Poultry Questions and Answers Wendi: Health   Wednesday, August 4th, 2010 Question: My daughter is showing chickens this year at the State Fair. It is going to be extremely hot. What is the best way to keep them cool? I also need to get some Oasis for the chickens and I need to know how to order it. Thank you. Answer: Wendi, Hot weather is tough on birds! If you have an open sided poultry house for these birds, I would recommend running fans that will stir the air throughout the poultry pen! You do not want to create a dust storm with air flow but you need enough air movement to blow the feathers on the birds when the are in the path of the air flow. If you live in a drier (low humidity) area of Texas (does that exist?), you can put plastic down the east and west sides of the poultry house (to enclose the sides) and put a fan at South end of the house with a mister that will create evaporative cooling in the house. You can drop the house temperature by 10 degrees and the air flow will give you an additional 5 degrees for a total of 15 degree reduction from your outside temperature. If you do this, do not run it 24 hours a day. Only run the mister during the hotter part of the day and let the fans run 24 hours a day. Another method of cooling the birds is to purchase a Port O Cool fan from a farm store and install it at the south end of the house. You will still have the plastic down the east and west side so that you create “Tunnel Ventilation”. Keep in mind, either way you choose to do this, your birds will become very lazy! You will need to make sure that you are physically stimulating the birds to get up so they eat and drink and maintain their position as “Champion Poultry”! If you have any detailed questions about your pen or how to set up the evaporative cooling, feel free to call me. Thanks and take care! Keith Staggs Ambassador - Market Poultry Honor Show Chow Mary: Product   Wednesday, August 4th, 2010 Question: We have had an abundance of rain and some of our feed became wet while at our feed supplier. After we transported it to our home we noticed chunks of mold, (this is honor show chow) in some of the bags. After we contacted our supplier and took it back to show him he claimed it would not hurt the broilers, that we could feed it to them just to remove the chunks, but the remainder still smells moldy to us. What do you suggest we do? Thanks for your help, these broilers are for the State Fair, a 4H project. Answer: Mary, I would get a new bag of feed. Mold spores can grow without you seeing them on the feed. The mold can become toxic to birds and could create problems with the flock. Thanks! Keith Staggs Ambassador - Market Poultry Honor Show Chow Jamie: Product   Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 Question: My daughter is in her first year of raising turkeys for show. Shes had her birds about two weeks and I just learned about Oasis. Is it too late to get them started on this product? If not, how can I purchase it? I have looked online but cannot seem to find a good link? Answer: Jamie, Welcome to the Poultry Show Ring! Hopefully you have gotten your birds off to a good start these first two weeks! Oasis is a product that is to be fed from beginning to end. It is not a major issue if you have missed the first two weeks. The feeding schedule for turkeys is on the Honor Show Chow Website (along with other beneficial information). Below is the website link to the feeding schedule BUT let me encourage you to look around the website for other helpful information! http://www.honorshowchow.com/poultry_articles.php Hope this helps and I look forward to hearing from you! Take care, Keith Staggs Ambassador - Market Poultry Milton: Poultry   Monday, January 26th, 2009 Question: I am looking for a feeding program for broilers. Do I need to add vitamin/minerals to the water in addition to broiler complete. My girls are just getting into FFA and any direction on a complete health and nutrition program would be of help. Thanks! Answer: Milton, First of all welcome to the Show Broiler Industry! You will find this project for your girls and family to be very fun and rewarding. There is a lot of quality time that will be spent as a family during the 6 to 7 weeks of this project! Enjoy the time spent with your girls! I look forward to show season every year because I know that my teenage daughter will communicate with me and we tend to have a lot of fun! This is a very fast paced project and every day and every hour counts. We can not afford to have mistakes, temperature problems, out of feed, out of water, etc. issues. We never can make up for time lost with this project! I have attached a week by week program for you to review and consider as you plan your feeding and management strategy for the upcoming flock of broilers. Read through the program and contact me if you have any questions. Let me introduce you to a product called Oasis. Oasis is a product for poultry (broilers, layers, turkeys) that has shown a tremendous benefit to market show poultry by giving better rate of gain and breast meat yield. Oasis has three benefits to your show birds: 1) Oasis is green in color and attracts the birds to the feeder and they consume more feed. 2) Oasis contains 25% moisture which provides added moisture to the bird while they are eating. 3) Oasis contains Citric, Sorbic & Propionic Acid: These acids work to reduce the pH value of the GI tract and allows for more efficient nutrient absorption by the bird. These three modes of action result in bigger, more uniform birds to take to the show ring. Feeding directions are: Feed Oasis as a topdress (covering 50% of the surface area of all feeder space) once per day for four (4) consecutive days each week. Do not feed for the remaining three (3) consecutive days of the week. Repeat this feeding routine every week that you have your project birds (from hatch to show). You will find that after about four (4) weeks of age, the birds decide to eat less during the three days off the product. If this occurs, it is okay to topdress all 7 days (after the 28th day of age). I would reduce the 50% coverage to about 30% coverage for the seven (7) day treatment. The product comes in a 22 lb. bag and each bag will feed out a flock of chickens (flock size of 75 birds or less) from start to finish if you are using the traditional poultry feeders. If you are using pipe, gutter or trough feeders in the house, you will utilize more product because the feed surface area is increased by using these means of feeding equipment. Each 22 lb. bag cost $75 (product cost) + $25 UPS Shipping charges. A box contains two-22 lb. bags and cost $150 + $30 shipping. The product is located in Kingwood, TX and you are welcome to arrange a pick-up time if you are in the area and want to save the shipping charges. In order to purchase the product, contact me directly and we will either ship the product to you or arrange a time for you to come pick up the amount that you need. Thanks and take care! Keith Staggs Honor Show Chow Ambassador Market Poultry

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