Last Wednesday, I visited one of our breeder flocks going into production. I was once part of our breeder technical group and it was good to be back in my old environment after being away from it for two years now. I could say our breeder management has gone a long way since I first started working for Bounty Fresh. Operational and structural biosecurity improved by leaps and bounds. Our breeder guys have also several cycles under their belt for managing colored breeder stocks and have a very good grasp of how to manage them.
Parent stock operations is a highly technical operations. There are lots of things to consider for you to come up with a very good performance. Lighting, feeding, litter, male, female, body weight management all account for a successful or failed performance. For you to get a glimpse of how we take care of our parent stocks,
let me take you for a tour of our Bounty Fresh Free-range parent stock farm!
 |
| Vehicle being sprayed with disinfectant, wheel, sides and all |
Before entering the farm, all vehicles will be subjected to inspection and disinfectant spray. Vehicles coming from other farms or places carrying equipment and people are one of the most important mode of spreading disease. It is therefore important that this cycle be broken before entering the farm. Vehicles coming from places or farms with ongoing or suspected disease outbreaks are not permitted to inside the farm premises.
 |
| Sides and roof also needs to be disinfected |
 |
| foot bath before entering the farm |
All people inside the vehicle must all alight and dip their footwear in the foot bath in the dirty area before proceeding.
 |
| Logbook contains important information about the visitor |
After dipping their footwear in the foot bath at the dirty area, all visitors and employees are required to log in and provide all information asked in the logbook. Information such as name, affiliation, purpose, place last visited, place to be visited next, vehicle plate number, time in and out, and other pertinent information are included in the logbook for the purpose of tracking, security, accountability, and prevention of diseases. Even regular employees of the company regularly going in and out of the farm are required to fill in every time the enter the farm.
 |
| slippers to be used in the dirty area |
After logging in, visitors are then required to remove their foot wears and use slippers provided by the farm to be used around the dirty area only. This reduces the risk of spreading infectious organisms within the dirty area.
 |
| personal foot wear surrendered at the guard house |
After changing into the farm's slipper's, all will have to proceed to the shower room. Any personal items like phones, cameras, eyeglasses, etc. that needs to be brought inside the clean area will have to be subjected under UV light to kill any infectious organisms clinging to these items. These items may then be recovered after showering from the clean area.
 |
| UV lamp to kill any infectious organisms before entering the clean area |
Outside clothes will have to be left behind before entering the shower area. All will have to shower properly to wash off any dirt and infectious organisms. After showering, all are then required to pass through the "body dip", a deep walkway filled with disinfectant to kill any organisms not washed off during bathing.
 |
| "body dip" area currently drained to replace disinfectants for maximum efficacy |
After the body dip, you can now dry off and change into the scrub suits provided by the farm. Black rubber boots are then available to be used inside the clean area but not inside the buildings. Before leaving the shower room, foot baths are provided.
 |
| black rubber boots used exclusively used in the clean area |
Before entering the buildings, another set of foot baths need to be used. Covering for the disinfectants are provided when not in use to prevent exposing the disinfectants from direct sunlight which can deactivate the active ingredients and render the bath ineffective.
 |
| covered foot baths before entering the building |
After using the foot baths, all will then have to change their rubber boots from the black ones into the white ones that are exclusively used inside the buildings. This boots are not to be used outside the buildings.
 |
| white rubber boots for exclusive use inside the buildings |
 |
| visitors changing from black to white rubber boots once they enter the buildings |
After changing into the white rubber boots, all will then have to use hand sprays to disinfect exposed skin except the face before entering the house. This prevents any microorganisms from entering the houses.
 |
| hand sprays for further disinfection |
After all these precautionary measures, you are finally inside the buildings were the breeders are housed. All these procedures are necessary to prevent or reduce the risk of infectious microorganisms from entering the house and causing disease within the flock. Higher biosecurity is needed for breeder flocks since any disease condition may affect their productivity, performance, and eventually, the quality of the chicks they produce.
 |
| Our very good-looking breeder flocks |
 |
| Uniformed breeders translate to uniformed chicks |
Aside from the biosecurity set-up of our farm, we also recognize the the importance of investing in other facilities and practices to further improve our operations. this includes:
 |
| uniformed flock men |
Flock men, supervisors, and visitors are provided with uniforms so that they will not use their personal and street clothes while inside the farm. Uniforms are necessary not only because they are good to look at but also because they can minimize the movement of infectious organisms if there are any from one farm to another. Infectious organisms can cling to clothes and other materials and can be spread when a person may visit another farm.
 |
| cleanliness of service area |
 |
| clean service table minimizes the risk of hatching egg contamination |
Cleanliness is also clearly stressed inside the farm may it be inside or outside the buildings. Garbage and other trash if not removed or cleaned, can attract insects like flies which can be a vector or carrier of clinically important diseases of chickens. Also, unclean environments will promote the growth and proliferation of microorganisms which can be detrimental to our flock.
 |
| bell drinkers are cleaned daily |
Water is a very important nutrient that is often overlooked but not in our operations. Extension veterinarians, farm managers and supervisors make sure that bell drinkers are cleaned as often as necessary. Water lines are also regularly checked for build up of biofilm. Unclean drinkers will promote the growth of microorganisms and can contaminate the water that comes in contact with it.
 |
| perches to train the breeders before introduction of nests |
We have started handling free-range breeders since 2008 and through experience, we have adjusted and adapted practices that best suit our operations which also promotes better breeder performance.
 |
| recording of everything to assess performance |
Everyone knows that keeping records will aid you in assessing performances of your operations and will help you adjust during the subsequent grows. Bounty Fresh Food Inc. have a very good structure for its record keeping from day-old until the flock is culled.
 |
| hand tractor with covering to transport hatching eggs |
 |
| plastic strips to prevent escape of cool air from inside the egg room |
 |
| hatching eggs stored in crates for transport |
As a breeder farm, it also necessary that we have structures to store our hatching eggs. For starters, we have a covered cart to transport hatching eggs from the building to the egg room. This is necessary to protect the eggs from direct sunlight and also to prevent sudden temperature changes that can kill the embryo inside the egg. Air-conditioned egg rooms to store hatching eggs prior to transport to hatcheries.
And all of that somewhat concludes our tour of our breeder operations. There are still lots of things we do or have that contributes to our successful breeder operations but what i have discussed above are some of the more important ones. Bounty Fresh management recognizes the investments that need to be done for a very good breeder performance as we believe that healthy breeders are necessary to produce high quality day-old chicks for our operations and for our market. So you can always count on us to continuously provide you guys with high-quality free-range day-old chicks for your own operations. Next time you get hold of our chicks, remember how much care and effort we have invested to bring you the best quality chicks for your operations!
