG COLLECTION

Laying hens sure expected to produce one egg

everyday.
They are capable of doing it but it is next to
impossible to realize one-egg-one-day for long
period of time. Therefore, they are expected to skip
some days in egg production.
OVIPOSITOR- (act of egg laying) takes place
normally as early as 7:00 am to as late as 4:00 pm.
Majority of hens lay their eggs between 10:00 am
to 2:00 pm.
 Collecting eggs more often than once has
the following advantages:

The eggs can be kept in the egg storage room where

favorable environmental conditions can be provided.
Eggs kept long in the nests or pens or cages are
liable to be exposed to high temperature, more dust
dirt, bird’s dung trampled by hens, intentionally
picked, or broken by some layers and other possible
agencies that can injure them.
Eggs must be collected in wire basket to provide
good air circulation.
4. CULLING

One of the factors that can influence the

profitability of layer flock operation is the rate of
egg production.
The number of eggs on the other hand, depends
on the presence or absence of poor and non
productive layers.
As a general practice, culling can be executed at
any time if it is necessary that some of the birds
must be removed due to whatever characteristic
condition existing at a particular time
5. FLOCK REPLACEMENT PROGRAM

A replacement can be planned as what to follow.

However, it can be subjected to any modification
or adjustment to suit existing conditions. It must
be understood that in commercial egg production
farms, a constant egg supply throughout the year is
desirable.
In a set up of one year laying program and a total
replacement of all old hens, the number of chicks
to be raised can be determined.
Raising of replacement pullets must be started so
as to coordinate or synchronize the time of
maturity together with time of disposal of the old
birds to be replaced.

Program of replacement can vary from a set of

one flock every 3 months but it can also be done
monthly depending on the program availability of
facilities
BROILER
 CONSTANT SUPPLY OF GOOD BROILER FEEDS,
FEED SUPPLEMENTS AND ESSENTIAL MEDICINE

Feed is the biggest item in operational cost

The quality of feeds is always reflected in the growth of
broilers.
Chicks can’t wait the availability of feeds so feeds must be
available all the time.
Modern stock of broilers respond very well to feed
supplements and additive that influence fast growth.
Birds also benefit much from medical treatment in cases of
stress conditions that may be unexpectedly encountered.
Vaccines must always be available to be able to follow
cardinal rules of disease prevention
 CAPITALIZATION

Broiler raising needs intensive capital, returns are

quick but investments are high

heads operational cost profit

100 broilers Php. 7,000 Php. 3 to Php 5/
•conservation estimate broiler
excluding housing
•Includes chick cost, feeds,
labor, light, water, etc.
In addition to late un-programmed marketing the
schedule of raising the next batch of chicks will be
disrupted. It may also force the raiser not to follow
proper sanitation measure before a new batch of
broilers is accommodated since there may be very
little time between selling time of old broilers and
coming of new batch of chicks.
Batches per Growing Period Cleaning/Disinfecting
Period
year
5 batches/year 6 - 7 weeks 2 – 4 weeks for
52 week/yr cleaning/disinfecting
=10 weeks/cycle and preparing for next
batch
6 batches/year 6 weeks 2.7 weeks for
52 week/yr cleaning/disinfecting
=8.7 weeks/cycle and preparing for next
batch
 Cleaning and Disinfecting Poultry House
Dry Cleaning - sweep or blow dust and other loose dirt off
ceilings, light fixtures, walls, cages or nest boxes, fans, air inlets
etc. onto the floor.
Wet Cleaning - is done in three steps: soaking, washing and
rinsing.
 Soaking - until the accumulated dirt and manure has softened
to the point it is easily removed.
Washing - every surface in the building, especially window
sills, ceiling trusses, wall sills and any surface where dirt and
dust may accumulate
Rinsing - final rinse immediately after washing is recommended
to remove any harmful residues and to obtain a spotless
building
Drying - air-dry the building if disinfection
cannot immediately follow rinsing. Open all
windows and ventilation openings
Repairs - make any repairs to the structure prior
to the final disinfection step.
Disinfecting - should be applied only after the
building and equipment have been thoroughly
cleaned, ideally right after rinsing. Disinfectants
can be applied by sprays, aerosols or fumigation
(Darre, 2014). Cleaning and Disinfecting Your
Poultry House.
 SYSTEM OF BROILER OPERATION
ALL-IN-ALL OUT SYSTEM – only one broiler of one being
raised and all of them are sold at the same time. This is most
desirable to affect a simple disease control measure, especially
if in one locality, community or area, there will be no other
age groups of birds. This can only be done if a strict rule,
ordinance or regulation is agreed upon and respected by all
people concerned. Private producer could form an
association and agree on a common price and program of
production.

The all-in-all out system can be so exclusive of one farm and

it can be effective if there is no neighbor who is also raising
broilers.

5-6 batch can be raised in one year

TWO STAGE OPERATION
Two groups of broilers are being kept in the
farm.

If the principle that no different ages of

chicks are not to be mixed in one house
will be followed, the two stage operation
certainly calls for separate brooder house
and grower house.
 There are advantages that can be mentioned in
favor of this system

i. More efficient utilization of the house

ii. More efficient utilization of brooder facilities
During brooding (all-in-all system) – growing
house is idle while
During growing period (all-in-all system) the
brooder house or area and brooder facilities are
idle.
iii. More broiler can be raised (double the all-in-all
out) during the year
iv. More frequent intervals of selling broilers
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 Disadvantages

i. Two separate houses must be constructed

ii. Transferring the broiler from the brooder
to the grower house can be stressful to the
chicks.
iii. More labor is required.
 Multiple Stage Broiler Operation

This is similar to two stage broiler operation

except that there should be more units to
facilitate as many stages or accommodate
various ages of broilers. The turn over of
chicks can be either daily every 2 days,
weekly bi-weekly, etc provided that the
management is carefully observed to effect
no mixing of ages in one particular house
and strictly follow for a frequent output of
broilers, this system is always resorted to.
Contract Growing Of Broilers
 Integrator company ( contractor)
 Farmer (grower)

Contractor’s responsibility
1. Supplies of chicks and feeds
2. Provide technical services and guidance in raising
broilers
3. Pay fixed fee for raising the broilers-what is
embodied in the contract, including bonuses and
incentives
4. Gets back the grower broilers from the farmers
5. do the scheduling of next batch
Farmer’s Responsibility
1. Provides the proper housing-appropriate for the size
of flock to be raised.
2. Housing facilities should be acceptable to
company’s standard
3. Report of any unexpected eventuality

Contract should contains 3 essential C’S

1. Complete
2. Clear
3. Concise
Classification of broilers raisers
a. Independent raiser
b. Contract grower
Broilers Strains Marketed in the Philippines

a. Anak 2000 b. Anak 180 c. Arbor acre

d. Cobb e. Pilch f. Starbro

g. peterson h. Ross i. avian

 Important Parameters In Broiler Production
a) Cost of day-old chicks Php. 25.00/ chick

b) Total amount of feed consumed 3.50 – 3.75 kg/ bird

c) Feed conversion ration 2.0 – 2.5

d) Mortality 3 - 5%

e) Dressing percentage 70%

f) Price of lightweight chicken Php 100.00 / kg

g) Number of batches per year 5–6

h) Feeding system Ad libitum

i) Cost of feeds Chick booster Php. 785/ 25 kg (assumption)

Broiler starter Php. 1230/ 50 kg (assumption)
Broiler finisher Php. 1200/ 50kg (assumption)
J) Labor: broiler ratio 1:5000 birds