Barbados: Chickmont Expands Operations

With 50% of the local market and with plans to begin exporting to a regional market, Chickmont's success story is based on planned expansion, attention to detail and intelligent use of state-of-the-art equipment. – By Neil Corbin 

Chickmont Foods Limited, an integrated poultry complex in Christ Church, Barbados, West Indies, has undergone considerable expansion over the past seven years and more growth is expected. The company, which started in 1963, has expanded its operation from a small poultry processing plant to a large, multi-faceted poultry complex that includes broilers, layers, turkeys, a hatchery, a processing plant, a rendering plant and a pig breeder farm.

Today, Chickmont processes 3 to 3.5 million birds a year, which represents 50% of the total local market, with the finished product being sold to supermarkets, hotels, restaurants and fast food operations, as well as to the general public through four depots located strategically throughout the island. The hatchery, which is equipped with three Chick Master setters and hatchers and rendering plant were added to Chickmont operations last year. There is room in the hatchery for an additional setter and hatcher, which would allow Chickmont to hatch an extra 1.3 million chicks/year and expand into overseas markets. Plans for a broiler breeder farm that would supply 50% of the complex's hatching eggs are also in hand.

One of the more unusual and fascinating aspects of Chickmont's current operation is that eggs for the hatchery are flown in from the United States twice a week and the company's hatch rate averages 86%. Chickmont buys its eggs from CWT International in Gainesville and Wincorp International both in Georgia. The eggs are encapsulated in a plastic bag to protect them form moisture and dirt, then packed in cardboard boxes for transfer. Each carton holds 30 dozen (360) eggs and each week Chickmont requires about 220 cartons to hatch its 70,000 chick/week. At the US farm, each carton is shrink-wrapped onto a wooden pallet to restrict movement, then they are trucked to Miami airport for shipping by American Caribbean Limited. Neil Corbin, the hatchery management at Chickmont, has noticed that 'Breakage has nosedived since they started shrink-wrapping the cartons to the pallets.'

 
The eggs are trayed immediately after they arrive from the airport and information about the eggs, such as flock numbers, date laid and overall appearance is recorded.

  

 
The "Roll Master" buggies are easy to move, simplifying maintenance and proper sanitation.

   

The eggs, which arrive in Barbados on Tuesdays and Fridays, are trucked to the hatchery, trayed immediately, and information – such as folk number date laid, cleanliness, cracks and overall appearance - is recorded. Eggs are kept in a chill room until they are sent into the setters at 5.00 a.m. On Thursday and Mondays, "The Chick Master Roll Master machines were chosen for the hatchery because of ease of movement in and out of machines and also for the ability to see all eggs at any age at any time," says Corbin.

"Eggs are weighed prior to set time, at eight days, then again at 15 days to calculate eggs weight loss. Candling is also done on the 15th day in the setter to work out expected hatch and the 19th day in the hatcher to check air cell size so we can set the hatchers to give optimal results. Our lowest hatch to date has been 80.1% and our highest hatch 91.14%, which we hope to exceed," Corbin reports.
  
 

 
Chicks are vaccinated for Marek's and Infectious Bursal disease before they are sent to grow-out farms.

   

Chickmont has a rigorous sanitation programme. Employees must shower before entering the hatchery and clean overalls and boots must be worn at all times as well as face masks and hair nets. After chicks are vaccinated, overalls are changed again before clean up begins. All uniforms are laundered on the premises to prevent outside contamination.Traffic into and out of the setter and hatcher rooms is carefully monitored by the hatchery manager. During egg transfer from setters to hatchers, personnel working in clean rooms are not allowed into dirty rooms and vice versa, because bacteria from grow-out farms could be present in a dirty room during the clean up of chick trays. Traffic into the hatchery is also treated carefully. Vehicles must first drive through a wheel dip and delivery tracks are washed, foamed and sanitised after each trip to deliver chicks to the grow-out farms, they are fumigated outside the building by the truck driver. 

Chickmont also uses small amounts of disinfectant in its spray system. A mist of disinfected water is sprayed decontaminate air coming into the setter room. After each transfer, both setter and hatcher rooms are rinsed, foamed and sanitised and the floor is scraped dry with a rubber squeegee. Bacteriological test of the air and machinery, done twice a month by a leading chemical and laboratory research company have shown excellent results. "Visitors entering the hatchery have commented that they get the impression of being in a hospital rather than a hatchery," Corbin reveals.

"Our major concerns at the hatchery include sanitation and a strict preventive maintenance programme. Seminars and practicals are held for staff to assure efficiency and understanding of the programmes in place," says Corbin. "Sanitation is given priority to ensure biosecurity because our goal at the hatchery is to hatch and deliver excellent quality birds in every aspect of the word in order to maintain a high standard of operation throughout Chickmont. The Roll Master buggies are easy to move, so it is easy for us to assess the cleanliness of the machines. They fit well into our rigorous sanitation programme."

Corbin, who believes attention to details usually has its rewards, finds the vision™ data acquisition system a valuable tool in managing the hatchery. 
 

Chicks are carried by conveyor from the dirty room to the chick room to isolate messy shells for easy clean up.
 


Vehicles must drive through a wheel dip, one of only two on the island before returning to the hatchery after delivering chicks to the grow-out farms.

It allows Corbin to track a variety of factors – dry bulb temperature, wet bulb temperature, alarm system checks, exhaust fan checks and entire machine systems checks- and pick up any unusual activity or machine failure. Chickmont mainly uses the system to adjust dampers in the setters to avoid a 'heat on' condition to save money on electricity. The dampers are adjusted after every transfer to use the cool air in the room to cool off the machine but not to cause it to heat. The system also monitors high humidity levels, usually 75-90% on the island, which are kept in check by humidity sprays, The system collects data from the controls on all the setters and hatchers and bring the information to a single personal computer, which allows Corbin to monitor hatchery operations form one location and quickly locate and fix trouble spots. 

Neil Corbin, Hatchery Manager Chickmont Foods Limited, Barbados.
Extracted from Poultry International Magazine - January 1998 Vol 37, No 1

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