2 Select Healthy Chicks Based On Industry

Select healthy chicks
based on industry
indicator for healthy
chicks
ORGANIC AGRICULTURE 11
The learners are expected to:
1. select healthy chicks based on industry
indicator for healthy chicks;
2. determine defects and deformities of
discarded chicks; and
3. follow practical steps in selecting stock to
raise
Direction: Identify the deformity of the
following pictures.
HOW TO IDENTIFY
HEALTHY AND
UNHEALTHY CHICKS
ORGANIC AGRICULTURE 11
NACS and DACS
How to Identify a Healthy Chick
•Healthy chicks are active, but not too noisy. Of

course, they do sleep more than adults, like all baby
animals, but if disturbed, they quickly get up and move
away.
•If you look at a content group of chicks in a proper

brooder, some will be under the heat lamp or near it
sleeping peacefully, while others will be eating or
drinking or walking around. They will be quiet except
for an occasional peep.
•Baby chicks should have two bright, clear
eyes, and their rear ends, or vent area, should
be clean.
•Their beaks should be straight. Some
hatcheries trim the end of the beak to prevent
chicks from picking at each other, so don’t be
alarmed if the beak tip is missing. Their toes
should be straight.
How to Identify an Unhealthy Chick
•Never take a chick with cloudy or dull eyes, a

twisted beak, bent or missing toes, or a dirty
vent area.
•Chicks that are very noisy are unhappy and
stressed, either from being cold or hungry and
thirsty. When they arrive in a shipping box, the
stress is evident from the shrill cheeps. But if
you place them in the right temperature with
food and water, they should quickly calm down.
•A droopy-looking chick may not be healthy. If a
chick is touched and it responds very little, it
probably isn’t healthy. If it’s lying on its back with
its legs in the air, it’s definitely unhealthy!
•Chicks that are panting, with their beaks open,

are either too warm or sick.
 If they appear normal after being cooled down,
they should be fine.
• The belly area should not look sore and red.
• The chicks shouldn’t have any wounds or
bloody areas. (Newly hatched chicks will have a
slight lump on the belly where the egg yolk was,
and that’s okay.)
Whether you buy chicks, hatch eggs, or

adopt adult birds, having a healthy flock begins
with choosing healthy birds. Healthy baby chicks
will be noisy and active when they arrive in the
mail. If many chicks are dead or appear weak and
drowsy, contact the shipper right away.
 If the chicks are as far from the heat source as
possible, it’s probably too hot.
 If they’re piled on each other near the heat
source and peeping loudly, it’s probably too
cold.
If chicks are very noisy but they aren’t obviously

hot or cold and food and water are available,
something else is wrong. While you can fix the
temperature or hunger problem, avoid purchasing
chicks if you can’t tell what is wrong.
Serious breeders usually have their flocks
tested and vaccinated for prominent diseases.
If you’re buying from a hatchery, make sure
the chicks are from certified pullorum-tested
flocks. Pullorum is a serious bird disease that
will kill all your chicks and endanger anyone
else’s chickens in your area.
Ask what vaccines have been given for
other diseases. If the option is offered, have
the hatchery vaccinate your chicks for
Mareks disease. It costs a bit more, but it’s
well worth it. It is very difficult for home
flock owners to vaccinate chicks.
Physical Characteristics of Good
Quality Chicks
Eyes. Good quality chicks must have large,
prominent eyes, indicating health and vigor.
These are two essential requirements for
quality chicks. If one looks into a box
containing day-old chicks, the first impression
that he should get should be the condition of
the in eyes.
Quality Chicks
Legs. Good quality chicks have strong well filled
legs of good bright color, and creamy white down
(the fluffy fine feathers just below the anus).
Chicks that have pale thin legs and with chalk-
white coat should be rejected. Chicks with thin,
white, or pale shank do not possess the vigor and
health needed for efficient growth.
Quality Chicks
Weight and color. Good quality chicks should
have uniform size and color, (the color
characteristic of the breed or strain,) and must
weigh about 2 lbs. per 25 chicks.
Quality Chicks
Down. The down should be well fluffed out
and should have the proper color of the
breed or strain. Chicks with sticky off-colored
down denote faulty incubation that
produces weak chicks.
Quality Chicks
Deformities. Deformed chicks with crooked
legs and toes, crooked beaks, small eyes, or
chicks with blindness, paralysis of the legs or
neck and imperfectly healed navels should be
discarded or rejected
Selecting Chicks for
Broiler-Meat Production
Male and female chicks intended as breeders for
broiler production should be selected at one-day old,
and should be observed at regular intervals. They
should show indication of fast feathering as day-old
chicks, and at 10 days, and at 8 to 12 weeks. They
should indicate rapid growth at 4 to 6 weeks. Before
the birds are placed in breeding pens, they must have
good breast development at 6-12 weeks of age. They
should show no defects. Selecting replacement pullets.
Egg-type. Select pullets which are offspring
of hens with high production record (220 or
more eggs per year). They must belong to a
batch of chicks of good livability – meaning a
group of chicks with low death rate.
Broiler type. Select pullets which are
progeny of fast grower tender-meat
producing hens. A stock offered at a
“bargain” or other form of inducement
to get one to buy should be carefully
examined because the chicks being sold
may be of poor quality.
Guidelines/
Rules for
Selecting Stock
 It must be pointed out that sometimes
more variations exist within a breed than
between different breeds with regard to
production.
 It would be of help to inspect and compare
the production records of different sources
of chicks.
 It would likewise be practical to inquire
about, analyze, and compare experiences
of other broiler or egg producers in one’s
locality to serve as guide in the selection of
the source for one’s stock.
Defects and
Disqualifications
1. Deformed beak
2. A crooked or otherwise deformed back.
3. A side spring or point on the side of a
single comb.
4. A split wing, in which the feathers are
irregularly developed that a gap shows
between the primaries and the secondary.
5. Slipped wing, in which the primaries sag
when the wing is folded.
6. A wary tail, in which the main tail feathers are
carried to one side.
7. A squirrel tail, in which the main tail
feathers are carried at an angle of more than
90 degrees.
8. Decided knock-kneedness.
9. Decided bow leggedness.
10. Shrubs or feathers on the shanks or
toes of all species having non-
feathered shanks.
QUIZ
Identify the following sentences. Write Healthy chicks
if it shows good chicks and Unhealthy chicks if shows
deformities or defects. ( Copy and answer in a 1/2
sheet of paper.)
_____1. Chicks are active, but not too noisy.

_____2. A chick with cloudy or dull eyes.
_____3. Chicks with a twisted beak
_____4. Baby chicks should have two bright and
clear eyes.
_____5. A droopy-looking chick
_____6. Chicks that are panting and with their
beaks open.
_____7. The belly area of the chicks have sore and
red.
_____8. The vent area should be clean.
_____9. Their beaks should be straight
_____10. The chicks have any wounds or bloody
areas.

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Select healthy chicks

•Healthy chicks are active, but not too noisy. Of

•If you look at a content group of chicks in a proper

•Never take a chick with cloudy or dull eyes, a

•Chicks that are panting, with their beaks open,

Whether you buy chicks, hatch eggs, or

If chicks are very noisy but they aren’t obviously

_____1. Chicks are active, but not too noisy.

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