Great farmers,pls i need your advice/help before i loose my mind. I have 23wks,506 nos brown pullets and only 7 have started laying since last week.
Their data is as follows:
i raised them from day old with all vaccinations complete.
They eat btw 44kg and 48kg per day.
At 20wks,i mix grower and layer feed for them. I use hybrid feed.
They are on constant multivitamin.
I dewormed and deloused them using ivermectin(kepromec) at 18wks and repeated it 3wks after.
PLS NOTE: I moved them from lagos to abeokuta(permanent site) at 16wks and caged them at abt 18wks. There are 4birds /cell.
Pls suggestions,insight and advice are needed.

Over 2o views and not a single comment. Is my situation that bad?

rubris4u:
Great farmers,pls i need your advice/help before i loose my mind. I have 23wks,506 nos brown pullets and only 7 have started laying since last week.
Their data is as follows:
i raised them from day old with all vaccinations complete.
They eat btw 44kg and 48kg per day.
At 20wks,i mix grower and layer feed for them. I use hybrid feed.
They are on constant multivitamin.
I dewormed and deloused them using ivermectin(kepromec) at 18wks and repeated it 3wks after.
PLS NOTE: I moved them from lagos to abeokuta(permanent site) at 16wks and caged them at abt 18wks. There are 4birds /cell.
Pls suggestions,insight and advice are needed.

my dear be patient with them. they will soon start. increase the number of day light to 16hours. also change their feed to layers mash.
if u are close to any clinic, take some there for test to see if there is any vaccine failure. also the stress of transportation and caging can also contribute.

there are other factors that can affect sexual maturity of the birds: source of doc, management practice during brooding and rearing.

Whats your cell dimension? Whats the level of hygiene and the feed mixing ratio? These things can affect their laying capacity

@sprintson,each unit/basket has 5cells.
The mixing ratio now is 50:50,layers:growers.
I pack their litter every 2days. Thanks

Sprintson:
Whats your cell dimension? Whats the level of hygiene and the feed mixing ratio? These things can affect their laying capacity

rubris4u:
@sprintson,each unit/basket has 5cells.
The mixing ratio now is 50:50,layers:growers.
I pack their litter every 2days. Thanks

all things being equal they will lay soon. i guess it the stress. give them amino total

@jamp,thanks. I am just worried and am thinking of cutting my loses before it is too late. So far no mortality.
How long will you suggest i hold on before pressing the stop button on them.

jamp:
my dear be patient with them. they will soon start. increase the number of day light to 16hours. also change their feed to layers mash.
if u are close to any clinic, take some there for test to see if there is any vaccine failure. also the stress of transportation and caging can also contribute.

there are other factors that can affect sexual maturity of the birds: source of doc, management practice during brooding and rearing.

@jamp,may God bless your effort.tx

jamp:


all things being equal they will lay soon. i guess it the stress. give them amino total

rubris4u:
@jamp,thanks. I am just worried and am thinking of cutting my loses before it is too late. So far no mortality.
How long will you suggest i hold on before pressing the stop button on them.

dont press the stop button. keep moving. everything is experience. if by 27wks u are not getting 50% production, please sell and restock

May I start by congratulating you. Why? The fact that some are laying means they will all start to lay.
although you shouldn't have introduced layers mash.
you need to check the weight and they should consume minimum 50 kg now. the good news is that you will get bigger eggs

well there is nothing to worry about.
given layer mash when there re not even up to 2% lay may later leads to accumulation of abdominal fat which in turn predispose ur birds to prolapse.
I wont advice u to give 16 hours light but I we encourage you to practise early morning feeding around 6am. and if possible feed them like thrice a day the same quantity u re using now.

@davidzfarm,thanks. Just that my first two batches(150birds/batch) were blacks and started laying by 20wks,50% was achieved by 24wks. Right now all i have is going on this birds.

davidzfarm18:
May I start by congratulating you. Why? The fact that some are laying means they will all start to lay.
although you shouldn't have introduced layers mash.
you need to check the weight and they should consume minimum 50 kg now. the good news is that you will get bigger eggs

@alexbigtin, thanks. i mix the grower and layer feed at 50:50 ratio. I am not giving them only layers.

alexbigtin:
well there is nothing to worry about.
given layer mash when there re not even up to 2% lay may later leads to accumulation of abdominal fat which in turn predispose ur birds to prolapse.
I wont advice u to give 16 hours light but I we encourage you to practise early morning feeding around 6am. and if possible feed them like thrice a day the same quantity u re using now.

@jamp,exactly my thoughts,having a performance timeline for them in order to prevent incurring cost. Staybless.

jamp:


dont press the stop button. keep moving. everything is experience. if by 27wks u are not getting 50% production, please sell and restock

The main thing I noticed here is that you're not feeding them fine. According to this chart for Hyline brown, at 23 wks they're suppose to consume about 100g/bird/day (some other charts put it at 112g for Isa brown). 112g x 506=56.672kg. So increase their feed.

Right now they eat abt 50kg/day.often times,early in the morning when i empty their feeders of the previous day feed and weigh it,its about 8-10kg guess it is because at midday the heat is always much.
I feed them early in the morning and refresh their feeders around 3pm. i dont have light on the farm now & i dont want to photostimulate them.

FarmTech:
The main thing I noticed here is that you're not feeding them fine. According to this chart for Hyline brown, at 23 wks they're suppose to consume about 100g/bird/day (some other charts put it at 112g for Isa brown). 112g x 506=56.672kg. So increase their feed.

What is the OP's fear about?
Showcasing his total ignorance of how the business works before he started!
Too early to panic where at 23 weeks, seven chickens out of 506 are laying.
For comprehensive poultry education for free,visit 1st signature

1. What farm did you buy from?
2. Is their growth looking uniform?
3. Is their brown colour the same? Or are they a mixture of dark browns and light brown?

Ura:
1. What farm did you buy from?
2. Is their growth looking uniform?
3. Is their brown colour the same? Or are they a mixture of dark browns and light brown?

..
Why did you ask no. 3 questn? I'll like to know.

rubris4u:
Right now they eat abt 50kg/day.often times,early in the morning when i empty their feeders of the previous day feed and weigh it,its about 8-10kg guess it is because at midday the heat is always much.
I feed them early in the morning and refresh their feeders around 3pm. i dont have light on the farm now & i dont want to photostimulate them.

..
You have to tackle the heat problem using the tips listed here: http://www.farmersjoint.com/Thread-Chickens-Raising-Chicken-in-Hot-Climates. How are they doing now?

FarmTech:

..
Why did you ask no. 3 questn? I'll like to know.

We don tay for the business.
Why do you want to know?

I think there is no problem with your birds. The Only thing you aren't doing right is your feeding . By standard an average bird should eat feed equivalent to 10% of its body weight or more per day, and at 23 weeks your birds should be around 1kg so each birds should be eating 100g feed minimum per day. with 506 birds you should be feeding them with 50.6kg feed daily or more. And also make sure you give them sufficient water to drinks as water makes up almost 70% of egg constituent. please withdraw all drugs except multivitamins excessive use of this drugs can also inhibit the maturity of the birds . Note if after 27 to 28 weeks you don't record 50 to 55% birds laying , you should consider disposing them as it may be due to their genetic make up.

Ura:



We don tay for the business.
Why do you want to know?

..
Just curious.