Broiler Observation 1

During this broiler experiment, we are expecting to see differences in behavior and growth, among other things. Upon opening the door to the rooms, I was expecting the birds to get flustered and run to the back of the room. However, I saw the exact opposite. The majority of the birds were just lying there completely comfortable with my presence. I started out observing Room 11. Room 11 is a low stocking density room with dim lighting. Pen A, the females, had fairly constant traffic to the feeder and water line. Pen B, the males, were all content lying around. One male finally got up and went to the water line. All of the other male birds followed pursuit after watching that one drink for a while. After drinking quite a bit, the birds would travel over to the feeder and eat for a while. The temperature in Room 11 was 73.6°F. Upon stepping into the room to observe the temperature, the birds in this room were still not too disturbed by my presence. The next room I observed was Room 10. Room 10 is another low stocking density room, but instead, has high intensity lighting. The birds in this room were particularly vocal. The females basically had the same behavior in this room. The males in Pen B had little to no traffic at the feeder and water line. There was not a leader male that took initiative to get up and eat or drink. Therefore, there was not a bird for the others to watch and follow. The birds in Room 10 were very alert to their surroundings. After observing them, I made some noise with my feet and they all poked their heads up and stood up where they could see to investigate. The temperature in this room was 76.1°F. The last room I observed was Room 8. Room 8 is the high stocking density room with high intensity lighting. In this room, the birds were lying down and comfortable with my presence. The females had a high traffic level at the feeder and water line, while the males had high traffic at the water line and low traffic to the feeder. The birds in this room were vocal too, but they were not as alert and aware to their surroundings as Room 10 was. The temperature in Room 8 was 76.5°F. When I stepped in the room to check the temperature, the birds all ran to the back of the room in a hurry. The main thing I gained from this observation is that even though the conditions are different in the rooms, there are small differences in the growth and behavior in these broilers.