Overall Broiler Project Reflection

As I took on the journey of our broiler grow-out this semester, I knew that I was about to get an eye opener as to how much there was to learn during the project. On September 8, 2016, our day old chicks arrived at the Auburn University Research Poultry Farm. On that day, we went into the pens to prep for the chicks. We weighed out starter feed and placed it in each pen and checked the waterers to make sure they were working properly. The chicks arrived late that afternoon, so Dr. Starkey and some of the farm crew handled placing the chicks for us. That next week, the farm crew went in and gave every bird a wing-band so that we could make sure we had all the data straight for each bird. On day 14 of the research project, we went in and weighed every bird to add to our data. Then, on day 42, we went in and caught each bird, weighed them, and processed them. We learned all about each part of the processing line in Auburn University’s Research Processing Plant. After the birds were processed, we, as a class, took weights of each hot carcass and recorded them according to their wing-bands. On day 49, we went back into lab and deboned the breast so that we could weigh each breast for our data and research. Through analyzing our data, we found that the best growth environment is with males I a dim light setting and low stocking density. Throughout this project, there were multiple things to learn such as excel skills, the optimal way to grow a chicken, and scientific writing skills. I will be able to use these skills in other classes in the future, during my internship, and one day when I get into the industry. This will help to set me above the others in the industry that did not get a chance to do a project such as this one. I am most proud of all the work I put into learning how to use Excel and my final product of Excel. I know that this will help me in the future to know how much work actually goes into a project like this. I know I learned a lot during this project, but I did learn that an office job may not be the best task for me to take on daily.