09/05/2024
For some of us who’ve been in poultry practice for some years, it’s common to get a call from farmers who are either want to dispose their pullets because they can’t manage feeding them until 4-5 months when they start laying or want to shift from broilers to layers and vice versa and use the same structures. You’ll need to have some knowledge of broiler and layer farming operations.
I’ll attempt to highlight some of the significant comparisons with huge economic impact.
Comparison between managing 5000 layers and 5000 broiler deep litter farms: differences that have economic impact
1. Layers occupy double the space occupied by broilers. Meaning you’ll have two houses, each carrying 2500 for layers OR one house with double the space.
2. You keep layers on the farm up to about 4½ to 5 months to start egg production. This means you need sufficient running capital otherwise you’ll get stuck along the way and dispose the pullets. For broilers, you harvest after 35 days.
3. If you were to be harvesting 5000 broilers once a week, which what those in broiler business do, you’ll need at least 6 houses of 5000 capacity, maintaining a resting period of 5-7 days for each house after removing the birds, equipment, litter, cleaning and disinfection. This has a huge economic impact both on the market and running costs.
4. The feeding program for layers is different from that of broilers. The broiler diet being geared toward fast growth. Some curious farmers have attempted feeding their layers broiler feeds and have had a sad story to tell. In some practices, layers chicks are fed broiler starter if they’re under weight and once they attain the required weight they’re returned to chick mash diet. This works but need experience.
5. Broilers are fed pre starter crumbs,starter pellets and finisher pellets.I would suggest Platinum feeds three phase diet.This reduces feed waste and increases feed utilization thus fast growth and uniform weight. Broilers fed three phase diets are harvested within 35 days at a live weight of 2.2 to 2.3kg.
Layers are fed on mash diets because of their slow growth and management of metabolic conditions that would result from forced accelerated growth.
6. Litter management in broiler operations is key. To avoid ammonia burns, wet litter must be avoided. Turning of litter is a daily activity and ensuring there is no drinker leakage. Any water spillage on the litter will lead to litter caking and hence ammonia build buildup. Ventilation and stocking density must be managed to avoid ammonia buildup. House design, east-west orientation is important as it allows fresh air in the house. Storied buildings are not the best for broilers. Houses build between other structures are obstructed from fresh air access. Broiler with burns (hock, breast) are unisuitable for the market and are a welfare concern.
In layers, litter challenge is uncommon. Layers bath in and scratch the litter turning it by themselves. Rarely is litter changed in layer operations.
These are just a few differences that I picked.
