Day 16 completes the switch to 100% grower pellets. Focus on precise feeder pan depth calibration, eliminating pan billing-out wastage, and ensuring every bird gets unhindered access to feed without aggressive competition.
At Day 16, feed cost represents over 65% of daily input costs. Inefficient feeder pan settings cause up to 5–8% feed wastage into litter, spiking FCR and fueling bacterial proliferation in wet feed-caked litter.
•Leaving feeder pans resting on the litter, allowing birds to scratch bedding into feed and bill pellets onto the floor.
•Running feed pans completely full to reduce auger running frequency, causing massive feed spillage.
•Ignoring control pan sensor malfunction, causing front pans to empty while end pans overflow.
•Inspect mouth cavity and gizzard lining during daily post-mortem for signs of mycotoxins (T-2 toxin or DAS) like oral ulcers or gizzard erosion from spoiled feed.
•Veterinary Escalation: Contact veterinarian immediately if daily mortality exceeds 0.1% or if >2% of birds show severe crop stasis, vomiting sour fluid, or gizzard sloughing.
•Adjust feeder line height first thing in the morning when birds are standing alert on dry litter.
•Never allow feed pans to run bone dry for >2 hours, as hungry broilers will stampede and trample weaker birds when augers turn on.
The top rim/lip of the feeder pan should be aligned exactly with the base of the bird's neck / top of the breast when the bird is standing naturally on the litter.
Feed depth in the pan is too high, or the feeder line is hung too low. Lower the pan internal gate to reduce feed depth and winch the line up so birds cannot sweep their beaks horizontally.
