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video Only newly born chickens require special attention and care. For quick adaptation and the beginning of growth in the first days of life, the temperature for chickens should be increased.
If there is a hen near the chicks, it provides such “greenhouse” conditions. Chicken with babies 2-3 days after their appearance should be indoors, and then the family in the warm season freely released for walking, knowing that the chickens will always save the adult bird from the cold and bad weather.
But what about when chickens come from an incubator? Such chicks are more vulnerable, they have almost no natural resistance to fluctuations in humidity and temperature, and any oversight of the poultry farmer can be fatal. Therefore, as soon as possible after the release of the eggs, the chickens are transported covered from drafts by an illuminated and heated place with a dry bedding.
The chickens temperature of the
. In the first five days, the temperature regime for the chicks is maintained at 29–30 ° C.Measurements are best carried out with a thermometer attached just above the litter surface. Then, starting from the sixth day, the air is gradually cooled so that by the tenth day of the chicks' life its temperature was 26 ° C.Before one month of age, the temperature for chickens decreases by 3–4 ° C every week until it reaches 18–20 ° C.
Pet health can be judged not only by meter readings, but also by the behavior of the bird, taking into account its breed and age.
In comfortable conditions, chicks are active, they are happy to move, drink and feed, not huddling in groups and not sitting on the corners of the cage:
- As soon as the temperature of the chickens falls below the maximum allowable, or the chicks feel an undesirable draft, they try to pull closer to each other.to a friend near a lamp or heater.
- When the indoor air becomes excessively hot, you can observe the opposite. Birds hack feathers or fluff, keep their beaks wide open, drink greedily, and try to keep away from their fellow tribesmen, perching on bedding along the borders of the house or cage.
And overcooling and too hot air is a serious danger to chickens. The bird eats worse and weakens, as a result it becomes easy prey for infections and other diseases.
Heating systems for chickens in the first days of life.
A variety of means is used to heat the cage or crate. Small containers, where it is fairly easy to maintain the temperature comfortable for chickens in the first days of life, can be warmed with the help of:
- water or electric heater, protected from moisture;
- bottles with warm water wrapped in several layers of cotton wool, wool or cotton;
- incandescent bulbs;
- one or two reflectors, fixed in a place inaccessible to chicks.
Whatever the heating of the box, you need to remember about safety, the ability of individual heat sources to cool down or, on the contrary, to become excessively hot, and also that the warming up of the air most often goes unevenly. Near the heater at 3–6 ° C, the temperature for the chicks will be higher than in the opposite corner of the box.
Chickens of egg breeds are usually more mobile than their broiler peers. Therefore, to save in the first few days a big house for chicks can be divided into parts. This will not only save energy, but also help kids save precious forces. Heating of the cage or crate is necessary until the age of one month, then:
- in the cages set the temperature for the chickens to be within 18 ° C;
- on deep bedding chicks live under warming to 15 ° C.
hobby lighting mode for young chickens
In addition to maintaining an elevated temperature for chickens in the first days of life, constant lighting is important. In this simple way, the bird is pushed to active feeding and growth. A 9–10 hour light day gradually comes to a two-month age, while the chickens are very helpful walking in the sun, which is a measure of hardening and prevention of rickets.
Choosing the right temperature for chickens in combination with adequate lighting and diet is a prerequisite for rapid growth, good health and active weight gain.
Heating and lighting are organized in various ways, but an increasing number of poultry farmers tend to prefer red lamps to heat chickens.
Use of red lamps to heat chickens.
. Infrared sources used in poultry houses should have a safe, reliable design that is protected from moisture penetration, possible jolts, bumps and curiosity of a growing bird. We should not forget about the risk of fire, which will inevitably lead to the gravest consequences.
The infrared lamp for chickens is covered with a protective, lattice cover and hung at a safe height. Today, poultry farmers are offered several options for such equipment.
Mirror, red heating lamp for chickens can be made with a transparent or red bulb. In the first case, the source gives not only heat, but also the luminous flux, in the second - almost all the energy consumed goes to receive heat. Such lamps have rather high power and service life up to 5 thousand hours. This allows you to safely and smoothly heat the young chicks, without the fear that the lamp at the most inopportune moment will fail.
Lamps with a ruby dome of the bulb are instantly heated and, thanks to their reflectivity, help save up to a third of the incoming electricity. The light from such lamps for chickens is not a factor of irritation, under them they grow beautifully from the first days until the moment of transfer to the adult bird.
When installing lamps for heating chickens, you should pay attention to the fact that the heat flow parameters directly depend on the height of the source of radiation:
- From birth to weekly age, the lamp above the chicks is fixed at 50 cm.approximately 75 cm from bedding.
- The radiation sources are then installed at a meter height.
As a result of this transfer, the temperature of chickens is reduced, and the area of lighting and heating increases markedly.
The use of red lamps to heat chickens stimulates rapid bird growth. Nestlings eat more actively, they gain mass better, they have good immunity and stable positive dynamics.
This effect is not accidental, since infrared radiation is as close as possible to what a bird would receive from the sun in free range. In addition to the already proven red lamps, there are also combined devices that provide the ultraviolet spectrum, which allows them to be used for disinfection.
