Receiving of birds involves he process of transferring
chicks from the hatching to the brooding house. In EBSU farm, there is no
hatchery facility so the chicks are
gotten from obasango farm.
In
the hatchery there are some precautions taken to ensure a save arrival of
chicks, some vaccines like marks disease vaccine are given sometime at the
hatchery. In EBSU farm, there are some basics equipments provided and
preparations made before and during receiving of birds.
The house preparation practices are
as follows
1.
Sweeping and
packing of wastes from the brooding house.
2.
washing the
floors, walls and the entire house with
water and disinfectants
3.
After washing,
the house is covered with nylon bags or waterproof. The waterproof helps to
prevent further entry of dust and organism into the brooding house.
4.
After covering
the house with nylon bags the house is fumigated three times before the arrival
of the birds. The fumigation is spaced with about a day or two days interval.
The last fumigation must be done when the brooding materials are already kept
in place. Two disinfectants are mixed during fumigation, this is because it
makes the disinfectant more active against resistant organism
5.
Clear the grasses
around the surrounding of the house
6.
Make sure that
the bulbs are fixed well, that there are kerosene in the stove or lantana.
Apart
from these basic preparations there are some other things that are put in place
in the pens. This includes:-
1.
Fixing of torn
nets and nylons
2.
Partitioning of
the pens. This is done because the pens are wide, so they are partitioned with
planks into about 1ft the partitions helps keep the chicks together but as they
grow and increase in size the partitions are removed.
3.
Introduction of
litter materials. The litter materials used are wood shaving and rice husk
The
brooding materials made use of are;
Hover- for quick and even distribution of heat
Stove -to provide heat for the birds
Drinkers -is for drinking water
Feeding tray -is used to feed the chicks
Bulks/tauten it is
another heat source and for light at night.
In arrival of the bird, the following operations are carried out:-
i. Weighing of the chicks to determine
their average weight
ii. The heat source are ingoted; that is stove
or charcoal and bulls
iii. The chicks are provided with only water
glucose, vitamins and antibiotics is given to the bird through the drinking
water
Glucose and vitamin helps replenish
dissipated/lost energy during transit and antibiotics which prevent chicks from
bacterial disease that cause chicks mortality. The chicks are allowed to drink
for 1 hour before introducing the feed.