Cobb Breeder Administration Information – Lighting program administration

16 Might 2024

5 minute learn

Editor’s be aware: This text is an excerpt from the Cobb Breeder Administration Information and extra articles will comply with. The Information was designed to focus on crucial elements which might be probably to affect flock efficiency. To learn or obtain the whole Information or to view Cobb’s different administration guides, click on right here.

Native situations and housing sorts might require the usage of modified lighting applications, which needs to be mentioned along with your Cobb Technical Service consultant.

Picture stimulation (rising lighting time and depth) ought to begin at 21 weeks or between 147 and 154 days of age. It sometimes takes 14 to 16 days till the primary egg and one other 7 days to achieve 1 to 2 % every day manufacturing. As soon as picture stimulation happens, birds ought to by no means expertise a lower in day size within the manufacturing cycle. Synthetic gentle needs to be used to cowl dawn and sundown in clear curtain or open homes. Flocks that begin manufacturing at 24 weeks, present cumulative will increase in hatching eggs (HE) by way of week 30. These flocks are sometimes the most efficient flocks in the event that they persist nicely with low mortality. At picture stimulation, the rise within the period of time birds are uncovered to gentle is extra necessary than the rise in gentle depth.

Mild depth in manufacturing is often maintained to encourage chicken exercise and for caretakers to carry out their routine home inspections and administration of birds and litter. As an emergency process, lowering the sunshine depth from 70 to 35 lux (7 to three.5 fc) will assist scale back culling or mortality because of cannibalistic habits. Mild depth discount, after picture stimulation, shouldn’t scale back manufacturing efficiency however can have an effect on the sexual maturity of the males. Males are extra delicate to gentle depth for proper sexual maturity.

LED lighting

LED lighting has confirmed to work in addition to the normal gentle sources to deliver mother or father inventory into manufacturing with the benefit of a a lot decrease vitality price. In comparison with incandescent lights, excessive stress sodium lights can scale back vitality prices by 40 % over a 5 12 months interval. Nonetheless, compact fluorescent and LED lights can scale back prices by 63 % and 73 % over a 5 12 months interval, respectively.

At present, new gentle installations are primarily LED lamps/tubes or strings because of low vitality consumption, lengthy life span (>50,000 hrs), dimming capability, and adjustable colour output. They’re additionally simple to clean, clear and disinfect, and have a excessive Ingress Safety worth (IP; associated to the extent of mud and humidity penetration).

LED lights have had a substantial affect on breeder administration. The introduction of dimmer items (nightfall to daybreak) have made it attainable to work in rearing with low gentle depth outputs of two to 4 lux (0.2 to 0.4 fc) however nonetheless see nicely sufficient to handle the birds. Dimming capability is necessary in rearing to maintain the birds calm and higher primed for picture stimulation at 21 to 22 weeks of age. Moreover, operating lights at a decrease depth has a huge impact on vitality consumption (however you should definitely have good gentle distribution over your entire home).

Be taught extra about LED lighting by downloading our white paper. 

Picture Stimulation

Broiler breeders are seasonal reproducers and, as such, are extremely depending on lighting cues for every day and reproductive exercise. These birds require about 20 to 21weeks consisting of brief days (roughly 8 hours) earlier than replica can start. After this maturation timeframe, exposing the birds to lengthy durations of sunshine (>12 hours) can stimulate the replica course of given the birds are bodily ready. Nonetheless, each the maturation interval and bodily situation are required to achieve the total genetic potential of replica. Hastening maturation by overfeeding and exposing younger birds to lengthy photoperiods earlier than they’re ready will delay the onset of lay, enhance mortality and double yolks, and provides slower will increase of every day manufacturing to peak (after 31 weeks of age). 

At picture stimulation, the flock ought to have:

1.  Uniform body weight, low Coefficient of Variation (CV 9 to <10) and excessive uniformity >70%.
2.  A majority of the females (>95%) with the proper body weight, pelvic fats and situation. 

Lighting issues when transitioning from rearing to manufacturing

Ideally broiler breeders needs to be reared in lightproof housing to stop the birds from perceiving
seasonal photoperiods and guarantee sexual uniformity at the beginning of manufacturing. Housing ought to
be fully darkish when the lights are off. Followers, perimeter inlets and the tunnel inlet should even be
coated with sufficient gentle traps. See Chapter 14 for extra particulars on air flow issues
when utilizing gentle traps.

Darkish out manufacturing homes

Females can obtain a most of 12 to 14 hours of sunshine in darkish out manufacturing homes or in areas the place the pure day size is lower than 14 hours. This may present good peak manufacturing and persistency and keep the feminine’s sensitivity to the sunshine length. Lower than 11 hours of whole gentle could have a destructive impact on manufacturing. Mild depth needs to be a minimal of 70 lux (7 fc) for good sexual stimulation of the males.

Brown out rearing homes

Many operations worldwide would not have good darkish out situations in rearing and manufacturing and use brown out configurations. Which means the skin pure gentle penetrates to a excessive diploma into the home and the flock establishes their daylight size in rearing based mostly on the pure day gentle cycle. In areas near the equator the place pure day size is between 11 and 13 hours, supplementary lights are mandatory.

In areas at excessive latitudes the place pure gentle in the course of the summer season is 15 to 16 hours, the usage of in the future size shall be required at some stage in the manufacturing cycle. If gentle traps are used immediately on tunnel followers, it might be essential to take away them beneath extremely popular situations. On this case, pure gentle will enter the home and the unreal gentle program will want changes in direction of the utmost pure day gentle size. Any discount in pure gentle can compromise manufacturing persistency.

Open sided rearing homes

Lighting applications in open sided homes are dictated by the pure gentle cycle and any synthetic gentle program needs to be adjusted based mostly on the utmost gentle hours required. Usually solely flocks near the equator – most 5° latitude, north or south – might be managed with solely pure gentle.

To learn or obtain the whole Cobb Breeder Administration Information or to view Cobb’s different administration guides, click on right here.