Body Weight Measurements
0–3 Weeks: Bulk weigh 10 boxes of 10 chicks.
4–29 Weeks: Weigh 100 birds individually every week; calculate uniformity.
30–90 Weeks: Weigh 100 birds individually every 5 weeks; calculate uniformity.
When handling birds for body weights, assess:
Sera Collection
8 Weeks: Assess early vaccination technique and disease exposure.
15 Weeks: Collect sera before transfer to lay facility to assess possible change in disease exposure. It is common to not send to laboratory and freeze for future analysis in event of disease outbreak on lay farm.
16–24 Weeks: Collect sera at least 4 weeks after final inactivated vaccination to measure post-vaccination antibody response. It is useful to assess disease challenge and response to inactivated vaccinations after transfer to lay farm.