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The goal of any broiler breeder program is to produce the greatest number of hatching eggs per hen housed and life of flock hatch to give us the most chicks per hen housed. A production data analysis can help determine which flocks are meeting their genetic potential and which flocks are not.
When conducting a production data analysis, you want to look at:
Body weight curves
uniformity
Production
female and male mortality throughout the growing phases of the pullets and hens.
Identifying trends in these measurements can help determine which key performance indicators we could be missing to give us the desired results. Comparing your top and bottom flocks can provide insight into why the bottom flocks are underperforming.
Key areas of focus
Achieving standard 4-week body weight to promote flock uniformity.
Preventing female and male body weights from being overweight during the maintenance phase (from 6 to 15 weeks of age).
Females getting the proper turn-up from 16 to 20 weeks of age (this is very important as birds are preparing for the lay phase). Proper turn-up in this phase is 35%.
Controlling male body weight at move – Males MUST be synchronized with females at move.
Having a smooth transition from the rearing house to the production house.
Data Collection
The success of any breeder program must be driven with data.
Decision-making is dependent upon the quality of data and ensuring that the numbers are accurate and complete. This means making sure that everyone within the complex collects data in the same format as variability in how data is collected or tracked can skew results.
For example, when weighing birds, weigh all the houses the same way (ex: weighing three pens in the house to get an accurate average weight, weighing all the birds that are caught to weigh).
Also, it is important to identify and remove outliers from the production data analysis as leaving in these data points can skew results. Removing these outliers will give you a more accurate picture of overall flock performance.
Egg Production
Producing the greatest number of chicks per hen housed (Chicks/HH) at the lowest cost is the ultimate goal of a broiler breeder management program.
Therefore, looking at egg production is the first step in a production data analysis. Once the top and bottom flocks have been identified, it is easier to see what could be causing the discrepancy.
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