Poultry Farmers breed and raise chickens, turkeys, ducks geese, guinea fowl, squabs (pigeon) and other poultry for eggs, meat and breeding stock.

Most poultry farmers raise one species of fowl for a specific purpose. Nearly two-thirds of poultry revenues come from the production of broilers, which are young chickens raised for meat. Approximately one-quarter of poultry revenues come from egg production. The remaining poultry revenues are derived from the production of other species such as turkeys, ducks, game birds, ostriches, or emus.

Most farms that produce broilers are large commercial operations involved in indoor broiler production. Other types of broiler farming are free-range broiler production or organic broiler production.

 

Did You Know? Terms for Types of Chickens Bantam: A diminutive breed of domestic fowl. Boiler: A chicken 6 to 9 months old. Broiler: A cockerel of 1 - 1.5Kg, at 8 to 12 weeks old. Cock: A male chicken, also called a rooster. Cockerel: A young rooster, under 1 year old. Fryer: A chicken of 1.5 - 1.8Kg, at 12 to 14 weeks old. Hen: A female chicken. Point-of-lay Pullet: A young female, just about to lay, near 5 months old. Pullet: A young female chicken, under 1 year old. Roaster: A chicken of 1.8 - 2.7Kg, over 12 to 14 weeks old. Rooster: A male chicken; also called a cock. A Rooster (Source: Almanac)

 

 

ANZSCO ID: 121321
  
Alternative names: Chicken Farmer, Poultry Business Manager, Poultry Producer,

Specialisations: Poultry Farmers can specialise in

• Egg,

• Meat production

• Breeding stock.

While most Poultry Farmers are engaged in Chicken Meat & Eggs, others can specialise in:

• Turkeys

• Duck

• Geese

• Game birds

• Ostriches

• Emus

 

Knowledge, skills and attributes

• Breed selection: knowledge about how and where to order chicks or pullets; know the difference between purebreed and commercial hybrid chicken breeds

• Brooding and Chick Care: know how to receive and properly handle day-old chicks

• Chicken Health: understand the importance of sanitation and biosecurity on the farm; be familiar with pathogens common to poultry

• Nutrition: be familiar with the daily nutrient requirements of all types, stages of poultry

• Know how to look after pullets

• General management: know how to hold a bird; know how to detect evidence of rodents; know how to differentiate a rooster from a hen or a cockerel from a pullet.

• Know the Australian law about the minimum space requirements; understand the role of light and ventilation

• Understand the value of manure as fertilizer

• Productivity: be able to recognise a productive bird by observing physical signs (such as the comb and legs

• Culling poorly performing hens

• Food safety regulations when selling eggs

• Selling the product: knowledge of the value of eggs

• Economics: know how to evaluate the economics of egg production; and meat production

 

 

(Source: Your Career)

 

Duties and Tasks

Routine responsibilities for a poultry farmer include:

• Breeds and raises livestock for the production of meat and eggs

• Monitors and maintains the health and condition of livestock - monitors flock behaviour to detect any signs of illness

• Provides pastures and fodder to maintain appropriate nutritional levels

• Moves livestock to optimise feeding opportunities

• Organises and conducts farming operations

• Directs and oversees general farming activities such as maintaining pens, sheds and cages, fertilising, controlling pests and weeds, and growing fodder

• Maintains fences, equipment and water supply systems

• Organises the sale, purchase and transportation of livestock and produce

• Maintains and evaluates records of farming activities, monitoring market activity and planning production accordingly

• Manages business capital including budgeting, taxation, debt and loan management

• May select, train and supervise staff and contractors.Distributing feed

• Administers medications

• Cleans enclosures

• Ensures proper ventilation

• Removes dead or sick birds

• Transports birds to processing plants

• Restocks enclosures with young birds

• Keeps detailed records

• Oversees various poultry farm employees

Working conditions

Poultry producers work in conjunction with poultry veterinarians to ensure the health of their flocks. Livestock feed sales representatives and animal nutritionists may also advise poultry producers on how to create nutritionally balanced rations for their facilities.

As is the case with many animal farming careers, a poultry farmer may be required to work long hours that can include nights, weekends, and holidays. Work may be carried out in varying weather conditions and extreme temperatures. Workers may also be exposed to diseases that are commonly found in poultry waste products, such as salmonella or E. coli.

 

Tools and Technologies

 

Did You Know? Farmers must farm data, not just chickens, and in doing so, harness new digital technologies and information to improve efficiencies and respond to the growing requirements of proactively engaged consumers (“prosumers”). These eight digital technologies provide a useful framework to describe the plethora of novel technologies arriving in the marketplace that can help producers manage their flocks in a more efficient and sustainable way. 3D printing prosthetics What is the realistic future of 3D printing in the poultry industry? Poultry operations would benefit from the on-site printing of plastic or metal parts when the ones on the farm require replacing. The University of Western Australia’s head of mechanical and chemical engineering, Tim Sercombe, has developed a printer that would use a metal powder that represents about 20 percent of the total cost of the part. Smaller part sizes might take a day to complete, but when compared to ordering and waiting for delivery of a part, the potential to save downtime on a farm could be considerable. Aurora Labs is focusing its efforts on agriculture, citing the opportunity for rural or remote farmers in Australia to come to their own rescue! One of the more inventive ways in which 3D printing can affect the poultry industry is through life-saving techniques. Reproducing feet, legs and even beaks has already been applied for pet birds. Robots doing the dirty work One of the most practical applications of digital technology in the poultry industry is that of robots. There are a multitudinous number of repetitive tasks that robots could assist with. Poultry houses require nearly constant attention — cleaning and sanitizing, collecting eggs and checking birds. This is time-consuming, monotonous work, but it would not bother a robot. The bots also evaluate environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, ammonia, sound and brightness. Another French robotic company, Tibot, explains that robots can discourage chickens from laying eggs on the floor and also keep the birds moving for an added health benefit. These attributes can result in cost-savings for producers in product and labor while appealing to welfare advocates. Drones protecting the flock? The opportunity for drones in chicken houses may seem a little farfetched. There is concern that the drone could make the flock nervous and cause undue stress. Free-range or yard-kept chickens and turkeys that roam fields freely would be a better application for drone technology, which could herd, protect and monitor them. Adaptation of avian species to drones would probably require training but will most likely succeed outdoors. Sensors for individualized monitoring Sensors probably represent the easiest of the eight technologies to implement. This is partly due to lower implementation costs, but also because the benefits are immediately recognized. a sensor designed to measure ammonia, a common problem in many hen houses. Both SKOV and Filipino Poultry use sensors to regulate and control the climate in the house, including ventilation and temperature. has a unique lighting system using sensors and LED bulbs to create a consistent lighting environment that stimulates better growth efficiencies in birds and also reduces costs. Artificial intelligence (AI) in processing AI technologies have become the backbone of many other technologies. Robots, for example, use AI in the processing plant to improve efficiencies. Sensors collect the information, software tracks it and AI adjusts the conditions of the house or alerts the farmer if there is a potential issue, such as an ill bird. All this information can be transferred to the farmer’s iPad or smartphone. This is all done in real time and can curb concerns and small issues before they become disastrous to the entire flock. Aside from saving humans from doing these tasks, there are opportunities for cost savings, such as optimized feed consumption and climate control, increased production through healthier flocks because of cleaner water and better systems management. All of this information can be stored and analyzed to increase uniformity in production, which will ultimately increase performance and overall flock health. A form of AI, machine vision, has been used to grade eggs as well as determine defects such as cracking or internal blood spots. It can also be used in assessing infertility in incubation by scanning eggs and learning which are fertile and which are not. An algorithm is then created, enabling the machine to determine the accuracy of fertility by over 98 percent by day five of incubation. This technology has allowed a significant challenge within the layer industry to be overcome. Layers, of course, are designed to produce eggs for consumption. To replace laying hens, farmers have to incubate some eggs, but they cannot tell until they are hatched which are male and which are female. The ability to sex the eggs was the undertaking of Vital Farms which has teamed up with Israeli technology company Novatrans to create Ovabrite. Using terahertz spectroscopy, the system can identify male eggs immediately after laying and sell them as unfertilized eggs for the farmer, allowing for significant cost savings within the layer industry. (Source: Aidan Connolly) Look at the Critical Thinking Spot to see what scientists are doing with AI and chicken communication!

Education and training/entrance requirements
  
You usually need livestock farming experience to work as a Poultry Farmer. While formal qualifications aren't essential, a Vocational Education and Training (VET) course in agriculture may be useful.

 

(Source: ABC News)

 

 

An egg collector works on poultry farms and collects eggs from hens, geese, turkeys, and ducks. An egg collector can work on poultry farms of various sizes, and there are many different systems for hens that lay eggs; these are known as layers. Free-range systems are where birds are housed in barns, but they are free to roam outside in grass ranges.

Caged systems are where birds are managed in a controlled area to high welfare standards. They are provided with enough space for areas for nesting, feeding, littering, and bedding.

Eggs can be laid for humans to eat or are produced to hatch young chicks. These laying hens are usually kept in barns where their health and welfare can be monitored carefully. Poultry Farm Workers perform routine tasks on poultry farms, such as collecting eggs and placing them in incubators.
   

ANZSCO ID: 841514

Alternative names: Poultry Worker and Egg Collector, Poultry Farm Worker (breeder farm or egg production only), Free-range Egg Collector, Egg collector and Packer, Farm Hand,
   
   
Knowledge, skills and attributes

To work as an egg collector, you should:

• Work with care and focus

• Work calmly, confidently, and patiently around animals

• Be able to spot and report problems

• Enjoy working in a team but also be able to work on your own initiative

• Be reliable, with good time-keeping skills - an excellent work ethic and timekeeping skills are essential for this role.

• Be able to communicate and listen well to others

• Have good problem-solving skills to complete tasks

• Be highly motivated and keen to develop skills and knowledge

• Need to be fit and healthy
  
  

 

YouTube: Rachel Wilson: an Australian free-range egg farmer
https://youtu.be/MLvNaljgwdE?si=LpOP7zjXA9yNfozV

 

 

 

Duties and Tasks

As an egg collector your responsibilities might include:

• Collecting, grading, and packing eggs correctly

• Helping to maintain egg records to provide up-to-date information

• Working to achieve laying targets

• Monitoring bird health, behaviour, and welfare and reporting back to your manager

• Maintaining good standards in environmental practice

• Ensuring you keep personal protective equipment (PPE) clean and in good condition

• Following and meeting health and safety standards for yourself and others

• Monitoring and reporting any required repairs to buildings and machinery

As an egg collector, you’ll have the following competencies in relation to the careful collection of eggs and the health and wellbeing of the poultry in your care. You will:

• Follow correct procedures to ensure good welfare, biosecurity, and environmental practice

• Follow farm hygiene procedures to reduce the risk of disease in laying birds and eggs

• Handle eggs and birds (where required) with care and attention

• Follow farm procedures for the safe storing, moving, and transporting of eggs

• Work to correct farm procedures to achieve production targets

• Ensure the relevant health and safety standards are met

• Use the appropriate technology, machinery, and equipment

 

Working conditions

Full-time egg collectors can work about 39 hours per week. These hours might be divided into shifts to fit with collection times. Shifts might start as early as 6am, and you sometimes be required to work evenings and weekends.

You'll work on your own initiative but report to the farm manager, production manager, or owner.

You may need your own transport to get to work.

You must be aware of hygiene, health and safety to help reduce the risk of disease spread among the birds. You'll also need good observation skills so you can spot and report health issues and damage to buildings and equipment.

Birds producing hatching eggs for retail are kept in controlled environment open housing. Egg Collectors find and gather eggs – most are laid in the morning and need to be collected often to reduce the number of dirty or broken eggs, and more frequently in very hot or cold weather.

Manual egg collection and packing can be labour intensive, and some farms have increased their mechanised egg collection. Most Egg Collectors/Packers work inside poultry houses where eggs are found and collected, ready to be moved – these are often dark and can be smelly. You will be given protective clothing (PPE) to wear.

Tools and technologies

The egg collection system is an efficient and reliable way to collect eggs from poultry farms. These systems use advanced technology to automatically collect eggs quickly and efficiently. The system is designed to be easy to install and maintain, with minimal disruption to the birds. This system can be used to collect eggs , reducing the amount of time and labor needed for operation. It provides an efficient way of collecting eggs from laying hens while minimizing labor costs associated with manual egg collection processes.

 

(Source: ReTechFarming)

   
The components of an automatic egg collection system include the conveyor belt, egg elevator, egg platform, and egg counter. The conveyor belt is used to transport the eggs from each tier to the egg elevator. then The egg elevator then takes the eggs to the egg platform, where they are sorted and stored. The system also includes an egg counter that records the number of eggs collected. This data can be used to monitor egg production and identify any potential problems.

  
Education and training/entrance requirements

The role of the egg collector is an entry point into the poultry industry, where you'll be working closely with birds. It’s also helpful to have a basic knowledge of poultry diseases and health issues and how to help prevent them​.​

 

Employment Opportunities

You can gain experience by volunteering on a farm or smallholding. If you live in a city or urban area, you could volunteer on a local city farm or community garden.

 

 

   

 

 

To check and pack eggs in line with quality control guidelines in preparation for collection and delivery, and assist in maintaining livestock welfare. Egg Sorters and Packers collect eggs laid by poultry, grading, boxing and packing them ready for customers. Eggs are mainly from laying hens especially reared for this purpose, but ducks, geese and turkeys may also lay eggs for the food chain or hatched to produce young birds.

Egg sorting is also known as egg grading. This is the process of sorting eggs into different grades. Therefore they would separate the eggs into small, medium, large, extra large, jumbo, and super jumbo. This is mainly determined by the size and weight of the egg. Eggs are also graded according to their quality and are graded as Grade 1 (A), Grade 2 (B), and Grade 3 (C). The grade of an egg is determined by the quality of the egg's white and yolk. This is done to prevent the sale of eggs that are too watery.

ANZSCO ID: 841514

  
Alternative names: Production Assistant, Hatchery Assistant,
  
Knowledge, skills and attributes

• Workers are required to be fit and healthy as manual handling is a key part of the job

• Ability to work on own initiative

 

Hand washing eggs
(Source: ABC News)

Duties and Tasks

• Quality checking, grading, packing and stacking eggs.

• Record completed activities on daily/weekly checklists.

•  Complete activities as per daily schedule.

•  Trouble-shoot issues and escalate appropriately

•  Maintain a tidy working environment

• Adhere to health and safety laws and policies

Working conditions

Sorting and grading is a manual task that can happen with or without mechanical assistance. The process is similar, whether the conveyor is fixed in place or mobile. Workers usually stand close to the conveyor to perform the work required.

Incorrect, inadequate, or poorly maintained guarding on the conveyor can cause unnecessary exposure to items rotating at speed, and the risk of worker entrapment or entanglement.
Unguarded pinch points mean fingers, hands and clothing can get caught and pulled into the conveyor. Injuries can be as minor as a blister or as severe as amputation or death.

There are other risks too. Some conveyor widths cause workers to bend forward, reach and twist their shoulders for significant amounts of time, without a break.

Repetitive movement of the wrists can cause muscle, tendon, and nerve damage. Standing, bending, and moving awkwardly and repetitively can cause back, shoulder and neck pain and problems.

In addition, sorting and grading on conveyors presents a risk of noise-induced hearing loss.

Mobile conveyors have extra risks, including runovers when conveyors are being moved from one place to another. If they are not properly secured in place, the conveyor could roll or move during sorting and grading and injure workers.

As a worker, you must:

• take care of your own health and safety as well as the health and safety of others

• cooperate with management to meet health and safety requirements and reduce risks.

 

Tools and technologies

An egg sorter is a machine that has been designed and manufactured to be able to sort and grade eggs. Egg sorting can also be done by hand.

Eggs are typically loaded onto a conveyor belt. The eggs are then conveyed to a section that is able to detect cracks, blood, mildew, whether or not the egg is stale, and other such issues that might deem the egg as undesirable. The eggs that are graded as healthy to consume are then conveyed to another section where the machine sorts them according to weight and size. Once the eggs are grouped correctly they are all placed in the same position with their point down for easy packaging. Once the eggs have been packaged they will be ready to be shipped off and be sold.

Education and training/entrance requirements

You usually need livestock farming experience to work as a Egg Sorter and Counter. While formal qualifications aren't essential, a Vocational Education and Training (VET) course in Poultry Production may be useful.

 

 

 

 

 

Feed mill managers are responsible for overseeing the production, quality, costs and safety of the mill which produces feed for animals. This experienced stockperson oversees milling activities – including storage and maintenance of materials, equipment, and vehicles, and supervises the activities and training of other feed mill staff.

 

ANZSCO ID: 831116 (General Mill Hand)

Alternative names: Stockfeed Miller Supervisor, Feedmill Manager, Feedmill Supervisor, Mill Manager, Production Manager - Stockfeed, Feedmill Operator,

Specialisations: Depending on the Livestock that needs feeding
   
Knowledge, skills and attributes

• Time management - ability to work autonomously and use initiative

• Flexibility and ability to be on call

• Continuous improvement focus

• Leadership and management

• A reliable, committed, self-motivated team player

• Computer literate

• Excellent communication and organisational skills

• Budget and financial management

• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines

• Experience in on-site safety, quality and production management

• Forklift licence

 

(Source: Australian Pork)

 

Duties and Tasks

• Review production records

• Schedule feed production for customers

• Keep inventory of feed ingredients and order as needed - liaise with staff relating to inventory

• Test and review feed/grain quality

• Schedule employee shifts and keep track of employee time

• Handle customer questions and complaints

• Evaluate operating procedures

• Set quality assurance standards

• Prepare and monitor monthly, quarterly and yearly budgets - budget management and cost reporting

• Stay up to date on new technology and ways to make process improvements

• Train new employees and provide development opportunities

• Ensure all employees are trained on safety and continue to stay up to date

• Maintain filling equipment and other equipment needed to perform duties such as loaders, scales - scheduling of maintenance and other routine activities

• Liaise with vets and nutritionists about feed composition, and ensure it is produced in accordance with feed quality standards

 

Working conditions

The job sites demand strict adherence to bio-security and safety protocols. No jewellery may be worn on the job site except for medical ID jewellery.

The ability to work in dirty or dusty environments although most of the time within an office environment.

You must be willing to adhere to strict bio-security requirements, which include not keeping live birds, chickens or pigs at home. You must be willing to avoid contact with any avian species (birds, chickens, ducks, turkeys, etc.) as they can be a biosecurity risk.

Tools and technologies

Possess basic computer skills to use the suite of Microsoft programs.

Education and training/entrance requirements

A bachelor’s degree in agriculture, animal science, poultry science or feed mill management. Proven management experience in a production environment and experience in the stockfeed industry/milling environment

Employment Opportunities

Local cooperatives, independently owned feed mills, animal nutrition companies, pet food companies, feed lots and integrated poultry companies.

 

 

 

 

Critical Thinking Spot

Read through the following article from The Conversation 17 January 2024

Discuss with a partner:

a. your thoughts on AI and chickens

b. What will we learn about how chickens are 'grown' at the moment?

 

 

 

Related Jobs or Working with these Jobs

Biosecurity Officer	Livestock Farmer	Primary Products Inspector	Quality Assurance Inspector
Veterinarian

 

 

Materials sourced from

The Balance Careers [Poultry Farmer;  ]
University of Maine [Farmer Skill and Knowledge Checklist: Poultry; ]
The Institute for Agriculture & Horticulture [Egg Collector; ]
Retech Farming [Automatic Egg Collection Systems; ]
Jobs & Skills [Poultry Farm Workers; ]
Australian Pork [Feedmill Manager; ]
Denbow [8 Digital Technologies Poultry Producers; ]
Dept of Primary Industries [Egg Production Systems; ]
Agrifoods SA [Why egg sorter important poultry farmers; ]
AG Careers [Feed Mill Manager; ]
Reid Stockfeeds [Mill Manager; ]
DA Hall [Feedmill Operator; ]
Your Career [Poultry Farmer; Poultry Farm Worker; ]