The rainy season brings its own blessings to the community, including abundant water supplies, cool air and so on. However, when the rainy season comes there are some problems that are often faced by chicken farmers. The problem must be properly addressed by the breeder. Because if not handled properly, it can cause a bad impact for chickens. The impact that will occur, among others, decreased productivity of chickens, stress on chickens due to cold, to the onset of disease in chickens.
So, what problems do chicken farmers often face during the rainy season?
The answer to the above question you can find here. This time we will invite you to find out the challenges of chicken farmers during the rainy season. Without further ado, check out the explanation below!
High rainfall
When the rainy season comes, there are times when there is high rainfall. Well, at the time of high rainfall, farmers have to face several problems that can affect their chicken livestock. These problems include :
1. Low temperature
The temperature of the environment around the location of commercial chicken farms in the rainy season is different from the temperature in the dry season. The arrival of the rainy season resulted in a lower relative ambient temperature (cold air). When the temperature is too cold the chicken’s brain will respond by increasing metabolism to produce body heat. The effect of this cold temperature on Chicks (DOC) during brooding is clearly more visible than juvenile/ adult chickens, because the thermo regular system is not optimal.
At cold temperatures DOC requires heating with a long period of time. Unlike the conditions during the dry season, the heater can be reduced (turned off) during the day because the ambient temperature is in accordance with the needs of DOC. The impact that arises if the need for heating for a long time is not done because of low temperatures, namely DOC growth is uneven and many are stunted, so the performance of chickens becomes ugly. Moreover, if the ambient temperature is low, it can lead to decreased immunity, so chickens are susceptible to disease.
2. High air humidity
Air humidity (water content bound in the air) must be considered by farmers, because it will affect the temperature felt by chickens. The impact caused by high air humidity (more than 85%) is that the growth of chickens becomes less good. High air humidity can also cause the husk condition in the postal cage to quickly become damp, wet, and lumpy, so that the ammonia gas content in the cage becomes high. Plus if the condition of wet husks can be a medium for the growth of seedlings.
Chickens raised with an open house system are more affected by high air humidity than chickens raised with a closed House system. In a closed cage (close house) there is a stable air movement and the level of air humidity in the cage can be adjusted according to the needs of chickens. In addition, a humid environment becomes ideal conditions for the development and growth of viruses, bacteria, fungi and other parasites.
3. Strong winds
The transition of the season from the dry season to the rainy season will usually be followed by the appearance of strong winds from an erratic direction. High wind speeds can make chickens exposed to extreme cold stress, when the chicken stress will inhibit the body’s metabolism, so that the absorption of feed nutrients decreases. In addition, strong winds can damage the construction of the cage, and even the chicken coop can collapse, which can harm the farmer.
Decreased drinking water quality
During the rainy season, increased rainfall of course the volume of groundwater will increase as well. Although the increase is a positive thing, but this often triggers new problems, namely changes in water quality (decline). Water quality degradation generally occurs physically, chemically, or biologically. Physical deterioration of water quality can be seen, among others, the water becomes cloudy, smelly, and mixed with organic particles or mud material.
Water quality decreases biologically, that is, water sources that come from wells, reservoirs, lakes or rivers are polluted by pathogenic bacteria. Pathogenic bacteria contained in drinking water can cause disease in chickens, especially e bacteria. coli (the cause of Colibacillosis disease) and Salmonella sp. (causes of Salmonellosis). These bacteria can be carried by any medium in the field.
Decreased feed quality
High humidity in the rainy season resulted in the feed stored in the warehouse becomes not durable. This is because the high humidity of the air around the cage will directly affect the water content in the feed. Feed with a water content of more than 14% is quickly overgrown with mold, resulting in a decrease in feed quality.
In addition to decreasing the quality of feed, both in quality (decrease in nutrient levels) and quantity (clumping and damage to feed), feed contaminated with fungi is also at risk of being contaminated with mycotoxins (fungal toxins). The presence of mycotoxins leads to a decrease in the immune system, so chickens are easily infected with disease agents.
Lack of lighting
During the rainy season, sunlight is relatively reduced, even at certain times it can be dark throughout the day (cloudy). If this situation occurs, the farmer must add lighting so that the feeding and drinking activities of the chickens are not disturbed. In addition, the presence of lighting in the cage is also very important for the production of laying hens.
The lighting Program in the laying hen house is one of the factors that greatly influence the achievement of peak production, because it is related to the uniformity of sexual maturity. Well, if the condition during the rainy season is dark all day (no sun) at noon, then farmers need to add lighting by installing lights. With the addition of lighting in the cage this causes the costs incurred for electricity to increase. However, this is actually better to prevent chicken productivity from decreasing due to lack of lighting intensity.
Spread of disease seeds
The problem that should alert chicken farmers during the rainy season is the spread of disease seeds. Moreover, during the transition season, many diseases can attack chickens. This is because the weather is always changing between heat and rain at the beginning of the change of season. When the rainy season comes, the air humidity becomes high, the temperature is low, and it will rain continuously (sometimes with heavy rainfall). This situation is what triggers stress and triggers the onset of disease in chickens. In addition, a humid environment is an ideal condition for the growth of bacteria, fungi, viruses and other parasites, so chickens become susceptible to disease attacks.
Those are some of the problems that chicken farmers often face during the rainy season. Things to watch out for during the rainy season is the onset of disease in chickens. Because if the chicken attacked by the disease will result in considerable losses for farmers. These losses are due to the cost of treatment is quite expensive, the quality of chicken production decreased (eggs and meat), and the decline in chicken productivity. Therefore, farmers must be able to maintain the health of chickens during the rainy season.
Maintaining the health of chickens cannot be separated with good and quality feeding. However, there are things that must be considered that the feed given must contain balanced nutrition. Well, to maintain the health of chickens, you can also add feed additives to the ration.
That’s the article this time. Hopefully useful and add to your insight. Thanks and success always to you!