COMMERCIAL FARMS
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Until the end of the world war two most of
the chicken production in the USA was located on small farms. These
farms usually did not have more than 400 chickens. But after the
war commercial farms started to appear. Many people moved to
cities, large trucks could carry chicken products far away and
commercial farms became our main source for chicken products. There
are two types of commercial chicken farms. Ones are used for meat
production and others are used for the egg
production.
BROILER FARMS
Broiler farms are used for meat
production. Chicken is one of the most popular foods around the
world, therefore farmers have to produce a lot of chicken to
satisfy the demand. Today large broiler farms can have 300,000 or
even more birds. Because of new technology one chicken handler can
care for about 20,000 chicken in one hour. That means that each
chicken handler could take care of 200,000 chicken in ten hours.
Caring for broilers is a 24 hour a day job. While large commercial
farms can bring lots of profit, they also have problems. Diseases
can spread really quickly and that can affect
market.
In broiler farms, farmers take care of
chickens since they are only a day old. These chicks are bought
from the breeder and raised. It is important that chicken get right
vaccine. In addition, the farm has to be kept very clean to prevent
the spread of diseases. When chicks are babies, they are fed a lot.
Their handler makes sure that they have enough food and
water.
We could not visit a broiler farm due
tobiosecurity
surrounding the Avian Flu.
LAYER FARMS
Layer farms are set up for egg production.
To learn more about the works of the egg layer farm we visited
Tampa Farm Service farm in Dade City, Florida. It was a very unique
experience, especially since we come from the urban area. The first
thing we noticed as we came out of the car was the smell, flying
feathers, and clucking noise. Due to biosecurity, we could
not enter the layer houses. Layers are brought to the houses at
about 16 weeks of age, after they were raised in the pullet house
about 500 yards away. Young hens are brought to the
pullet house when they are only a day old. The temperature of the
pullet hose is warm to make sure that chickens do not bunch
together. At around 16 weeks, chickens are transferred to the layer
houses. In these houses temperature is controlled with large fans
that circulate the air. Light is also controlled, since the chicken
brain is light activated. This means that hen will lay eggs only
during daylight. A hen can lay one egg in a 24 hour period.
According to Mr.
the
manager of this facility, on average 72% hens will lay an egg each
day. This means that about 550,000 eggs will be processed every
single day. Cleaning of the houses is one of the most important
things to prevent diseases. Hens can die from many diseases,
including common flu so it is important that strict rules about
cleaning are followed. For example, if you visited a pullet house
you have to take a shower before entering the layer house in order
to prevent spread of diseases. The layer hen lays an egg which
rolls to the automated belt leading to the egg processing facility,
right next door. Here eggs are processed and shipped to the
stores.
EGG
PROCESSING STEP BY STEP: Have you ever thought about how does
the egg you may be enjoying for your breakfast get to the store. We
visited the egg processing facility of the Tampa Farm Service layer
farm to find out.
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