Day 17 focuses on transitional ventilation dynamics. As total flock weight exceeds 700g per bird, oxygen demand and moisture exhalation surge. Adjust side-wall air inlets and timer exhaust fans to remove toxic ammonia without creating floor drafts.
•Sealing side inlets tightly to conserve heat, causing lethal ammonia and CO2 buildup.
•Opening inlets too wide for the running fan capacity, causing cold air to drop directly onto birds and litter.
•Neglecting dirty exhaust fan shutters, reducing actual fan airflow output by up to 30%.
•Listen for respiratory rales or snicking at night during the 6-hour dark period; early snicking indicates damaged tracheal lining from ammonia and dust.
•Veterinary Escalation: Summon poultry veterinarian immediately if mortality exceeds 0.1%/day, if necropsy shows cloudy air sacs with yellowish exudate (E. coli airsacculitis), or if ascites mortality spikes.
•Smell the air at 30cm from the floor, not standing up at your head height — bird-level ammonia is often triple head-level ammonia.
•Scrape and brush fan shutters weekly; 2mm of dust on blades cuts exhaust efficiency by 20%.
Static pressure creates the jet velocity needed to throw incoming cold air along the ceiling to the house center, where it mixes with hot trapped air before reaching the birds. Without correct pressure, cold air dumps directly onto the birds, chilling them and soaking the litter.
Immediately increase minimum ventilation fan run time, verify side-wall inlet opening velocity, and manually decake wet litter spots under drinker lines. Never reduce ventilation to conserve heat if ammonia is rising.
Tomorrow, your operation reaches Day 18. The primary management objective will be:
Calibrate drinker line height and static pressure (75–90 ml/min flow rate), sanitize water lines, and test chlorine/ORP residuals to support 790g body weight.
📈Growth & Feed Conversion Calculators
Calculate FCR, Feed Intake & Batch Profit
Benchmark your flock's live feed conversion ratio against standard commercial breed targets and audit final contract growing charge earnings.
