Tips and Tricks for Poultry Farmers: Part Five

#1: Use a Paint Roller to Trigger Nipples

This one comes from one of our distributors up in North Carolina.

He runs a paint roller along the water nipples in his poultry houses to trigger them. This grower recommends using the paint roller trick before placement and before you turn the birds out back. He says he can tell a difference by the way his birds migrate through the house. This is a quick way to ensure water is available to your birds!

#2: Check the USDA NRCS Programs Regularly

Every year, the USDA NRCS launches programs to help growers make improvements on their farms. Many farmers miss these because they don’t know about them until it’s too late or the programs have run out of money.

So, my suggestion to you is to go check it out about every six months. See what the latest farm credit or tax break is, and maybe you can save some on bills.

They’ve got a page that’s just dedicated to how farmers can take advantage of farm credits. Check it out!

#3: Repel Woodpeckers with CDs

This is a really creative tip from one of our female growers. She had a woodpecker tearing up her cool cell pads. She felt like she’d done everything she could, but then she did a little research and found this way to keep woodpeckers away.

She hung CDs around her cool cells, almost like a wind chime. Apparently the different colored light reflecting off of the CDs as they spin scares away woodpeckers. Since she hung up the CDs, she has not seen the woodpecker!

#4: Attach Pest Bait in Hard-to-Reach Areas

Here’s one we got from our friends at Georgia Poultry. Rats and mice sometimes get into places where you can’t put out the bait, like rafters.

Try zip tying your soft bait into situations where it’s hard to just leave it there. You can also put it on a nail or a wire and just hang it up.

I can’t tell you how much I’d love for you to send me your tips and tricks so we can use them in volume six. Contact me at allen@southlandorganics.com or 800-608-3755.