Poultry farms play a vital role in meeting the protein needs of a growing population. The government is therefore encouraging the country's young people to take up poultry rearing through short-term training and loans, and the sector is growing wider day by day.

To earn a good income from a poultry farm, all the rules must be followed. In winter especially, if a poultry farm is not given special care, broilers may gain less weight, layer farms may produce fewer eggs, and the risk of death may rise. Supplying the right temperature to chicks in winter is therefore a major problem.

To keep the temperature under control, farmers hang polythene or thick cloth curtains in the poultry house. This cuts the supply of fresh air, especially oxygen, to the chicks' house, and a build-up of ammonia gas causes breathing difficulty, swollen faces and other symptoms. As a result chicks die every day. To overcome this and keep farm birds well, the following points should be kept in mind.

Sacking or jute curtains must be hung in the house. To control the temperature, the jute curtains should be stitched double before being hung. In extreme cold, jute curtains can be hung around and above the chick guard like a mosquito net.

Brooding temperature should be controlled by fitting 200-watt bulbs in the brooder box. Some extra bulbs with reflectors can also be hung low in the heated house and switched on as needed.

During power cuts and severe cold, kerosene stoves should be lit around the chick guard in the heated house as needed to maintain the brooding temperature. The kerosene stoves should be the kind that give a bluish flame and are used in hotels and restaurants.

If the brooding temperature is low, chicks huddle together in one place, especially at night, and many can be seen to die of suffocation when crushed underneath. To prevent this, the house temperature must be kept under control, and the chicks should be stirred from time to time so they cannot stay huddled together for long.

Always remember that using a gas brooder is more scientific than supplying heat with an electric brooder, because with an electric brooder the lighting programme in the poultry house cannot be followed properly.

In winter especially, using a gas brooder alongside the electric brooder allows the lighting programme to be followed properly, and the brooding temperature can also be controlled as needed.

The brooding temperature should be kept as follows:

• First week: 95 degrees Fahrenheit
• Second week: 90 degrees Fahrenheit
• Third week: 85 degrees Fahrenheit
• Fourth week: 80 degrees Fahrenheit
• Fifth week: 80 degrees Fahrenheit, but the chick guard should be removed

During brooding, giving 1 gram of electrolyte per litre of water once a day for the first 10 to 15 days gives good results.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.