At Huckleberry Farms, the brooder is the heart of our poultry operation. It’s where our chicks take their first steps toward becoming robust, healthy birds, and it all starts with careful management of their environment. We believe that the health of our chicks is closely tied to the microbial ecosystem within the brooder. One of the key components to this success is our use of deep bedding—a method that not only improves bird health but also reduces mortality, energy consumption, and environmental waste.
Here’s how we manage our brooder and why deep bedding is so critical to our chicks’ well-being.
The Importance of a Healthy Brooder Environment
Raising chicks in a brooder is not as simple as providing food, water, and heat. The environment itself plays a crucial role in the development of the chicks, especially in terms of their respiratory health, immune system, and overall hardiness. Through years of experience, we’ve discovered a direct relationship between the quality of the brooder environment—specifically the bedding—and the mortality rates of our chicks.
We’ve found that maintaining a deep bedding system in the brooder, rather than cleaning it out between each batch of chicks, creates a healthier, more stable microbial environment. By adding fresh wood shavings to aerate the existing bedding rather than replacing it entirely, we foster an environment rich in beneficial microbes, which protect the chicks from disease and strengthen their immune systems.
The Role of Deep Bedding: More Than Just Comfort
Deep bedding is a critical part of our brooder management process. While many poultry operations will clean out the brooder between batches of chicks, we opt for a different approach: aeration and fresh material. Here’s why:
- Carbon-Nitrogen Balance: By dampening and turning the bedding with a pitchfork, we increase oxygen levels and promote microbial activity. Then, by adding a couple of inches of fresh wood shavings on top, we maintain a balanced carbon-to-nitrogen ratio of about 30:1, which is ideal for microbial life. This microbial activity creates a living, composting environment that not only insulates the chicks but also keeps the bedding from becoming harmful to their health.
- Lower Mortality Rates: We’ve noticed a clear difference in chick survival rates depending on how we handle the bedding. When the brooder is fully cleaned out and fresh bedding is laid down, mortality rates increase. But when we aerate and add new material without removing the old, we preserve the beneficial microbial ecosystem and see much healthier results. The deep bedding acts like a biological buffer, neutralizing potential threats and creating a stable environment.
- Microbial Ecosystem: Rarely do we encounter illness or death in the brooder, thanks to the balanced ecosystem within the deep bedding. The natural microbes play an essential role in maintaining bird health, helping to break down waste and keep harmful pathogens at bay. The rich microbial life even produces natural antibiotics through molds and fungi, further reducing the likelihood of disease.
Managing Ammonia: A Key to Health
One of the greatest threats to chick health in confinement environments is ammonia. Anytime you can smell ammonia in a livestock facility, it’s a signal that more carbon—usually in the form of wood shavings—needs to be added. Ammonia is harmful to chicks’ respiratory systems, damaging their delicate mucus membranes and making them more susceptible to infections. Moreover, ammonia exposure depletes vitamins A and D, leading to liver damage. Unfortunately, damaged livers are common in the commercial poultry industry due to inadequate bedding management.
We prioritize deep bedding for this reason. By building the bedding up to 18 inches deep, we not only minimize ammonia buildup but also create an environment where the composting action helps warm the brooder naturally. This warm, moist heat mimics the natural environment provided by a mother hen, reducing the need for additional artificial heating sources.
Bedding as a Food Source and Heat Producer
The deep bedding system doesn’t just help with ammonia control; it also provides unexpected benefits in terms of nutrition and warmth. As the bedding composts, it generates natural heat, helping to reduce our reliance on heat lamps. This composting action creates an environment where beneficial insects and other tiny organisms thrive. These bugs provide additional protein for the chicks, enriching their diet in a natural and sustainable way.
This symbiotic relationship between the chicks and their environment leads to healthier birds that are well-equipped to thrive once they move out of the brooder and onto pasture.
Heat Management: Reducing Brooder Temperature Gradually
Temperature control is one of the most critical aspects of brooding chicks. However, it’s also important not to overheat them. By reducing the brooder temperature gradually after the first 48 hours, we help the chicks develop the hardiness they’ll need to survive in outdoor conditions. Our goal is to harden off the chicks, much like how greenhouse plants are prepared for transplanting.
Here’s how we manage heat in the brooder:
- Week 1: Maintain the temperature at 90°F for the first 4 days then gradually begin lowering.
- Week 2: Lower the temperature to 50°F.
- Week 3: Drop the temperature further to 34°F.
By the time the chicks are three weeks old, they should be able to handle freezing temperatures as long as the air is still and dry. This hardening-off process ensures that the chicks develop strong immune systems and are ready to face the more challenging outdoor conditions.
The Transition to Pasture: Stronger Birds Through Better Brooding
A well-managed brooder environment sets the stage for the next phase of the chicks’ lives: their transition to pasture. Thanks to the deep bedding system, microbial ecosystem, and carefully controlled heat management, our chicks are more resilient by the time they move outside. The gradual reduction in brooder temperature helps them adapt to outdoor conditions early, reducing the shock of temperature changes.
When we move the chicks to pasture, they’re already well-adjusted to a more natural, dynamic environment. Their strong immune systems, developed in the brooder, make them better equipped to handle outdoor pathogens, and their early access to natural proteins in the form of bugs in the bedding helps them thrive on pasture.
Conclusion: A Better Start for Healthier Birds
At Huckleberry Farms, we believe that healthy chicks make for a healthier farm. Our deep bedding system, combined with regular inspections, balanced feed and water management, and careful heat control, provides the best possible start for our chicks. By focusing on the natural microbial activity in the bedding, we create an environment that supports the chicks’ immune systems, reduces the need for artificial heat, and lowers mortality rates.
Through these practices, we are not only raising healthier birds but also contributing to a more sustainable, regenerative agricultural system. The brooder is where our journey with each new batch of chicks begins, and we are proud of the care and attention that goes into every step of the process.
