Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
will be immune to future outbreaks. So as long as you provide sanitary conditions for
these birds, you are out of the woods.
Brooder, Building, and Equipment Maintenance
It is a common mistake to allow the day-old bird and young fowl facility to get too dirty.
It is also common for some new raisers to mistakenly go too far the other way by con-
stantly cleaning. The careless raiser has young birds standing in wet slimy filth, while
the cleaning fanatic becomes exhausted making sure that the litter never has a spot of
manure. Filthy birds do not thrive and the ever-cleaning owner burns out. When it comes
to cleaning, focus your attention primarily on keeping their waterers and feeders clean.
Cleaning Waterers and Feeders
Waterers should not be allowed to develop a scummy layer. As a general rule, rinse them
with a bleach and water solution several times a week. Bleach more frequently if the
waterers are often becoming filled with dirt and grime. If you stick your finger inside the
jar and feel a slimy layer, you are asking for trouble. The slimy layers are where the or-
ganisms that cause coccidiosis occur. These protozoa are located most everywhere, and
once they get a good start growing in the water, they easily can populate your chickens'
digestive tracts and cause serious problems. If you're providing a medicated feed, the
coccidiostat in the feed helps control these organisms. If not, it is even more crucial that
you keep waterers clean.
It doesn't hurt to wash waterers out every day, but it may cause you to burn out from
chore overload. Plan your cleaning routine based on how much waste and feed material
you find in the waterers. Use a good scrub brush and pail for cleaning both feeders and
waterers. You might like to have extra sets of both waterers and feeders. That way you
can dump dirty “dishes” into the pail for later cleaning.
Waterers need more frequent attention than do feeders, but with waterfowl both will
get messy very fast. I like to leave a bucket of bleach water nearby to rinse out the water-
er every time I fill it. Every few days I change the bleach solution. It is not necessary to
go overboard on cleaning out the feeder. It is normal for all fowl to poop in their feed
but make sure there's not an overabundance of manure — so much that they are picking
it up and eating it.
Cleaning the Brooder and Poultry Building
I usually keep my young poultry in plastic tub brooders for a two-week period, and dur-
ing that time, I clean out the tubs twice a week. If the litter in the brooder is the least bit
wet, musty smelling or moldy, grab your bucket and brush.
