Problem Solving Activity
1. You are a project manager for a new in-line
and vertically integrated poultry facility that is currently under construction. Each laying house is 500 feet long by 40 feet wide and 8 feet tall. There are five of these houses on the facility. The light fixtures will be hung from the ceiling. In two weeks, the electricians will be on site to start wiring for the lighting within the facility. You have been instructed by the owner about lighting times, but he has left you in charge of the types of lighting. You will need to provide a report to the owners based on your findings.
You remember learning about the importance of controlling for light in the laying house to improve egg production, egg size, egg numbers, and livability of chickens, but couldn't remember specifics. You decided to do more reading regarding the use of light and you found that light is required for a chicken to lay eggs as light stimulus is provided to the chicken when light enters the chicken's eye. Only about 0.25fc of light is needed for a chicken to see how to eat but 0.5 to 1 fc is needed to stimulate the pituitary to release luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), which causes increased growth of the ova. Chickens have color vision and see better when red, orange, yellow or blue lighting is used.
You also find that a watt is the amount of electric energy consumed and the amount of light emitted by a light source. One watt from an incandescent light bulb on average equals 12.56 lumens. A Compact Flourescent Lamp (CFL) averages about 62.5 lumens per watt. A Foot-candle (fc) equals one lumen per square foot.Unfortunately not all the light produced by a light bulb is available to the chickens. About 30% of the light from a poultry house is absorbed by the walls, ceiling and equipment. Another 20% or so is lost due to efficiency issues in the bulbs, dirt on the bulbs, and shadows made by the cages and other equipment. Therefore, only 49% of the lighting system is available to the chilckens in the building.
Now, you begin to wonder how many lights and with what wattage should be installed. Knowing that a chicken's pituitary is stimulated, releasing luteininze hormone (LH) and follicle simulating hormone (FSH), between 0.5 to 1 foot-candle and once chickens are laying 1 to 3 foot candle. You want to determine what would be the most practical amount of lumens to provide.
(a). Determine how many lumens you need to produce to cover a laying house that is 500 feet long by 40 feet wide and 8 feet tall with 1 foot-candle.
Answer: 500 feet x 40 feet x 1lumens/foot² = 20,000 lumens
(b). Determine how many lumens you need to produce to cover a laying house that is 300 feet long by 60 feet wide and 8 feet tall with 2 foot-candle
Answer: 500 feet x 40 feet x 2 lumens/foot² = 40,000 lumens
(c). Determine how many lumens you need to produce to cover a laying house that is 500 feet long by 40 feet wide and 8 feet tall with 3 foot-candle.
Answer: 500 feet x 40 feet x 3 lumens/foot² = 60,000 lumens
Next, you need to determine how many 100-watt light bulbs (incandescent and CFL) you will need in each scenario in the table below. The table is what you will be presenting to the owners for them to make a decision about whether to use incandescent or CFL light bulbs.
Light Bulb Information Needed to Make Decision for Lighting of Laying Houses
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Type of Light Bulb |
100-watt Long Lasting Incandescent |
100-watt CFL |
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Lumens Produced |
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Amount of Lumens Reaching Chickens |
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Number of Light Bulbs Needed for 1-ftc |
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Number of Light Bulbs Needed for 2-ftc |
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Number of Light Bulbs Needed for 3-ftc |
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Answer:
Light Bulb Information Needed to Make Decision for Lighting of Laying Houses
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Type of Light Bulb |
100-watt Long Lasting Incandescent |
100-watt CFL |
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Lumens Produced |
1256 lumens (12.56 x 100) |
6250 lumens (62.5 x 100) |
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Amount of Lumens Reaching Chickens |
1256 lumens x .49 = 615.44 lumens |
6250 lumens x .49 = 3062 |
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Number of Light Bulbs Needed for 1-ftc |
20,000 ÷ 615.44 lumens = 32.49 or 33 bulbs |
20,000 ÷ 3062 lumens = 6.53 or 7 bulbs |
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Number of Light Bulbs Needed for 2-ftc |
40,000 ÷ 615.44 lumens = 64.99 or 65 bulbs |
40,000 ÷ 3062 lumens = 13.06 or 13 bulbs |
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Number of Light Bulbs Needed for 3-ftc |
60,000 ÷ 615.44 lumens = 97.49 or 98 bulbs |
60,000 ÷ 3062 lumens = 19.59 or 20 bulbs |
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2. Your next project is to obtain enough pullets over the next 10 months to fill the 5 houses and begin a rotation for replacement. You will also need to place an order with the company on the amount of feed you will need over the next year.
(A). You have been given the task of obtaining 184,000 pullets over the next 10 months for the 5 houses. You will be filling 4 houses in the first seven months. Due to the fact that many of the first group of pullets will reach their laying capacity after 52 weeks of age, during the ninth month you will need to purchase 2 groups of pullets. The company that you work for has a brood operation on four different farms. You check each farm to see which operation has the best average production percentage of pullets from birth to age 16 weeks. You want to buy from the operation that has the most success at raising pullets.
- On average Operation A broods 50,000 day-old-chicks and at 16 weeks has 42,445 pullets to deliver to the egg laying operation
Answer: 84%
- On average Operation B brood 20,000 day-old-chicks and at 16 to 17 weeks has 19,650 pullets to deliver to the egg laying operation.
Answer: 98%
- On average Operation C is broods 20,000 day-old-chicks and at 16 to 17 weeks has 19,050 pullets to deliver to the egg laying operation.
Answer: 95%
- On average Operation D broods 45,000 day-old chicks and at 16 to 17 weeks has 36,800 pullets to deliver to the egg laying operation.
Answer: 82%
- From which company or companies should your purchase your pullets?
Answer: Even though Operation A and D have enough pullets to buy from one operation, their production percentage is low. Operation B and Operation C have high production percentages. Operation B and C pullets should be healthier and the two operations together will produce enough pullets to fill your houses every two months.
(B). Now that you have decided where to buy your pullets, your next step is to decide on how much feed you will need to buy each month for the next year, knowing that you need to feed your chickens 3.0 to 3.5 pounds of feed for every dozen eggs you want produced. A single pullet will lay at least 250 eggs during their production cycle. Birds will start laying some eggs at about 18 weeks of age but do not get into good production until about 20 and full production at 22. Farms will often keep them laying until they are at least 52 weeks old or until the production drops off so they are no longer producing enough to pay their cost at the price of eggs for the time.
Use the table below to help you organize the information necessary to pre-order the amount of feed you will need for the year. Once you've determined the average number of eggs per month (use 30 days/month), round that number to the nearest ten to estimate your answers.
Information Needed to Pre-order Feed for Laying Houses for One Year
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Month |
Number of eggs produced in a day |
Number of eggs produced in a month |
Number of dozens of eggs produced in one month |
Amount of feed needed each month buying 3.2 pounds per dozen eggs |
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Month 1 |
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Month 2 |
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Month 3 |
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Month 4 |
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Month 5 |
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Month 6 |
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Month 7 |
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Month 8 |
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Month 9 |
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Month 10 |
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Month 11 |
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Month 12 |
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Answer: The table below is based on the fact that each pullet will lay at least 250 eggs in a 34 week period. The period is determined by subtracting 18-weeks old from 52-weeks old. Next divide 250 eggs by 34 weeks. That gives 7.352941176 eggs/week. Next divide 7.352941176 eggs/week by 7 days/week, which equals 1.050420168 eggs/day. Next, multiply 1.050420168 eggs/day by 30 days/month. That will give you 31.51260504 eggs/month. Round this number to the nearest ten, which will be 30. Therefore, each pullet will lay approximately 30 eggs per month or 1 egg per day. The answers or not exact, but rather an approximation.
Information Needed to Pre-order Feed for Laying Houses for One Year
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Month |
Number of eggs produced in a day |
Number of eggs produced in a month (30 days) |
Number of dozens of eggs produced in one month |
Amount of feed needed each month buying 3.25 pounds per dozen eggs |
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Month 1 |
36,800 eggs |
1,104,000 eggs |
92,000 dozen |
299,000 pounds |
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Month 2 |
36,800 eggs |
1,104,000 eggs |
92,000 dozen |
299,000 pounds |
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Month 3 |
73,600 eggs |
2,204,000 eggs |
184,000 dozen |
598,000 pounds |
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Month 4 |
73,600 eggs |
2,204,000 eggs |
184,000 dozen |
598,000 pounds |
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Month 5 |
110,400 eggs |
3,312,000 eggs |
276,000 dozen |
897,000b pounds |
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Month 6 |
110,400 eggs |
3,312,000 eggs |
276,000 dozen |
897,000 pounds |
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Month 7 |
147,200 eggs |
4,416,000 eggs |
368,000 dozen |
1,196,000 pounds |
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Month 8 |
147,200 eggs |
4,416,000 eggs |
368,000 dozen |
1,196,000 pounds |
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Month 9 |
184,000 eggs |
5,520,000 eggs |
460, 000 dozen |
1,495,000 pounds |
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Month 10 |
184,000 eggs |
5,520,000 eggs |
460,000 dozen |
1,495,000 pounds |
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Month 11 |
184,000 eggs |
5,520,000 eggs |
460,000 dozen |
1,495,000 pounds |
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Month 12 |
184,000 eggs |
5,520,000 eggs |
460,000 dozen |
1,495,000 pounds |
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3. Decisions about anaerobic lagoon system installation.
- While you are in the middle of solving the above problem, an employee from the company shows up and tells you he is there to put in an anaerobic lagoon system to degrade poultry waste. This waste will be used as a nutrient source for crop production on other parts of the farm and water may be recycled for reuse in the flush systems of poultry buildings. He has been instructed by the owners to put in 2 typical anaerobic lagoons for the farm in 12 acres of the farm well over 300 feet from the nearest underground water well. Knowing that a typical anaerobic lagoon for a 60,000 laying hen facility would be 10 feet deep and have a surface area of 1.8 acres when filled to optimum water level, will the system be enough for the amount of pullets you will have in 9 months? Explain why or why not.
Answer: No. Knowing that you will have 184, 000 pullets on site in 9 months, the system will only hold about half of the waste produced. 184,000 chickens ÷ 60,000 chickens/system = 3.06 systems. You will need 4 systems in place before the ninth month.
- If each anaerobic lagoon system requires a surface area of 1.8 acres and would be 10 feet deep, how many gallons of waste will the four systems hold? (each 1 acre feet is 1 acre of surface area and 1-foot deep and holds 325,851 gallons)
Answer: 325,851 x 1.8 acres = 586531.8 gallons per foot of depth. 586531.8 x 10 feet in depth = 5,865,318 gallons of waste in each lagoon. 5,365,318 gallons of waste in each lagoon x 4 lagoons - 21,461,272 gallons of waste.
In another part of the company, a good friend of yours, Cynthia, was hired to manage an existing commercial grow-out broiler operation. The former manager was fired due to not producing broilers with erratic body weight uniformity, although his average carcass weight fell between 2 to 3 pounds. Your friend has been asked to determine whether her particular farm is meeting industry standards in the square footage of space provided per bird, pounds of feed per pound of gain, body weight uniformity, and dressing percentage. The owners are expecting a report to be filed within a week.
(A). Looking at the farm's record-keeping documents, she determines that each 40' x 500' house averages 29,000 chickens. Does the farm meet the standards of 0.8 square feet of floor space for each chicken? Why or why not?
Answer: No, it does not meet the standards of 0.8 square feet of floor space for each chicken because 40ft x 500ft = 20,000 ft²; 20,000ft²/29,000 broilers = 0.68ft²/broiler.
(B). Cynthia is already formulating an answer, but has also been asked to investigate other information. She decides to investigate the amount of feed that is fed per day. She goes to the automatic feeder for each chicken house. Cynthia records the amount of food distributed to each house during the six week period it took the broilers to reach market ready status. She notices that the amount of feed for each house is the same. This seemed odd since when she found the average number of chickens per house, there weren't the same number of chickens in each house. The table below gives the information she found. Help her figure out the amount of feed per chicken for each of the houses.
Amount of Feed per Chicken for Broiler Houses
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House Number |
Number of Chickens |
Amount of Feed |
Amount of Feed per Chicken (answers are rounded to the nearest tenth) |
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1 |
30,250 |
175,000 lbs |
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2 |
32,325 |
175,000 lbs |
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3 |
22,675 |
175,000 lbs |
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4 |
30,150 |
175,000 lbs |
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5 |
29,600 |
175,000 lbs |
Answer: To find the answer for the amount of feed per chicken, divide the amount of feed by the number of chickens.
Amount of Feed per Chicken for Broiler Houses
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House Number |
Number of Chickens |
Amount of Feed |
Amount of Feed per Chicken (answers are rounded to the nearest tenth) |
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1 |
30,250 |
175,000 lbs |
5.8 lbs of feed per chicken |
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2 |
32,325 |
175,000 lbs |
5.4 lbs of feed per chicken |
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3 |
22,675 |
175,000 lbs |
7.7 lbs of feed per chicken |
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4 |
30,150 |
175,000 lbs |
5.8 lbs of feed per chicken |
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5 |
29,600 |
175,000 lbs |
5.9 lbs of feed per chicken |
(C). With this information and knowing from another document that figured that enough feed was bought for an average of 25,000 broilers per house and feeding them 1.75 pounds of grain per pound gained. She figured the average gain for each of the chicken houses based on their actual numbers. (Round your answers to the nearest tenth). Following that, she found paperwork that showed that the average gain for the total flock was 3.5 lbs; within the 3.5lb - 4.5lb range required. Unfortunately, this was a small sample and had only been done once the broilers had reached the age of six-weeks of age.
Predicted Pounds Gained Per Chicken for Five Broiler Houses
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House Number |
Number of Chickens |
Amount of Feed per Chicken |
Predicted Pounds Gained per Chicken |
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1 |
30,250 |
5.8 lbs of feed per chicken |
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2 |
32,325 |
5.4 lbs of feed per chicken |
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3 |
22,675 |
7.7 lbs of feed per chicken |
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4 |
30150 |
5.8 lbs of feed per chicken |
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5 |
29600 |
5.9 lbs of feed per chicken |
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Answer: Divide Amount of feed per chicken by 1.75 pounds of grain for each pound gained.
Predicted Pounds Gained Per Chicken for Five Broiler Houses
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House Number |
Number of Chickens |
Amount of Feed per Chicken |
Pounds Gained per Chicken |
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1 |
30,250 |
5.8 lbs of feed per chicken |
3.3 lbs gained |
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2 |
32,325 |
5.4 lbs of feed per chicken |
3.1 lbs gained |
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3 |
22,675 |
7.7 lbs of feed per chicken |
4.4 lbs gained |
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4 |
30150 |
5.8 lbs of feed per chicken |
3.3 lbs gained |
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5 |
29600 |
5.9 lbs of feed per chicken |
3.4 lbs gained |
(D). Knowing that some pounds gained per chicken were less than 3.5 lbs made her interested in finding the estimate of body weight uniformity for the last flock. Before she could determine the percentage of body weight uniformity, she had to determine the range, which is generally reported as the average weight of flock samples plus or minus 15%.
Knowing the average weight of the flock samples was 3.5 lbs, find 15% of 3.5 lbs.
Answer: .15 x 3.5 lbs = .525 lbs
The acceptable range that she would use to determine the percentage of uniformity of the flock was ____________________ to ______________________.
Answer: 2.975 lbs to 4.025 lbs
To see if her hunch was right about something fishy going on, she asked the computer to randomly pull 100 weights from each house. Below is a small sample of what she found (20 weights from each house)
Small Sample of Random Weights of Broilers in Each of the Five Broiler Houses
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House 1 |
House 2 |
House 3 |
House 4 |
House 5 |
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3.1 |
3.6 |
2.9 |
3.0 |
4.5 |
4.2 |
3.5 |
3.3 |
2.9 |
3.5 |
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3.5 |
3.3 |
3.0 |
3.8 |
3.9 |
4.8 |
3.3 |
3.5 |
3.2 |
3.7 |
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3.5 |
3.9 |
3.1 |
3.3 |
4.9 |
4.5 |
3.0 |
3.1 |
3.2 |
3.6 |
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2.9 |
3.2 |
3.5 |
3.9 |
4.2 |
4.2 |
3.2 |
3.4 |
3.1 |
3.1 |
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3.2 |
3.2 |
2.4 |
2.7 |
4.3 |
4.1 |
3.6 |
3.6 |
3.1 |
3.4 |
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3.4 |
3.5 |
2.9 |
2.9 |
4.5 |
4.6 |
3.2 |
3.4 |
3.5 |
3.5 |
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3.1 |
3.3 |
2.9 |
3.1 |
4.6 |
4.4 |
3.3 |
3.6 |
3.5 |
3.5 |
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2.9 |
3.1 |
3.0 |
2.5 |
4.8 |
4.2 |
3.2 |
3.2 |
3.2 |
3.3 |
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3.5 |
3.3 |
3.5 |
3.1 |
4.3 |
4.4 |
3.4 |
3.3 |
3.2 |
3.4 |
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3.3 |
3.2 |
3.0 |
3.4 |
4.2 |
4.0 |
3.5 |
3.1 |
3.2 |
4.0 |
Using the data above, determine the percentage of uniformity of the flock. Remember that it needs to fall within the range determined earlier.
Answer: There are 27 broilers not within the range, therefore, there are 73 that fall within the range for a 73% uniformity of flock. This percentage is not a good percentage.
(E). As the manager of the broiler facility, Cynthia has to prepare a letter for the owners of the company. Write a sample letter to the owners concerning Cynthia's findings.
Answer: Letter should contain the following information:
- Too many broilers in the houses per square feet available.
- Four of the houses were fed too little feed for the broilers to reach the weight (3.5 lbs- 4.5 lbs) necessary in the length of time (six weeks). The food needs to be more regulated based on the number of broilers in each house.
- The random sampling of data collected to get the average weight at 3.5 lbs for the flock, may have not been random after all.
- To get a higher percentage of uniformity within the flock, the broilers must be monitored more closely in relation to feed and pounds gained. Random sampling must be conducted more often than had been done in the past.
4. Since Cynthia has become manager of the broiler house, many things have changed. The broiler houses are now on different 6 - 7 week cycles so that all the stock is not sold at one time. Each house is randomly tested weekly to improve the percentage of body weight uniformity and the broilers are fed the correct amount of feed to gain the necessary weight in the 6-7 week cycle. House #4 chickens were sent to the processing plant last week and the average weight of the broilers was 4 lbs. Cynthia just received a report back from the processing plant regarding the carcass weight of the broilers. The following table gives a sampling of this information. It is your job to determine if the broilers were near the dressing percentage expected by the industry.
Small Sampling of the Live and Carcass Weights of Cynthia's Broilers
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Live Weight |
Carcass Weight |
Percentage |
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4.2 lbs |
2.6 lbs |
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3.8 lbs |
2.4 lbs |
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4.2 lbs |
2.7 lbs |
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4.3 lbs |
2.6 lbs |
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4.5 lbs |
2.9 lbs |
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4.1 lbs |
2.5 lbs |
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4.0 lbs |
2.5 lbs |
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3.5 lbs |
2.4 lbs |
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3.6 lbs |
2.3 lbs |
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3.7 lbs |
2.3 lbs |
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4.2 lbs |
2.5 lbs |
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4.3 lbs |
2.6 lbs |
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4.4 lbs |
2.6 lbs |
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3.9 lbs |
2.3 lbs |
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3.7 lbs |
2.3 lbs |
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4.5 lbs |
3.0 lbs |
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4.2 lbs |
2.6 lbs |
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4.1 lbs |
2.6 lbs |
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3.6 lbs |
2.3 lbs |
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4.2 lbs |
2.5 lbs |
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Answer: (Carcass Weight ÷ Live Weight) x 100 = %
Small Sampling of the Live and Carcass Weights of Cynthia's Broilers
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Carcass Weight |
Live Weight |
Percentage |
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4.2 lbs |
2.6 lbs |
62% |
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3.8 lbs |
2.4 lbs |
63% |
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4.2 lbs |
2.7 lbs |
64% |
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4.3 lbs |
2.6 lbs |
60% |
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4.5 lbs |
2.9 lbs |
64% |
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4.1 lbs |
2.5 lbs |
61% |
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4.0 lbs |
2.5 lbs |
63% |
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3.5 lbs |
2.4 lbs |
69% |
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3.6 lbs |
2.3 lbs |
64% |
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3.7 lbs |
2.3 lbs |
62% |
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4.2 lbs |
2.5 lbs |
60% |
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4.3 lbs |
2.6 lbs |
60% |
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4.4 lbs |
2.6 lbs |
59% |
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3.9 lbs |
2.3 lbs |
60% |
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3.7 lbs |
2.3 lbs |
62% |
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4.5 lbs |
3.0 lbs |
66% |
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4.2 lbs |
2.6 lbs |
62% |
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4.1 lbs |
2.6 lbs |
63% |
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3.6 lbs |
2.3 lbs |
64% |
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4.2 lbs |
2.5 lbs |
60% |
