From the moment of hatch, water is a critical factor in the growth of broilers. Precisely monitoring and measuring water consumption is an important tool to successfully raise a flock.
By Michael Czarick, Connie Mou and Brian Fairchild
University of Georgia
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Cooperative Extension
Athens, GA USA
Getting chicks off to a good start is very important to overall flock performance. At no time does a bird grow faster than during the first week of its life. Over the last week of a 42-day-old flock, a bird’s weight will increase by approximately a third. In contrast, a chick’s weight will typically increase approximately four fold, possibly more, by the time it reaches seven days of age. Of course, if a chick is going to grow this quickly it has to eat plenty of feed. Research has shown that over the first full day of a chick’s life it will eat approximately 1/4 of its weight in feed. By the end of the first week, a 40-gram chick (0.09 lbs) will eat approximately 150 gram (0.33 lbs) of feed and gain approximately 140 gram (0.31 lbs), giving it a feed conversion ratio (FCR) of approximately 0.5 kg (1.1 lbs) of gain/ lbs. of feed (Alqhtani, 2016).
This very high growth rate during the first week is only achievable IF the chicks have access to plenty of water. A chick will not eat, and therefore will not grow, if it cannot drink. In the previously noted study it was found that during the first few days of a flock, a chick will drink nearly three grams of water for every gram of feed. By the end of the first week each chick in a house will drink approximately 340 ml (12 ounces) of water (Figure 1). This is over eight times their initial weight in water.
Figure 1. A chick will drink approximately 12 ounces (340 ml) of water by the time it is seven days old
Water consumption measured
A study was conducted on commercial broiler farms examining chick water usage over the first seven days. High accuracy water meters were installed in twenty-two broiler houses (eighteen 40′ X 500′ houses, four 54′ X 500′ houses) on nine farms. The high accuracy, ultrasonic water meters used were capable of accurately measuring water flow rates as low as 0.005 gals/min (0.019 liter) which is 50 times lower than that of the typical poultry house water meter (0.25 gals/0.95 liter min). The ultrasonic water meters were accurate and sensitive enough that chick water usage could be measured on a minute-to-minute ...
