A broiler batch is won or lost in small daily jobs: a blocked drinker line, a heater left too high, dead birds left in the corner. Those jobs are done by your staff, often when you are not there. Clear duties, a short checklist and records that add up are what let an owner trust the farm, even with several sheds in different places.
Who does what
On most Pakistani broiler farms the team is small:
- Shed worker (or two): lives at or near the farm, does the daily work.
- Supervisor or manager: checks one or several farms, deals with feed, medicine and the vet.
- Owner: decides on chicks, feed dealer, sale and money.
Problems start when duties are not clear. If the worker thinks the supervisor will order feed, and the supervisor thinks the worker will call when stock is low, birds go hungry for half a day. Write down who does what, even on one page.
Daily duties for the shed worker
Morning round (soon after sunrise)
- Walk the whole shed slowly. Look at how birds are spread, breathing and moving.
- Check every drinker and feeder line. Clear blocks, fix leaks, set height to the birds' back.
- Remove dead and very weak birds. Count them.
- Read the thermometer at bird level.
- Note feed bags opened.
During the day
- Top up feed little and often.
- Turn or replace wet litter around drinkers.
- In summer, watch for panting and run fans, pads or sprinklers as planned. See heat stress in broilers.
- In winter, check heaters and air, and keep draughts off chicks.
Evening and night
- Second dead bird count.
- Check temperature again and heaters or fans for the night.
- One or two night rounds, especially in the brooding days and in hot weather. Many problems start after midnight.
- Know the plan for a power cut: who starts the generator and what runs first. See load-shedding generator plan.
A one-page daily checklist
Print this or put it on the wall. The worker ticks it, the supervisor checks it.
| Check | Morning | Evening |
|---|---|---|
| All drinkers working and clean | ☐ | ☐ |
| Feeders filled, right height | ☐ | ☐ |
| Dead birds removed and counted | ☐ | ☐ |
| Temperature at bird level written | ☐ | ☐ |
| Litter wet patches fixed | ☐ | ☐ |
| Fans, heaters, generator checked | ☐ | ☐ |
| Feed bags opened today | ☐ | |
| Medicine or vaccine given as told | ☐ | |
| Gate locked, foot dip filled | ☐ | ☐ |
A checklist is not about distrust. It helps a tired worker not forget, and it tells a new worker what "good" looks like.
What a supervisor checks on each visit
A supervisor's visit should be more than tea and a phone call.
- Walk the shed before reading any register.
- Count dead birds in the disposal area and compare with what was written.
- Count feed stock: bags delivered minus bags used should equal bags in store.
- Weigh a sample of birds once a week and compare with the target.
- Check water use if there is a meter. A drop in water often comes before a drop in feed and a rise in deaths.
- Check biosecurity: gate, foot dip, visitors' entry, how dead birds are disposed of.
- Agree next steps with the worker, and write them down.
Trust and records on multi-farm setups
Owners with three, five or ten sheds cannot be everywhere. Records are how the farm talks to you.
- Fixed reporting times. For example, deaths, feed and temperature by 10 am and again by 8 pm, every day.
- Photos. A WhatsApp photo of the dead birds and the thermometer takes ten seconds.
- Numbers that must add up. Chicks placed minus deaths and culls should equal birds sold. Feed delivered minus feed in store should equal feed used. If they do not match, ask why, calmly, the same day.
- One record, not three. If the worker writes in a notebook, the supervisor sends a message and the owner keeps a diary, the numbers will never match.
Poultry Curve's daily log lets each worker or supervisor enter deaths, feed and temperature for their shed from a phone, and the owner sees all farms in one place. Helper, the AI assistant, can then point out which shed has rising deaths or poor FCR compared with the others.
Pay, rest and respect
- Pay on time. Late pay is the fastest way to lose a good worker.
- Rest days. A worker with no day off for six weeks makes mistakes. Arrange cover.
- Clean living space and safe water for staff on the farm.
- Training. Show, do not only tell: how to check crop fill, set drinker height, read bird behaviour.
- Fair bonus. A reward for good FCR and low mortality can help. Check counts yourself at sale, so the bonus does not tempt anyone to hide deaths.
Handling mistakes
Mistakes will happen. A worker who reports a problem early, even his own mistake, should not be shouted at, or next time he will hide it. Ask what happened, fix it, and add it to the checklist if needed. Be firm on the things that matter most: dead bird counts, feed stock, and biosecurity rules.
At the end of each batch
Sit with the supervisor and worker and look at the numbers together: mortality by week, FCR, average weight and any problems. Ask them what they would do differently. Good staff often know exactly where the batch went wrong. Our guide on record keeping for poultry farms shows which numbers to keep.
The short version
Write down who does what. Give workers a short daily checklist and supervisors a fixed list for every visit. Ask for numbers at fixed times, check that feed and bird counts add up, and treat good staff well. On a multi-farm setup, clean daily records are how you see every shed without being there.