How well are your chicks adapting to life in your brooder? What’s your measure? The trusted yardstick is crop fill.
If you’re familiar with the anatomy of a chick, then the ‘crop‘ needs no introduction. If you’re a newbie – no shame…it’s basically that temporary food storage chamber which the feed sits in before being moved on for digestion.
In a day-old chick (DOC) the crop is particularly pronounced when feeding has just occurred. But for absolute certainty, a gentle but confident feel of the chick’s crop will reveal if they’ve just eaten – and also, just as important, what they’ve eaten.
Now, crop fill or the measure of how full the crop is (according to leading Aviagen poultry veterinarian, Scott Gillingham) is your ticket for assessing how well adjusted your newly placed chicks are becoming to their brooder environment.
In other words, crop fill answers the question…“Are my chicks adequately finding their provision of feed and water?”
And with full knowledge of the rapid growth trajectory that broiler chicks are on within their 1st 7 days after placement, we need not stress the importance of them feeding properly from the get-go.
With so little time to make adjustments once your chicks hit the brooder floor, you need instant confirmation that your production sprint has gotten off to the best start.
Much like weighing, you need to randomly select a cohort to test for crop fill. But critically, you want to time your crop fill assessment to begin at least after a 2hr delay from the time of arrival.
If you assess for crop fill from the instant they land, then you’re not assessing their feeding behaviour in the brooder. You need to give them enough time for crops to empty and to begin being topped up with brooder feed.
Also, ‘what you feel for’ is important. As Scott Gillingham puts it,
“…its like oatmeal or porridge, which is what feed and water is, nice soft pliable feeling, which is good…but if it feels like shavings or it feels like straw, it tells me that the birds are feeding on the litter – so crop fill is a very good indication of chick comfort.”
So with that said, how is your chicks’ crop fill?
- 75% within 1st 2 hrs
- 100% within 48 hrs
This is your gauge of brooder hospitality.
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