Stocking schedule

The stocking density will decrease over time through mortality. This adds a complication to the information given here which is resolved as follows:

At the start of each of the periods specified, the floor area is calculated using the information given by the number of birds specified at the start, and the stocking density. This floor area is then regarded as constant until the end of the period, and the stocking density is calculated each day using this and the (decreasing) number of birds. At the start of the next period the floor area is recalculated, using the new stocking density and the number of birds at the start of the simulation. This floor area is then used until the end of the period, and so on.

For example, suppose, given the stocking densities above, that the number of birds at the start were specified as 12 000. Then at the start of the simulation the floor area would be calculated as 500 m². After a week the mortality may have been 5%, in which case there would now be 11 400 birds left, and the stocking density would be calculated as 11 400 / 500 = 22.8 birds/m². At the beginning of the fourth week, the floor area would be recalculated as 12 000/12 = 1 000 m², and this figure would be used to calculate stocking density until the end of the simulation.

This facility for using different stocking rates for successive periods is for systems of production using more than one house. It will not normally be relevant to broiler production where a single, initial, stocking density will suffice. Note that stocking density is recalculated when birds are cropped at several stages. Changes in stocking density due to cropping (thinning) do not have to be input.