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Broiler Farming (Poultry) Information Guide

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Broiler farming

Introduction of Broiler chicken:-  What is broiler? It’s a tender meat young chicken of male or
female that grows from a hatch weight of 40 grams to a weight over approximately around 1.5 kg
to 2 kg in about 6 weeks time period only. Broilers today has emerged as the one of the fastest
growing poultry segment with the increased acceptance of  broiler chicken meat in cities, towns,
and villages, the demand and consumption of broiler chicken is increasing day by day in a fast
pace. In India, during the last few years, poultry farming has taken a U- turn from a backyard
venture into a fastest growing commercial sector. For achieving better profits from poultry
industry, One should be aware and have good knowledge on its technicality viz: housing, breed,
feed management, and over all maintenance.

Broilers breeds reared for meat purpose are: a) Commercial Broiler breeds b) Dual
purpose Broiler breeds.

1. Commercial Broiler breeds in India.

 Caribro.
 Babcobb.
  Krishibro.
 Colour broiler.
 Hy-Bro.
 Vencobb.

2. Dual purpose Broiler breeds.

 Kuroiler Dual.
 Rhode Island.
 Red Vanaraja.
 Grama Priya.

Krishibro – a coloured Broiler

Housing/Shed & Management in Broiler farming:- To achieve optimum chick growth and
body weight gain in broiler farming, It is essential to provide comfortable and growth specific
housing or shed area for birds.

One should consider the following factors or parameters for better Broiler housing and
management.Housing/Shed design and site selection are major factors to be considered.

Selecting the Site for Broiler farming:-

 Should have sufficient land area.

 Should have good water supply and electricity.
 Preferably higher land  should be considered to avoid water logging in rainy season.
 Better to have road connectivity and transport facility.
 Should be far from human activities and housing estates.
 Should have market access to procure any farm inputs and selling of farm produces.

Housing /Shed Design in Broiler farming:-

  Housing should have good ventilation and wind flow.
 In deep litter system, space requirement is 1 sq ft / bird.
 Should consider East-West as length-wise direction of the shed.

Shed Direction

Housing or Shed System:- Try to make housing at low cost, so that saved amount can be used
for bird purchase or feed or any other farm inputs. For building a low cost housing system, use
locally available material like mud, bamboo, thatch roof/chitra etc.  Management is the important
part of the broiler farming to achieve desired meat production. Following are the vital parameters
to be considered in Broiler management System.

1) Broiler breed selection: Day-old chicks with good quality should be selected.

2) Preparation housing before arrival of chicks:

 Remove the previously used litters and wash the house equipments properly.
 Should spray sanitizers on litter and entire poultry house.
 Should spray selected disinfectants.
 Should clean water pipelines.
 Should consider fumigation of poultry house with suitable agents.
Day-Old-Broiler-Chicks

3) Brooding:  

 Should start brooder 1 day prior to arrival of chicks to the farm.

 Should adjust the hover temperature to 95 °F at first week and reduce by 5 °F every week
until 70 °F.
 Should Place chick guard for first week.

4) Ventilation: The shed /house should be designed with cross ventilation for allowing fresh air
to circulate inside the house by providing wire mesh net on two opposite sides of the shed.

5) Lighting: Continuous lighting should be provided from day old to till marketing of chicks.

6) Floor space requirement in the shed: 1 sq ft / bird.

7) Deep Litter Management in Broiler farming:

 Litter materials used in the shed should be either rice husk, saw dust, or chopped wheat
straw etc depending upon availability of the material.
 Should remove old litter and use fresh litter for rearing pullets and new batches of
 To avoid caking of litter due to high moisture level in the shed, stirring litter should be
carried out on regular basis and humidity of the shed should be maintained.

Poultry Feed Management:-  As feed plays vital role in poultry farming and is the major cost
of poultry production which seriously affects the production output of the birds. So the feed and
feeding management is the major important consideration for efficient commercial poultry
farming. Improper feeding causes several deficiency disease which results in poor production
performance.

Also, make sure the feed have all the required nutrients (carbohydrates, fats, protein, minerals &
vitamins) in right proportion for better growth of the birds. In addition to the regular nutrients,
some additives are required to facilitate digestion and growth and  is usually added in reputed
commercial feed.

Types of Poultry Feed:-

Age of chicks Feed Type

 0  – 10 days Pre-Starter
11 – 21 days Starter
22 days – Till
Finisher
marketing

Estimated Feed consumption of Broiler farming:-

Chicks age in days Feed Weight in grams   Body Weight gain/day 

1st day  2nd day  3rd day4th 20gm/bird/day 22gm/bird/day 45 – 55 gms 55 – 95 gms  95 –
day 24gm/bird/day26gm/bird/day 135 gms135 – 175 gms

5th day 28gm/bird/day 175 – 215 gms

6th day 30gm/bird/day 215 – 255 gms

7th day 32gm/bird/day 255 – 295 gms

8th day 34gm/bird/day 295 – 335 gms

9th day 36gm/bird/day 335 – 385 gms

10th day 38gm/bird/day 385 – 425 gms

11th day 40gm/bird/day 425 – 465 gms

12th day 42gm/bird/day 465 – 505 gms

13th day 44gm/bird/day 505 – 545 gms

14th day 46gm/bird/day 545 – 585 gms

15th day 48gm/bird/day 585 – 625 gms

16th day 50gm/bird/day 625 – 665 gms

17th day 52gm/bird/day 665 – 705 gms

18th day 54gm/bird/day 705 – 745 gms

19th day 54gm/bird/day 745 – 785 gms

20th day 56gm/bird/day 785 – 825 gms

21st day 58gm/bird/day 825 – 865 gms

22nd day 60gm/bird/day 865 – 905 gms

23rd day 62gm/bird/day 905 – 945 gms

24th day 64gm/bird/day 945 – 985 gms

25th day 66gm/bird/day 985 – 1,025 gms

26th day 68gm/bird/day 1,025 – 1,045 gms

Application of Effective Micro-Organism Liquid (E.M.) in Broiler farming:

What is E.M? E.M. Is a brown colour concentrated liquid produced from the cultivation of 80
strains of beneficial microorganisms collected from natural environment of India.

What are the advantages of E.M. Technology in Livestock Production or in Broiler

farming ?

 It reduces cost inputs more efficiently and improves gain in body weight.
 It maintains better health condition of chicks.
 It helps Clean shed, less flies, ticks and less disease incidence.

E.M. in Broiler feed on daily basis:-

Age of birds  E.M. Bokashi

01 – 07 days 30 gm/ kg feed
08 – 14  days 20 gm/ kg feed
15 days onwards… 10 gm/ kg feed

E.M. Solution as additive in drinking water on daily basis:-

Age of bird E.M. Solution

01 – 14 days 1 ml/ liter of water
15 days onwards 0.5 ml/ liter of water
Caution Note: E.M.solution should not be mixed with  anti-biotic, disinfectants / chlorinated
water.

Diseases, Control and Vaccination schedule in Broiler farming:- CLICK HERE.

Bio-Security Measures in Broiler farming: Bio-security is a method of preventing the spread

of disease onto your poultry farm.

Bio-security has 3 major components:

 Isolation.
 Traffic Control.
 Sanitation.

What are the Bio-security Measures in Broiler farming ?

 Should have fencing.

 Should keep visitors to a minimum.
 Should limit visitations to other poultry farms.
 Should keep all animals and wild birds out of poultry sheds.
 Should practice sound rodent and pest control programs.
 Must inspect bird flocks daily and recognize disease symptoms.
 Should have good ventilation and relatively dry litter.
 Should keep areas around sheds and feed bins clean.
 Never go for exchange of feed and equipments.
 Disinfection and sanitization of poultry sheds & equipment should be carried frequently.
 Dead birds must be disposed properly. 
 Possible Ways of Disease spread

Marketing of Broiler Chicks:- Marketing should be planned in advance of starting a farm. A

successful farming will depend on the good poultry market and the price offered. In India,
consumption of chicken will be less on certain festival times.

Are you also  interested to go for Sheep or Goat farming? Click Here.

Broiler Farm

Most commercial meat chicken farms are intensive, highly mechanised operations that occupy
relatively small areas compared with other forms of farming.

Commercial broilers are run on litter (e.g. rice hulls, wood shavings) floors in large poultry
sheds. THEY ARE NOT KEPT IN CAGES in all of the production systems used in the 
industry.  The main production systems are generally referred to as conventional, free-range and
organic.  For a simple comparison of these systems, click here.

Hatchery to farm

Chicks are transported from the hatchery to broiler farms, usually in ventilated chick boxes in
specially designed, air-conditioned trucks. Although the remains of yolk sac taken into its
abdomen at hatching contains nutrients and moisture to sustain the chick for up to 72 hours, it is
important that chicks receive warmth, feed and water within a reasonable time of hatching.
Shedding

Meat chickens are farmed in large open poultry houses, usually refered to as ‘sheds’, ‘houses’ or
barns, but sometines as ‘units’. Shed sizes vary, but a typical new shed is 150 meters long and 15
meters wide and holds about 40,000 adult chickens. The larger sheds can contain up to 60,000
broiler chickens. There are often three - ten sheds on the one farm. A typical new farm would
house approximately 320,000 chickens, with eight sheds holding approximately 40,000
chickens/each.

Traditionally, broiler sheds in Australia have been ‘naturally ventilated’, with the sides of the
shed open to fresh air. The amount of air circulating through the shed is changed by
raising/lowering curtains running along the side of the shed, or by a vent opening at the top of
the shed. Fans encourage air flow, and water misting systems cool birds by evaporative cooling
in very hot conditions.

An increasing number of chicken sheds in Australia have ‘tunnel ventilation’. Tunnel ventilation
sheds have fans at one end of the shed which draw air into the shed through cooling pads in the
walls, over the chickens and out the fan end of the house at high speed. Three or four
temperature sensors in the poultry house allow the fan, heating and cooling settings to be
adjusted as often as every three minutes.

Feed lines and pans run the length of the shed and are supplied automatically by silos from
outside. Water lines run the length of the shed, with drinkers at regular intervals. Water and feed
are placed so that chickens are never more than about 2 metres from food and water. 

Broiler chicken drinking from a nipple drinker Chicks at a feed pan

Rearing the chickens

 Spreading a thick layer of clean and fresh litter, such as sawdust, wood shavings or other
material such as rice hulls across the floor for bedding for the bird.
 Preheating the shed
  Checking feed and water systems.

On arrival at the broiler farm, day-old chicks are placed onto the floor of the shed, where they are
initially confined to an area of between a half to one third of the total shed area (the ‘brooding
area’) and given supplementary heating from gas heaters or heat lamps. This is called brooding
and the heaters are referred to as brooders. Extra feed pans and water dispensers are provided in
the brooding area, and the bedding may be partly covered with paper to stop dropped feed from
getting into the bedding and spoiling.

Both male and female chicks are reared as meat chickens. While the flocks are usually of mixed
sex, some operations may grow male and female chickens separately, depending on market
requirements. For example, one company grows out only male chickens in one area, allowing its
operations and processing plant in that area to be geared up specifically for larger birds, while
sending female chicks to another area.

 
Broiler shed after arrival of day-old chicks

For the first two days of the flock’s life, the shed temperature is held at 31 - 32ºC, the optimum
temperature for baby chick comfort, health and survival.

As the chickens grow, they need less heat to keep them warm, so the temperature of the shed is
gradually lowered by about 0.5°C each day after the first two days, until it reaches 21 - 23°C at
21 days. The farmer aims to maintain shed temperatures within this range, although in sheds of
large birds towards the end of grow-out, the temperature may be reduced.

Shed temperature and humidity can be managed by altering ventilation and using stirring fans
and water mists. Air quality is also managed by varying shed ventilation.

Depending upon ambient conditions, the brooders will be removed at some time between 4 and
14 days.
As the chickens grow, the area available to them is increased until they have free run over the
floor of the entire shed.

Generally, feed and clean water is available 24 hours a day, although some operators make feed
available at specific 'meal times' only. This practice may stimulate better digestion, improve bone
strength and prevent birds from becoming over fat. For further information on what chickens are
fed, see Feed.

The chickens have adequate lighting to see by and to find feed and water, with dark periods each
day to allow them to rest. The lighting provided is usually dimmer than natural lighting to
promote calm.

Shed temperature, humidity and air quality are checked and adjusted regularly, either manually
by the farmer or automatically by computer controllers.

The farmer also checks his flocks regularly to monitor the flock’s health and progress, remove
any dead birds, and cull any sick or injured ones. Farmers also check feeders and waterers.
Careful management of ventilation and waterers helps keep the litter clean and dry, as poor litter
affects air quality and can affect bird health and performance.

Over the life of the broiler flock only about 4% of chickens are lost. This is through natural
causes or selective culling.

Harvesting the meat chickens

In Australia, a percentage of chickens are harvested from most flocks on several occasions.
Harvesting, also known as ‘partial depopulation’, ‘thinning out’, or ‘multiple pick-up’, may be
done up to four times, depending on need for light or heavy birds. Thinning out sheds allows
more space for the remaining birds and reduces the natural temperatures in the shed.

The first harvest might occur as early as 30-35 days and the last at 55-60 days.

Chickens are often harvested at night as it is cooler and the birds are more settled. They are
generally picked up by specialised contract ‘pick-up’ crews under low lighting conditions so that
they are calm and easy to handle. They are usually caught by hand and placed into plastic crates
or aluminium modules designed for good ventilation and safety from bruising during transport.
These crates or modules are handled by specialist forklift equipment and loaded onto trucks for
transport to the processing plant.

Cleanout

When all the birds have been removed from the shed (after about 60 days), it is cleaned and
prepared for the next batch of day old chickens.
The next batch generally arrives in five days to two weeks, giving time to clean the shed and
prepare for the next batch. The break also reduces the risk of common ailments being passed
between batches as many pathogens die off.

Many farms undertake a full cleanout after every batch. This includes removing bedding,
brushing floors, scrubbing feed pans, cleaning out water lines, scrubbing fan blades and other
equipment, and checking rodent stations. High pressure hoses clean the whole shed thoroughly.
The floor bases are usually rammed earth and because low water volumes are used, there is little
water runoff.

The shed is disinfected, using low volumes of disinfectant which is sprayed throughout. An
insecticidal treatment may be applied in areas where shed insects such as beetles are a problem
and may threaten the next batch. Disinfectants and insecticidal treatments must be approved by
the Australian Pesticide and Veterinary Medicines Authority as safe and fit for use in broiler
sheds.

Company veterinarians or servicemen may test sheds after a full cleanout to confirm sheds have
been adequately cleaned and potential disease agents removed.

On other farms, a partial clean up of the shed is done, including removing old litter and/or
topping up fresh litter and cleaning and sanitising equipment. A full cleanout is done after every
second or third batch of chickens.

Number of Batches a Year

As each broiler flock spends 6-7 weeks in a shed and there is a two week break between batches,
farmers run about 5.5 batches through a shed each year.

Farm Biosecurity

Farmers take precautions to prevent entry of diseases onto broiler farms.

People can carry disease on their footwear, clothing, hands and even vehicles, so growers take
steps to minimise the risks they pose. These may include:

 signage and gates at access points to the farm to discourage unauthorised entry
 requirements for visitors and service providers to wear overalls and boots provided by the
farmer
 disinfecting footwear in foot washing baths at the entrance of each shed
 minimising vehicle movements, and requiring vehicles or equipment that have visited other
farms to be washed down 
 scheduling movements so that where people or vehicles must go between farms on the same
day without a thorough disinfection, the youngest flocks are visited first and the oldest last.
 As wild birds can carry disease, keeping birds and their droppings away from chickens is
important. Prevention measures include:
 netting the sheds so they are wild bird proof
  not allowing farmers and their employees to keep birds of any type including budgies or parrots
as pets
 cleaning up spilled feed promptly to discourage visiting birds
 where practical, not having dams that would attract water birds
 sanitising chicken’s drinking water if it could be contaminated by wild birds (eg dam or river
water).
 Farmers have documented pest control programs to reduce the risk of diseases being carried on
to the farm by rodents.

Strict records are kept by the farmer of the chickens’ health, growth and behaviour, so that any
emerging disease problem can be identified rapidly and acted upon.

Growth Rates

A number of factors affect the chickens’ growth rate and size at harvest. These include:

 Breed
 Age at harvest
 Feeding regime
 Gender (males grow faster)
 Age of parent flock (ageing flocks produce bigger eggs and the chicks from larger eggs grow
faster)

Why do chickens grow to market weight so quickly?

Most of the improvement in growth rates over the last 50 years ago is due to improved breeds of
chicken. This genetic gain, which has been achieved through conventional selective breeding, is
due to:

 investment in advanced breeding programs by the large well-resourced specialist breeding

companies overseas
 the number of generations that can be produced in a relatively short period of time. Chickens
reach sexual maturity at about 20-25 weeks of age, then take only three weeks to start
producing the next generation. Each hen can produce up to 150 progeny within a year of its own
hatching).

A further improvement in growth is due to improved nutrition. For current meat chicken breeds,
the precise profile of nutrients such as energy, protein, essential amino acids, vitamins and
minerals that the chicken needs at each stage of its growth has been studied precisely. For each
feed ingredient, the levels of these nutrients digestible by the chicken has also been established.
With this information, feeds can be formulated to match the chicken’s precise nutritional
requirements throughout its lifecyle, thereby optimising growth.

Other gains made in meat chicken growth and performance are due to better husbandry
techniques and health management.

Feed
Feed is made up of 85-90% grains, such as wheat, sorghum, barley, oats, lupins, soybean meal,
canola and other oilseed meals and grain legumes.  For this reason, international grain prices
affect the cost of production very significantly.  To read more about the significant proportion of
wheat and grain more generally that is being purchased by the Australian chicken meat industry,
click here.  You will learn that 5% of grains grown in Australia are purchased by our industry.

Hormones are not added to chicken feed or administered to commercial meat chickens or
breeders in Australia. Hormone supplementation is a practice that has been banned
internationally for forty years. The ban is supported by the Australian Chicken Meat Federation
(see ACMF hormone policy).

Meat chicken diets are formulated to strict nutritional standards. A rough guide to the
specifications of some of the key nutrients needed by a growing meat chicken is:

Nutrient Specification of a Broiler Diet (Grower)  

Energy 13 MJ/kg

Crude Protein 20.5%

Lysine (digestible) 1.1%

Total sulphur amino acids (digestible) 0.7%

Calcium 0.9%

Phosphorous (available) 0.4%

Sodium 0.2%

Chloride 0.2%

The optimum and most economical combination of feed ingredients that meets the strict
nutritional specifications at any particular time is selected by ‘least cost formulation’ computer
programs.  The dietary formulation will therefore vary with changes in the availability, price and
quality of specific feed ingredients, the location and season and the age of any particular broiler
flock. For example, diets fed to meat chickens in the south eastern states will predominantly be
based on wheat, whereas sorghum provides a greater contribution to the diet of meat chickens in
Queensland and lupins will normally only enter the diets in WA and SA.

Generally speaking, cereal grains provide the energy component of the diet, and soyabean meal,
canola meal and meat and bone meal primarily provide the protein. In some areas, grain legumes
such as lupins are used as a component of broiler diets where they have the dual role of
supplying energy and protein. Vegetable oils or animal fats (such as tallow) might be included in
the diet to provide additional energy.
Meat chickens have very specific requirements for particular amino acids, which are the
‘building blocks’ of proteins. The amino acids lysine and methionine are also added to diets
because they are generally not present in sufficient amounts in the grains and protein sources to
meet the nutritional needs of the birds. Meat chicken diets are also fortified with additional
vitamins and minerals and, where necessary, other essential amino acids to ensure that the
broilers’ very precise requirements for these nutrients are met.

A ‘typical’ broiler feed might look something like the following.

Composition of a Typical Broiler Feed

%
Wheat
45.0
Sorghum
25.0
Soyabean Meal
12.0
Canola Meal
8.0
Meat & Bone Meal
7.0
Tallow
2.0
Lysine
0.3
Methionine
0.2
Vitamins & Trace Minerals
0.5
TOTAL
100

As the chicks grow, the composition and form of the feed is changed to match their changing
nutritional needs and increasing mouth size. The ‘starter’ feed, which is in small crumbles just
big enough for baby chicks to eat, is replaced with ‘grower’ feed as soon as they are large
enough to eat fully formed pellets. After about 25 days, the chickens move on to a ‘finisher’
feed, and then often to a ‘withdrawal’ feed just before harvest.

Almost all broiler feed used in Australia these days is steam pelleted (in crumble form, in the
case of baby chick feeds). Ingredients are ground, mixed together, steam conditioned and
compressed into beak sized, well-formed pellets. The high temperatures applied in pelleting kill
many bacteria that may be in the feed ingredients, essentially sterilising the feed. Some
companies include whole grain mixed with pellets.
Feed is delivered in bulk to growing farms by modern trucks incorporating pressurised blower
units, ranging in capacity from 20 to 35 tonnes. The feed is stored in silos on site and dispensed
mechanically to chickens in the sheds.

A flow diagram of the processes involved in the manufacture of chicken feed in a typical, large
Australian feed mill is below.

Main farming and processing methods: what are the main differences

The description offered above represents what we generally call the conventional farming
method. Chickens are raised in large enclosed barns with litter (wood shavings, rice hull etc) on
the floor.  The older style farms have some "soft"side walls (called curtains)  which allow a
degree of control over air movement and temperature within the shed. Modern sheds are
generally of the tunnel ventilated type, with solid walls, large fans placed at one end of the shed
and air inlets at the other end which draw the air across large pads that can be soaked with water
to generate evaporative cooling of the air.  Floors are either concrete or compressed clay soil to
allow thorough cleaning between batches of chickens (all chickens are removed from a shed and
the shed is cleaned and disinfected before the next batch of one day old chicks is delivered).  The
break of several days between the fully grown birds being picked up and the new batch of day
olds being placed is an important aspect in our effort to maintain the chickens free of disease and
contamination.

Conventionally produced chicken represents about 90% of the total production in Australia. 
Free-range chicken makes up the remainder, with certified organic being a free-range system
with some additional features.

Free range and organic chicken production

Free range chicken meat accounts for 10 to 15% of chicken produced, with less than 1% of the
total production also being organic.

Free range meat chickens are produced using similar management, housing and feeding practices
as conventional meat chickens. The major differences are that free range chickens are allowed
access to an outside run for part of each day (at least post the brooding period) and often have
lower target stocking densities. Depending on the accreditation program adhered to, use of
antibiotics to treat sick birds may preclude the meat from these birds being sold as free range.

The main certifier of free range chicken meat in Australia is Free Range Egg and Poultry
Australia Ltd (FREPA). The standards that free range meat chickens must comply with to be
certified by FREPA can be viewed at www.frepa.com.au. There is also an "outdoor systems" RSPCA
Accredited Farming Scheme Standard; details are available on the RSPCA website.

Certified organic meat chickens have two additional requirements:

 Feed must be predominantly from certified organic ingredients.

 Birds cannot be treated with routine vaccination. There are exceptions, such as where treatment
is required by law or disease cannot be controlled with organic management practices.

Certified organic chicken meat bears a certification logo from an approved organisation.  Please
seek more detailed information from the relevant accreditation body.

Note that at present chicken meat can be described as ‘organic’ without being certified by an
organic association. Therefore it is important to look for a relevant certification and to seek
detailed information on the actual requirements mandated by the relevant standard from the
organisation administrating the standard.

Comparison Table of the Main Commercial Meat Chicken Farming Systems

If chicken meat is sold Free Range or

Conventional Certified Organic
as: Outdoor Systems
Kept in cages No No No
Housed in large barns Yes Yes Yes
Access to outdoor forage
Yes. Required once Yes. Required once
areas
No chicks are adequately chicks are adequately
feathered feathered
during daytime 
28-40kg/m2 depending 16-34kg/m2 depending
Stocking Density
on the standard of the on the standard of the
Maximum (inside the 25kg/m2
ventilation provided ventilation provided in
barns)
in barns barns
Age of birds at harvest 35 – 55 days 35 – 55 days 65 – 80 days
Given growth hormones No No No
Depends on
accreditation program
(under some No (if antibiotics are
May be given antibiotics
standards, if required, can no
for prophylactic and/or Yes
antibiotics are longer be sold as
therapeutic purposes
required,  meat may no organic)
longer be sold as free
range)
Feed consists mainly of
Yes Yes Yes
grains
Feed may contain
supplements such as Yes Yes Yes
vitamins and amino acids
Feed has to come from
organic production (no
chemical fertilizers, No No Yes
pesticides and herbicides
used)
Yes, to a limited extent Yes, to a limited extent
(soy meal is not (soy meal is not
available in sufficient available in sufficient
Use of GM products in
quantities from local quantities from local No
feed
sources and imported sources and imported
soy meal may contain soy meal may contain
GM grain) GM grain)
Model Code of Practice
for the Welfare of Animals Yes Yes Yes
applies
Controls in place to ensure Most chickens are Monitored by Accreditation
adherence to these grown under contract organisations that provided by
standards to processors and the accredit farms such as organization
farms are supervised FREPA and RSPCA; approved by the
by the processor’s comment under Australian
 Quarantine Inspection
farming manager and “Conventional” also
Service;
vet applies here
independently audited
 

Note: Chicken marketed as "chemical free" comes from  birds raised in a conventional manner.  The
difference is in the processing plant where no chlorine is used, In most processing plants in Australia,
chicken carcases are placed in a water and ice mixture to wash the carcasses and to cool them to below
5 degrees Celsius.  This water is generally sanatized by the addition of chlorine at levels of 3-5 ppm to
control microbial contamination such as Salmonella and Campylobacter that occur naturally on meat.

_______________________________________

Corn fed and grain fed chicken is produced as the name indicates by feeding chickens a
substantial diet of corn resp. grain.  All chickens are fed grains as a major part of their diet. In
Australia, the grain is mainly wheat and sorghum. The grains used will depend on the local
availability so that in the US, for example, corn is the staple ingredient rather than wheat.  Corn-
fed chicken tends to have a slightly yellow appearance.

The chemical-free label refers to a difference in the processing, not the farming. As explained in
the footnote to the table above, it indicates that no chlorinated water has been used in the
processing plant, with water being sanitized by exposure to UV light rather than addition of
chlorine, and carcasses being cooled by exposure to a cold air stream rather than an iced water
bath.

Finally, the claims "no added hormones" and "no cages" APPLY TO ALL CHICKEN
MEAT SOLD IN AUSTRALIA regardless of the farming system.  The claim "produced in
Australia" is applicable to almost all chicken meat sold in Australia.  Small quantities of
cooked chicken meat is being imported from New Zealand and retorted (e.g. canned) products
containing chicken may also be imported.

Keeping Flocks Healthy

Increasingly, the emphasis in flock health program is on prevention rather than treatment.

Vaccination, farm hygiene and biosecurity are the most important strategies to keep flocks
healthy. For poultry diseases caused by viruses, they are the only useful strategies.

For some diseases these approaches are insufficient, unavailable or uneconomical (see
Coccidiosis and Necrotic Enteritis later) and other methods of control are necessary at this point
in time.

In unusual circumstances where a bacterial disease has flared and all other management
strategies have failed, the veterinarian will treat the birds with animal-friendly antibiotics (see
Therapeutic Use of Antibiotics).
Vaccination

Breeder flocks will be vaccinated against a range of diseases during their lifetime. The actual
diseases vaccinated against, vaccines used and program and timing of vaccinations will vary for
each company.

Great Grandparents, the most valuable birds, are usually vaccinated for infectious bronchitis,
Marek’s disease, infectious laryngotracheitis, infectious bursal disease, chicken anaemia virus,
inclusion body hepatitis, Newcastle disease and fowl pox; and may also be vaccinated against
egg drop syndrome; Mycoplasma gallisepticum, Mycoplasma synoviae and coccidiosis.

Grandparent and Parent breeder flocks will be vaccinated against a similar range of diseases,
and some may be vaccinated for fowl cholera and Salmonella as well. Breeder flocks are
vaccinated, not only to protect their own health and productivity, but in many cases to provide
protection for their progeny chicks through the antibodies passed on in the yolk sac. This is
particularly important in the case of infectious bursal disease, for which protection of broiler
flocks is largely dependent on maternal antibodies.

Blood tests are used to monitor the effectiveness of vaccination. Some companies have their own
laboratories, while others use university, government or private diagnostic laboratories.

Chicks are generally vaccinated for infectious bronchitis and Marek’s disease. As Newcastle
disease vaccination is compulsory for all commercial poultry flocks, broiler chicks are
vaccinated at the hatchery or in the field through drinking water at 7 -14 days of age.

Hygiene and Biosecurity

Farm hygiene and biosecurity practices are implemented at both breeder and broiler farms to
reduce the risk of disease moving on to farms from outside sources such as wild birds or other
farms, moving between sheds on the same farm, being carried over between batches in a shed, or
being passed from parents via the egg.

These are discussed in more detail at Farm Biosecurity and Hygiene under Breeder Farms and at
Cleanout and Farm Biosecurity under Broiler Farm. Farmers adhere to the procedures
documented in the “National Biosecurity Manual for Contract Meat Chicken Farming”, which is
available from the ACMF website.

Good hygiene in the hatchery helps to reduce the chances of infections being picked up by chicks
while they are in the hatchery.

Measures are also taken at the feed mill to reduce the risk of any disease agents and other
pathogens, particularly Salmonella, from getting into chicken feed from feed ingredients or from
contamination of the finished feed.

Coccidiosis
Coccidiosis is a significant and common disease of all poultry all over the world. It is caused by
a parasite which infects the gut of the chicken causing diarrhoea and significant production
losses and mortalities.
It is treated by the use of coccidiostats. As coccidiosis is extremely common in all poultry raised
on the ground, coccidiostats are routinely included in chicken feed.

Necrotic Enteritis

Necrotic enteritis is caused by the overgrowth of a bacteria called Clostridium perfringens in the
gut and, when triggered, a high proportion of the flock can die. This condition is controlled by a
combination of dietary management and the prophylactic and targeted use of one of four possible
antibiotics, delivered in the feed.

For more information on the use of such products see Antibiotics under Consumer Issues.

Therapeutic Use of Antibiotics

Antibiotic use is important in chicken meat production to ensure the overall health and well
being of chickens. Only antibiotics approved by Australia’s regulatory authorities and
administered in accordance with strict regulatory guidelines are used. The Australian Chicken
Meat Federation recommends the use of antibiotics in farm animals in two important ways:

 therapeutic agents (used to treat the symptoms of a bacterial infection)

 prophylactic (preventative) agents (used to prevent disease occurring in healthy animals).

Antibiotics are usually delivered via drinking water, not in feed. Only a veterinarian can
authorise and supervise these treatments.

The antibiotic policy of the Australian Chicken Meat Federation states that:

 Antibiotics must not be used to promote growth in chickens

 Antibiotics are only to be used for therapeutic or preventative treatments against serious
diseases such as necrotic enteritis.
 Antibiotics that are considered important for human use are not to be used in preventative
treatments of chickens.
 Antibiotics must be used under veterinary supervision and according to good veterinary
practice.
 At all times withholding periods set by regulatory authorities must be observed.
 The industry supports the Australian Government’s National Residue Survey, which conducts
regular independent checks of residues of antibiotics in chicken meat and consistently shows
that Australian chicken meat does not contain residues of antibiotics.

For more information on the use of such products see Antibiotics under Consumer Issues.

Metabolic diseases
Some conditions are not infectious but can affect the health of meat chickens and result in losses.
These can be caused by intoxications, such as through the consumption of small quantities of
fungal toxins brought into the feed through grains, or be metabolic in origin.

Intoxications are managed by the industry through the careful screening and sometimes treatment
of raw ingredients and through careful feed formulation practices.

Fortunately, the incidence of metabolic conditions, such as skeletal deformities and heart attacks,
has declined to very low levels in recent years, largely due to genetic selection for reduced
susceptibility.

Furthermore, research into the environmental and nutritional factors that predispose to these
conditions has led to the development and adoption of enlightened nutritional and husbandry
practices designed to prevent the emergence of such conditions.