Farm Worker

Work description

Crops: Chickens, Corn, Eggs, Grains, Manure, Poultry Perform hands-on poultry production, flock care, egg handling, sanitation, biosecurity, equipment operation, preventative maintenance, and poultry-house preparation activities associated with a commercial egg-producing operation. Workers must be capable of recognizing common flock, equipment, egg-quality, feed, water, and environmental abnormalities and reporting or correcting problems according to established farm procedures. Work involves different stages of the poultry production cycle and requires workers to safely work around live poultry, automated poultry equipment, manure, dust, feathers, feed, chemicals, and agricultural machinery. Observe laying hens daily for signs of abnormal behavior, injury, illness, stress, dehydration, excessive mortality, feather loss, aggression, piling, decreased feed or water consumption, and other changes in normal flock condition. Identify and safely handle injured, weak, sick, dead, aggressive, or otherwise abnormal birds according to farm animal-welfare and mortality-management procedures. Monitor birds during different stages of the production cycle and recognize changes in behavior, feed and water consumption, egg production, egg quality, and environmental requirements as flocks mature. Walk poultry houses and inspect flock distribution, bird activity, nesting areas, feed systems, drinking systems, lighting, ventilation, cooling equipment, egg collection systems, manure systems, and other poultry-house equipment. Monitor and identify basic problems with automated poultry drinking systems, including leaking or obstructed drinkers, improper water flow, wet areas, and other conditions that could affect flock health or poultry-house conditions. Inspect automated feed delivery equipment, feed lines, hoppers, augers, motors, sensors, and related components for proper operation. Identify interruptions or abnormalities in feed delivery and notify supervision or assist with basic corrective action as directed. Observe poultry-house ventilation and environmental conditions and recognize obvious problems involving fans, air inlets, cooling systems, temperature, excessive dust, moisture, or inadequate airflow. Operate and monitor automated egg collection equipment and conveyor systems. Recognize jams, broken eggs, belt-tracking problems, accumulation of eggs, abnormal equipment movement, and other conditions that could damage eggs or interrupt production. Assist with minor maintenance, adjustment, cleaning, and repair of poultry and egg-handling equipment, including egg belts and conveyors, rollers, guides, bearings, motors, guards, sensors, feed-line components, drinker components, fans, and other farm equipment as directed. Safely shut down equipment when necessary and follow farm lockout/tagout and equipment-safety procedures before cleaning, adjustment, maintenance, or repair activities. Collect, move, sort, inspect, and handle eggs while minimizing cracks, contamination, breakage, and other product damage. Identify visibly cracked, leaking, excessively dirty, damaged, or otherwise unsuitable eggs and separate them according to established farm procedures. Monitor egg flow from poultry houses and assist in correcting conditions causing egg accumulation, breakage, contamination, or interruption of egg movement. Perform scheduled and production-cycle cleaning of poultry houses, egg collection areas, equipment, conveyors, farm work areas, and related