Chicken Management in Cold and Hot Weather

Since chickens do not have sweat glands, they cannot sweat like other animals to reduce their body temperature. Therefore, they sit with their mouths open to release body heat during the hot season. This condition is called heat stress. Especially when the temperature exceeds 30 degrees, chickens suffer a lot and start showing symptoms like this.

Chicken Management in Hot Weather

If it is too hot and not managed, feed consumption decreases, egg production and weight decrease, chickens become very thirsty, and after crossing 39 degrees, the respiratory rate increases, and they can even die. Therefore, the following management should be done during the hot season:

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• In places with a normal climate like ours, since there is no controlled ventilation or air conditioning in the cage, it is customary to use natural ventilation and sometimes, when necessary, a fan as artificial ventilation. Therefore, in our rural cages, when it is very hot in the afternoon, the feed bowl should be pulled up and moved away from the chickens three to four hours before. Doing this helps to circulate the air inside the cage to some extent. Heat is not generated while digesting the feed. It also helps to balance the body temperature of the chickens.

• If pasture is arranged, it is better to plant trees in between that do not allow the chickens to go out to pasture in the hot sun during the day or that provide shade in the pasture. If the trees planted in this way are Ipilipil, Kimbu, etc., their leaves are very useful as they are eaten by the chickens and also act as shade.

• In the case of chickens in the cage, increasing air circulation by walking slowly through them and encouraging them to drink water is another way to reduce heat stress.

• As needed, commercially available heat stress reducing drugs such as vitamin C (1 gm per 4 liters of water), Venlite, or Electrocare (1 gm per 1 liter of water) can also be mixed with the water and fed.

• In cases where vitamin C or other drugs are delayed or not immediately available, adding lemon, lime juice, or vinegar to the water can help reduce heat stress.

• Check whether natural ventilation is sufficient or not, and whether the mesh is clean or not.

• If natural ventilation is not sufficient, artificial ventilation such as fans, coolers, etc., can also be used.

• Cold water should be provided to the chickens at all times. In such cases, chickens will not drink hot water. Therefore, rather than waiting for the chickens to finish drinking water in the summer, it is a simple and practical solution to provide cold water by changing the water every hour during the hot summer months (from 12 noon to 4 pm).

• A sprinkler system using straw, grass, jute bags, etc., on the roof of the chicken coop can also provide a lot of relief. This should be done before the sun gets hot. After placing the material on the roof, water can also be sprayed on it.

• In very hot summers, chickens tend to eat less feed, which reduces feed consumption. This can negatively affect the growth and development of chickens. To avoid this situation, the amount of protein in the feed fed in summer should be slightly higher.

• Keeping fewer chickens in the coop than the capacity in summer can also be another practical solution to reduce heat.

How to care for chickens in the cold?

In winter, it is necessary to be very careful in caring for older chickens or chicks. Especially if the temperature inside the cage drops, the chickens tend to huddle together. If it drops too low, they start climbing on top of each other all at once. die in large numbers. Compared to broilers or layers, such problems caused by extreme cold in rural chickens do not cause much damage.

Nevertheless, necessary caution must be taken. Moreover, since it is very cold in the first week and the entire cage is closed with curtains in winter, the carbon dioxide gas accumulated inside cannot escape. This can also cause various respiratory diseases, including ascites in winter. In such a situation, the following things can be taken into account:

• When opening the curtain or tarpaulin, consider the direction of the wind and open the curtain or tarpaulin on the side where the wind is blowing first. Then, depending on the situation, open the tarpaulin on the windy side only by one-third compared to the other side. Open the curtain on the windy side three times more often than you open the curtain on the windy side. Doing this will prevent the temperature from dropping too much. Air circulation will also be good.

• Regular checks should be made to see whether the chickens in the cage are getting the temperature according to their age.

• If it is a cage with a net, the net curtain should be put up and opened only during the day when the sun is shining. At other times, it should be kept up and opened for some time to allow air circulation.

• Especially in a country like ours, load shedding is a big problem and you never know when there will be a power cut. Therefore, if the source of artificial heat is electric, an alternative source should always be kept ready.

• Since it is not possible to know that the artificial heat has decreased during the night, you should sleep only after managing the temperature before going to bed.

• In very cold winters, you should give lukewarm water and increase the temperature source a little.

• On cold days without sunlight or during foggy or misty weather, opening the ventilation will make the coop even colder, so there is no point in opening it. Even if you keep the ventilation closed and the curtain closed, the steam released from the chicken’s breathing will cool the coop. Therefore, deciding when to open or close the ventilation is also a kind of art or common sense.

• If you experience eye irritation or burning when entering the chicken coop, you should understand that the amount of ammonia in the coop is high. However, if you buy litmus paper available in the market and wet it, and place it in the coop, its color will gradually turn blue. This is also how you can determine the amount of ammonia. When the litter gets cold, it starts releasing more ammonia gas. Therefore, in such a situation, you should remove the very cold litter and replace it with new litter or use superphosphate fertilizer at the rate of half a kilogram per square meter to reduce the pH of the litter.

• To reduce the cold outside, use straw, jute sacks, dry grass, etc., on the roof or fit plywood, barn, or mandrake, etc. under the roof.

• Since chickens need more energy to keep their bodies warm in winter, they should be fed a higher-energy feed.

Best chicken feed and water management

In rural poultry farming, about 75 % of the total expenditure is on feed alone, so its proper management is very important to reduce production costs and increase profits. Since we are rural poultry farmers, we can provide up to 20 % of the total diet in the form of soft and nutritious grass as fibrous material. While managing the diet, it is necessary to pay attention to the following things:

• Chickens have a small stomach. Since it is shorter than that of ordinary and other animals digestion is also faster.

• Both plant and animal-derived foods can be mixed in chicken feed. Since chickens do not have lips and teeth, they need more fiber than a high-fiber diet. Because they cannot digest large amounts of grass like ruminants. Only a small amount of soft and nutritious grasses is mixed in chicken feed.

• Even chicks purchased from a reliable hatchery are not growing evenly as they grow, and some are large, and some are small. It is important to understand that there is a weakness in the management of feed and cages.

• Moldy, spoiled, and smelly feed should never be given to chickens. This has a negative impact on the growth, egg production, and immune system of the chicken.

What is the best way to feed and water chickens?

• The number, size, and shape of the feed and water bowls may vary depending on the type. Generally, when using feeders and waterers used in Nepal, the feed bowl should be about twice the size of the water For example, one water bowl is enough for 60 chickens. One feed bowl should be placed for every 35 to 40 chickens. When making standards for this, the length, roundness, width, and depth of the feed bowl should be considered. This number may vary depending on the nature of the feed bowl.

• The feed bowl should never be placed directly under a heat source or brooder. This reduces feed and water consumption. The feed bowl should not be allowed to become empty.

• Feed bowls should be placed in two rows in a 20-foot deep cage and in three rows in a 40-foot deep cage. Even placing water bowls in only 2 rows will provide the required area.

• Generally, local, local-cros,s and rural chickens should be fed a feed containing 20 % protein and 2800 kilocalories of energy for the first five weeks. Then feed with 16 to 18 %

• Chickens consume 2 and a half times the amount of water they consume. If the temperature is above 35 degrees, it is seen that chickens consume up to 5 times the amount of water they consume. As the temperature increases, the water consumption of the chicken also increases. Generally, when the temperature is above 20 degrees, for every additional degree C in temperature, feed consumption decreases by 1.3% while water consumption increases by 5%.

• The total length of the feed bowls divided by the number of chickens in the cage should be a maximum of four inches per chicken. The length of the water bowl should be a maximum of one inch. However, if there are nipple drinkers, one nipple should be provided for every 10-12 chickens. If the water bowl is very wet, it is understood that carelessness in placing water and too many chickens are given too few water bowls.

• The amount of various minerals in the water fed to chickens should not be more than necessary. Although chickens can digest minerals such as sodium and calcium, iron, copper, manganese and some other minerals can be toxic to them. On the one hand, such minerals spoil the taste of the water and reduce water consumption. On the other hand, bacterial growth also occurs more easily in such water. Therefore, it is appropriate to filter the water fed to chickens with a mesh of 40 to 50 microns.

• Special attention should be paid to the substances and amount of salt added to the feed to prevent chickens from getting salt poisoning. If the feed contains more than 0.9 percent salt (sodium chloride), the feed consumption of chickens decreases significantly. This type of caution should also be taken when using materials that contain a lot of salt, such as fish meal.

• Since chickens are more likely to suffer from coccidiosis, prescribed doses of anti-coccidiosis drugs can be used regularly in chicken feed. Chickens that have been fed this type of feed for a day or two can be used for meat, as the coccidiostats do not remain in the meat, like antibiotics, and can be used for meat within a day or two. However, farmers who want to produce organically should find alternative solutions or take extra precautions. For example, feed them probiotics, yogurt, raw milk, etc., mixed with water. After 12 weeks of age, coccidiostats do not need to be added to the feed, as they are less susceptible to coccidiosis.

• Since chickens do not have teeth, if small particles of ground limestone, marble, or granite marble are included in the feed to make it easier for them to digest, it helps to grind the feed and make it more digestible. This material is called grit. Pellet or crumble feed is already made of fine particles and is digestible, so grit is not needed.

• The water that chickens drink should have zero coliform or total bacterial count, but water with 50 coliforms per ml or 100 total bacteria per ml can be used for drinking purposes. Similarly, even if the calcium content is 60 and the chloride content is 14 milligrams per liter, water with a maximum of 250 mg per liter of chloride can be given. For this, the water should be taken to a laboratory and tested.

• The quality of the water fed to chickens and the bacterial count should also be checked from time to time.

• Feeding low-energy but high-protein feed will result in weight loss, low fat intake, but high meat intake. Feeding high-energy feed will result in weight gain and high fat intake, and even if less feed is fed, more weight will be gained.

• Since local and rural chickens do not produce as much meat or eggs as broilers or layers in proportion to the feed they consume, attention should be paid to reducing costs by providing locally produced balanced feed, soft grass, pasture, sprouted foods, and kitchen waste.

Do chickens eat more when it’s hot?

Temperature	Ratio of feed and water consumption
20 degrees centigrade	1:2	Eat 50 grams of grains and consume 100 grams of water
25 degrees centigrade	1:2.5	Eat 50 grams of grain and consume 125 grams of water
38 degrees centigrade	1:5	eat 50 grams of grains, you will consume 250 grams of water