Commercial Poultry Production and Hatchery Management

CLASSIFICATION OF BROODING

Natural brooding

• It is done with the help of broody hens after hatching, up to 3 to 4 weeks of age.

Artificial brooding

• In artificial brooding large number of baby chicks are reared in the absence of broody hen.
• Equipments used for brooding are called brooders. Brooder comprises of three elements:
  • Heating source
  • Reflectors
  • Brooder guard

Heating source may be electrical, gases like natural gas, LPG and methane, liquid fuel like kerosene and solid fuel like coal, wood can be used as a heating material.

• Charcoal stove / kerosene stove
  • Where electricity is not available, ordinary charcoal / kerosene stoves are used to provide supplementary heat to chicks.
  • These stoves are covered with plate / pans to dissipate the heat.

• Gas brooder
  • Natural gas, LPG or methane is connected to heating element which is hanged 3 to 5 feet above the chick to provide heat.

• Electrical brooder
  • It is also thermostatically controlled heating system that spread required amount of heat uniformly above large area, this avoid crowding of chicks under brooder directly.
  • One electrical brooder can be used for 300 to 400 chicks.

• Infra-red bulbs
  • It is a self reflecting bulb. One 250 watts IR bulb can provide brooding for about 150 to 250 chicks.

• Reflectors
  • These reflectors are called Hovers. Flat type hover – These hovers are provided with heating element, heating mechanism and pilot lamp and in some cases thermometer is also there in order to record the temperature.
  • Canopy type hover – These reflectors are in concave shape consisting of ordinary electrical bulb, thermostat mechanism and in some cases thermometer.

• Brooder guard / chick guard
  • They are used to prevent chicks from straying too far away from heat supply until they learn the source of heat.
  • We have to provide brooder guard with a diameter of 5 feet, height of the brooder should not exceed 1.5 feet.
  • For this purpose, we can use materials like cardboard sheet, GI sheet, wire mesh, and mat etc. depending upon the season of brooding.
  • During summer season, brooding is done for 5-6 days. In winter season it is 2-3 weeks.