| What is the ideal form of feeds at laying period? | Mash feed as long as it has a the particle size is uniform. Check page 51 of any of our layer management guide. |
| When limestone quality is poor (high marble content), what can be a low cost calcium alternative? | The cheapest is to change the supplier, the water additions of calcium always are expensive. |
| What is the name distributor in Vietnam? | He hasn’t started the business yet, it will be disclosed in the next 3 months. |
What is your marketing strategy for India. How do you plan to grow your market in India?
| We have a marketing plan to make the breed known and we are aproaching different egg producers who could be interested to take the lead and control the DOC supply by themselves. |
How often do you update the H&N performance parameter?
| We select continuosly the birds, so we improve our birds year by year. However, it is not feasible to change our management guides and performance standards every year. We review our management recomendations and our performance standards every 3-4 years. |
What is the difference between Nick Chick and Super Nick? /
What is the difference between Super Nick and Nick Chick? Performance? Egg size? Robustness? | The difference between Nick Chick and Super Nick is the egg size. Nick chick is focus on highest production of eggs of medium size, whereas Super Nick focus on markets where big egg size has an added value and for producer that want to maximise egg mass production. The difference in cumulative egg size is 1.8g and Nick Chick lays 6-7 eggs more at 100 weeks. Both birds have a great adaptability to any kind of environment and a high performance of saleable eggs with an excellent eggshell. |
| Hi, can I have the contact details of your partner in the Philippines? | Please check in our website. You have to go to MENU and chick «buy layers». |
Is there any distributor in Malaysia?
| Not, now. If you are interested in becoming, please contact us in our website. |
What’s the difference between the current breed that H&N has and previously under Lohmann?
| The genetic lines from H&N has been always indepent from the Lohmann lines. However the geneticist team was the same and the selection strategy similar since 1987. Since 2016 there is a dedicated genetic team to develop the H&N lines and to adapt the birds to the requirements of the H&N customers. The selection strategy and the selection goals was presented by Dr. David Cavero during this academy. |
Is there any GP in Malaysia?
| No, our business is based on selling the parent stock and we own the GP. There are some countries that they only allow the GP import, in those cases we could make exceptions. |
How does H&N understand the market for Nepal? Since there are other new layer breeds upcoming.
| We have a strong position with great partners in Nepal, so we all are ready for any challenge. |
In Sri Lanka we want to make a demand among farmers. Can we get some attractive advantages of this breed than other breed. Can send leaflets to share in web
| Check our information on our website and we will be more than happy to address your questions. |
| My Name is JV Catan from the Philippines. A ready to Lay Producer. We are glad to be supported by Kane Chanlim with our supply in Mindanao | Thank you for the business. |
| My Question would be, for conventional buildings, mostly used here in the Philippines, can they be made more ready for hotter climates especially with climate chage making the world warmer? | There is always some solution to improve conventional houses. As discuss during my presentation you can start with (simple) things to reduce direct daylight influence, and to keep drinking water cold. We see that climate changes brings challanges all over the world te keep our layers in good condition. Best way to discuss the possibilities with local technical people from H&N. |
| In the Philippines, there are more open sided (conventional) housing compared to tunnel ventilated farms. Environmental temperature is also usually at 32C. How does this affect the production? | Heat stress has definitely an impact on the performance of the birds, feed intake is reduced and consequently egg size is reduced and production can be compromise. Our birds are selected to adapt well to any kind of environment and to keep a good feed intake, which will help them under these conditions. Additionally any action taken to reduce the temperature and the heat stress of the birds (as has been discussed in a presentation during this academy) will help the birds to reach a good performance. |
| How can we sustain the egg production in deep litter open house shed if the temp is above 32C? Any extra supplement that work? | The production in those conditions will have some limitations due to the climate conditions. H&N birds will adapt as much as possible. The cheapest solution is to keep water temperature cold 27 C and try to make a summer feed diet to compensate the low feed intake due to heat stress. |
| How about for conventional buildings where the sides are open and the airflow cannot be controlled. are roll on and off curtains needed? | To use role on, and curtains can be a first step to control climate inside the house. Reduce direct sunlight influence during the day, or prevent (colder) draft in the night period. |
| When you say maximum 80% humidity will be beneficial, do you mean the humidity at the outside or inside of the house? Thanks | When outside humidity measure >80%, cooling pads or spraying water doesn´t give any positive effect to your climate inside the poultry house. |
| What are suggested climate system for conventional buildings? | For hot-climate area´s closed houses with controled inlets and tunnelventilation for production. For rearing would be better to add some fans for minimum ventilation in the roof for the first weeks of age (0-7 weeks) |
| Would you recommend controlled climate system buildings for parent stocks? We are based at the Philippines. | For hot-climate area´s closed houses with controled inlets and tunnelventilation for production. For rearing would be better to add some fans for minimum ventilation in the roof for the first weeks of age (0-7 weeks). |
| How can we sustain egg production if the temp goes above 32 degrees on a open side house? | When there is a forcast of hot weather, you can support the flock before with some vitamins, and during hot period you can give vitamin-C. During hot period use some extra fans during the day to create some air-speed, and with Humidity <80% it is possible to spray water on the roof, or beside the house (inlets) keep drinking water also as cool as possible. |
| What your reccomendation type of henhouse in tropical condition? | For hot-climate area´s closed houses with controled inlets and tunnelventilation for production. For rearing would be better to add some fans for minimum ventilation in the roof for the first weeks of age (0-7 weeks) |
| What short term management technique should we do when there is an extraordinary spike in temperature? In an open sided house. | When there is a forcast of hot weather, you can support the flock before with some vitamins, and during hot period you can give vitamin-C. During hot period use some extra fans during the day to create some air-speed, and with Humidity <80% it is possible to spray water on the roof, or beside the house (inlets) keep drinking water also as cool as possible. |
| In your slide, can I said 35C temperature will have chances of lower shell weight, which mean the chances of crack egg is high ? | Lower feed (calsium) intake what brings the birds to use the calsium from there one bones. With this the condition of the birds is already going down, and after that also problems with eggshell quality |
| How about the heat temperature in opened house layers cage in indonesia country can caused heat stress? how can we actions for that? thank you sir | When there is a forcast of hot weather, you can support the flock before with some vitamins, and during hot period you can give vitamin-C. During hot period use some extra fans during the day to create some air-speed, and with Humidity <80% it is possible to spray water on the roof, or beside the house (inlets) keep drinking water also as cool as possible. |
| My farm is open side in Indonesia, the out temperatur some time can reach near 36 degree. If I use the Fan, until how much degree the temperature in house you recomended? | With fans inside the house you can create some chill effect, means effective temperature of -8°C with every 1 m/s airspeed. Please note that overal temperature stays the same! |
| Breeds like BV 300 indegenous to India are well adapted to hot and humid climate with less micro climate management. How does your bird handle this? | The genetic potential of our birds is higher than local breeds and we are teting the H&N birds also under hot climate environments, this information is used to select birds that are resilient and can cope with challenging environments. Our birds have a good adaptability to hot climate keeping a good performance. |
| Is it better to invest in Tunnel-ventilated buildings in tropical countries for breeder stocks? Or is climate management in Conventional houses still okay? | For hot-climate area´s closed houses with controled inlets and tunnelventilation for breeder production. For rearing would be better to add some fans for minimum ventilation in the roof for the first weeks of age (0-7 weeks) |
| Relative to roof paint, is there a recommended color of paint to use? | Prefere to use white paint for the best reflection of the Sun. |
| What do you think about putting ice or menthol in water to keep the layers cool in tropical countries with conventional houses? would you recommend it? | I would focus in reducing the water temperature to 27 C instead of adding products in the drinking water. |
| What can you say about the adjustment on feeding schedule when the weather is too hot? | You should feed during the cooler time of the day, until 10-11 am and after 2 pm. However check that feed isn’t missing at 1 pm. The first feeding in the afternoon should be double as you will have hungry birds. Also you should give a midnight snack of 2 hours. |
| The temperature are always high in my area, we are using wind chill to chill the birds, will there be any health issues with the long-term wind chilling effect? | Keep in mind that 1 m/s airspeed give -8°C effective temperature. Means you need to measure always the outside and inside temperature to be sure that there is no cold draft. (Most risk during the night period!) Also very dangerous to use it with young chicks (0-7 weeks) With constant hot climate the use of the chill factor doesn´t give any negative effects. |
| How differences the strain of layers egg brown and egg white in egg weight and first laying egg? thank you so much | Brown layers have a higher egg size than white layers which starts already at the beginning (for example Brown Nick lay on average eggs that are 1g hevier than Super Nick). However, white layers tend to lay more eggs so at the end the egg mass production is very similar between brown and white layers. |
| Normally for H&N, how many time natural moulting is happen along life?? What should we do if it happen abnormal time (assumption feed intake & titer is normal). Thank you | The H&N birds don’t molt naturally in production as long as water and feed is available. I would suggest to check if molting is profitable as the H&N birds can be in production until 100 weeks of age. |
| Are the genetic selection based on region, or there are different selection for different region? | We follow the strategy to select birds that are adaptable to any kind of environment. To achieve this we send birds with known pedigree to different locations worldwide under different climate conditions, feeding and management practices and use this information to select the best birds under all these different tests. |
| Can you ellaborate more on your Indian Customers. How many chicks you sell now here in India? | Our busines model in India is to sell parent stock. We had a customer in the north in India, but we discontinue our agreement because how the business was managed. We have parent stock available for those who want to have a great bird that can adapt to the conditions of India. |
| How can we address the shortage of DOP in the Philippines? | We are working with our distributors so they can supply the market as soon as possible. |
| How can I maximize the crack detector machine in helping me to monitor the egg strength by weeks? any reference? | You can see some guidelines in the literature. These data need to be crosscheck with the amount of broken data in your farm. It is another indicator of quality. |
| Do you have genetic improvement geared towards layer persistence of egg production until 100 weeks…pls comment | We are testing our birds in our breeding farm for more than 100 weeks without molting and there is more potential to make improvements at late ages than at peak of production, that’s why our focus to increase the number of saleable eggs is to increase the production of eggs together with a better eggshell quality specially at the end of the cycle. |
| How do you compute the IOFC again? thanks. | IOFC is the Income Over feed Cost, so basically you calculate the revenue you get from the egg production and you substract the cost of the feed (which normally represent 60-70% of the total production cost). One formula that is frequently used for general purposes is: IOFC = Price of 1kg Egg * Egg Mass Produced – Price of 1 kg feed * Feed Consumption. Depending on how the egg producer is selling the eggs, the revenue of the egg production can be further be splitted calculating the prices and number of eggs produced in each of the egg size classification. |
| What type of breed is fit in the philippines? | In the Philippines right now are two breeds from H&N Super Nick and Nick Chick, the two options differ on the needs of the egg producer, if big egg size is important then Super Nick will have and advantage |
| I live in Indonesia with high climate. I want to ask you, in my closed house why the depletion still high? 15-20% ( depletion ), and the feed intake 124-125gr/birds, protein feed 18.15 and Energy 2747, whats your suggest ? what do i have to reset for my closed house ? | If you close your house the depletion rate will be lower and second you will need to check your feed management because in your conditions is almost impossible to have birds eating 125 grams unless the birds are throwing feed to the floor or somebody is stealing it. |
| What is the cost differential between conventional cage system and cage free (aviaries)? | Taken the old EU cage system of 550 cm²/hen moving to aviaries without free-range means a cost increase of 20-25%, if the aviary is with free-range then the cost increase is 30-35%. |
| On your monitoring, what is the usual acceptable percentage of egg cracks/ grade outs per day (out of total HDEP)? Thank you! | There aren’t absolute values, as the first important variant is the egg size. Please contact us and we can talk more about it. |
| What would be an acceptable maximum % of non saleable eggs? | There aren’t absolute values, as the first important variant is the egg size. Please contact us and we can talk more about it. |
| Any performace data can share for H&N layer in hot and humid regio? In-terms of maximum cycle, total eggs and production. | Please contact us and we will be more than happy to share with you. |
| Why do you used dozen for standart not per hen?? Thank you | Because is some countries, like US and Canada, the most common selling unit is dozen of eggs. |
| In India average sale of egg per Dozen is Euro 0.49. You production cost is more than Sale cost. Will your bird be suitable for India? | Of course H&N is suitable and a great option for Indian. The costs you saw in the example of the presentation are from Spain, threfore only represent costs in this country. |
| Your objective for downgrade is 1 % but in your cost computation you put 6 % as downgrades… what is the usual % of downgrades in actual farms with H N breed. | In the presentation was showed how important is to reduce the downgrades by better management, nutrition and etc because every 1% of reduction is translated into a higher profit per hen. The % of downgrade depends on many variables like: management, weather, nutrition, equipment, etc. Therefore is not possible to stablish a standard for H&N. However, under normal % in the begiining of the production cycle should be less than 1,5% and at the end of the production cycle less of %. Averaging a total of less than 3,0-4.0% for the whole cycle. |
| What is acceptable cost of antibiotik per hen, vitamin per hen, and vaccine per hen? in South East Asia area | Sorry we don’t have this data. |
| For downgrade egg (cracked/damaged etc) & saleable egg, how many % that H&N offering?? Thank you | In the presentation was showed how important is to reduce the downgrades by better management, nutrition and etc because every 1% of reduction is translated into a higher profit per hen. The % of downgrade depends on many variables like: management, weather, nutrition, equipment, etc. Therefore is not possible to stablish a standard for H&N. However, under normal conditions a % in the begiining of the production cycle should be less than 1,5% and at the end of the production cycle less of %. Averaging a total of less than 3,0-4.0% for the whole cycle. |
| How to compute for IOFC? | Egg Mass (g) X egg price – Feed Consumption(g) x feed price = IOFC |
| What is the egg weight for first 2 weeks? | Please check the information of our breeds in www.hn-int.com |
| How long should we have an empty feeder every day? | When the distribution of the pullets/layers is good, the feeders should come empty all over the house at the same time. When this is not the case you need to check the housing conditions. (stocking density, climate on different places/levels in the house) We advise start block feeding direct after empty the feeders. |
| Why do we need to take body weight in the front, and in the back of the house? | There is a risk that feed distribution is not 100%, and together with select feedintake it can make a different how much, and what kind of (mash) feed the birds eating in de front, or back of the house. Also climate influence can give effect on grow of the birds/pullets. |
| How many LUX light we need in rearing? | In cage 5-7 Lux from 5-6 weeks of age, in cage-free 10 Lux for white pullets, and 15 Lux for brown pullets. |
| Do you have caging information in the mgmt guide. Do you provide layout for the building and also the caging space information? | Recommendation can be found in our New Managment Guide Cage on our H&N Website. |
| How to avoid the prolaps..? | Achieve the body weight at 5-6th week and proper light stimulation based on the target body weight recommended by H&N. |
| What week do you suggest to move pullet to Layer house? and we found weight loss by transport, what do you suggest? | Advise to transfer on 16-17 weeks of age. Vaccination program should be complete. No needle vaccination during transfer. Body weight should be on standard. When there need to be tranfer on earlyer age, use developer feed till 17-18 weeks of age, don´t stimulate in hours light and intensity of light. Try also to feed on a empty feeder in production, te keep the pullets active on the feed, and let them take the complete mashfeed. |
| How do you compute uniformity? Do you compute it using the CV? | We have a nice exel program that calculate the uniformity. |
| What week can you start midnight feeding without compromising the lighting program | You can start from 3 weeks of age. Normal you have a daylenght of 16 hours at that time. Take 3 hours darkness before, and after the 2 hours midnight feeding. |
| Does amino acids in drinking water, aid in feed intake & weight gain? | It is a too expensive solution. |
| How to prevent Prolaps problem from the rearing period | Achieve the body weight at 5-6th week and proper light stimulation based on the target body weight recommended by H&N. |
| When practicing step down – at what week should we complete the stepdown process (deadline) | Depending on type of housing system (open/close) and wishes to produce higher or lower eggweight in production, you should complete the step-down period at 10-11 weeks of age latest! |
| What the condition is needed midnight lighting ?? | Basic is to give pullets/layers extra time to eat. Be sure that there is always 3 hours darkness before, and after the 2 hours midnight lighting. Provide light, feed and water during these 2 hours. |
| What impact if we put too much lightning program? is it impact to birds health? | In production it can have effect on egg production, and also on behaviour of the layers. Means never go above 16 hours of light in 24 hours. |
| What are the reason for 3 hours darkness before and after midnight snack? | With these 3 hours before, and after the 2 hours midnight feeding the layers feels like it´s a complete 8 hours night/rest, and the 24 hours production cycle isn´t disturb. |
| Is split AM-PM feeding worth it? From what age? Thanks. | It is complicated if you don’t have good management. |
It is advisable to keep the pullet slightly overweight.? Maybe 50g
It is advisable to keep the pullet slightly overweight.? Maybe 50g
| It could be useful but only at the end of production. |
| You mentioned a while ago that start the feeding when feeders are empty during rearing and in production – will it cause stress to birds if the feeding time change from time to time especially during production? Thanks a lot! | Very important to start this feed training in start of rearing (4-5 weeks) and continue this during whole live period after that. You need to check weekly when the feeders are empty, and change the time for the first feeding on that. Feeders should come empty, and direct after that start the first (block) feeding. We don´t want to see a empty feeder for longer time! With block feeding (2 times feeding in short time) we want to reduce the risk that bird (Higher in pick order, or on the first lenght of the feeders) take the courser parts of the feed, and the birds (Lower in pick order, and on the end of the feeders) only get the fine parts of the feed. |
| What is your comment on water quality and dirty egg? | In rearing the period of 3 til 10 weeks is the most critical period for pecking/canibalism. When you see any pecking lower the light intensity. For the first action on that you need to lower the light intensity, but also check nutrition, feeding managment, climate to be sure that this is all OK. |
| For cannibalism noted in pullets, how low will you recommend to reduce light intensity? | 7 lux |
| In the Phils most use commercial feeds so we do not know the energy. can we stick 1 month booster day 1 to day 30 to just hit or make chicks heavier to prep for stress periods like vaccination by inject | You need to monitore the chicks everyweek and if after 1 month they are on body weight you can change to the next feed. |
| How long should we provide midnight snack? | Maximum 2 hours |
| If we do light stimulation too early when many of birds not ready what will happen? | Pullet is not ready, and production is starting. Big risk that the layers run out of gas in the production period and can´t make it till the end of production period. Early drop of production, undesirable behaviour, higher mortality. |
| What watts of bulbs do you suggest during rearing and production? thank you | We recommend to move to LED technology step by step. |
| What is the salt for? | Estimulate feed intake. |
| Is that any effect from bulb color for laying periode? | It doesn’t have negative effect, however they can get dirty quickly and the longevity of the bulb could be an issue. |
| What do you think of spraying water on the birds during hot weather? | This is a good management when relative humidity is below 80% and is complemented with high air speed. Always keep in mind to prevent wet litter. The foggers/mysters must work under a timer. |
| What recommendation do you have for vaccinating during hot weather? | Adjust the quantity of volumes of water used for water vaccination to reflect the increased water intake during hot weather. Water vaccinations should be administered whihin 1 to 1,5 hours during hot weather and during morning hours after lights go on, and do not withhold drinking water. Keep an eye when spray vaccinating during hot weather because some vaccine reactions could be worse due to hyperventilation of birds under heat stress (for example, newcastle). Postpone vaccinations during heat stress periods whenever possible. Keep the vaccines in cold temperature until the live vaccines are administered. Bronchitis is very heat sensitive. |
| Have any recommendation to make good uniformity in rearing period? Do we need to do grading 100% for all birds and separate the birds by grade/weight even the feed full feed? | If your uniformity is below 70% (Cv > 12) you may need to grading: small and normal/big. Key factors for good uniformity are: feed space, stockign density, balanced diets and feeding management. |
| There is lethal temperature for chicken is same in every place…? | Yes. However keep in mind the interaction between temperature and relative humidity: Heat Stress Index. Places with high relative humidity have a lower critical temperature. |
| Will 6-8:1 water to feed ratio create more dirty eggs? | Yes it can, due to higher water excretion, higher chances to have dirty eggs. |
| Is it possible to shift the lights off period to the mid-day(hottest period) to prevent heat stress? | Yes, this is a great idea. Need to be done gradually (especially for floor flocks). |
| Are there disadvantages of feeding high density diets during summer? | No, if they are well balanced to give the necessary nutrients in low feed intake conditions. Formulating diets for digestible amino acids, highly digestible ingredientes (For example, fats to provide energy), adjusted levels of calcium and phosphorus, etc. The disadvantages come when you dont follow those guidelines. |
| What is the relationship of high temperature and egg shell quality? Please elaborate more… | When birds are panting or hyperventilating to lose body heat, there is an excessive loss of CO2 from the blood, increasing the blood pH. This condition is called respiratory alkalosis. The higher blood pH reduces the activity of the enzyme carbonic anhydrase, which reduced the calcium and carbonate ions transferred from blood to the shell gland. Another impact of high temperature is on the reduced feed intake, reducing the Calcium intake. |
| Does it help to reduce heat if we install pipe with water mist on the roof when the temp is 32C and higher? | Yes, it helps. This a good management during hot weather. |
| Do we need to prolong days of treatment during hot weather because higher water intake means faster feed passage? | No, if you calculate the right doses and match that calculation with the feed or water intake you shouldn’t need to prolong the days. |
| During heat stress, is it recommended to increase the level of Vitamin C in the feed/water? | Yes it is recommended because during high temperature the requirement of vit C is higher. Inclusion of Vit. C at 150–400 g/ton of feed or 200 to 300 ppm Vit C in drinking water. |
| What supplements are effective for heatstressed birds? For recovery | Provide in water vitamins (A, D, E and B complex), electrolytes and sodium bicarbonate. |