Barn Spotlight: Bertens Broiler Breeder Farms

Location: Brucefield, Ont.

Sector: Broiler breeders

The business
The Bertens family entered the broiler breeder business 13 years ago. Their main farm, run by spouses Paul and Henriette with their youngest son Sander, includes three broiler breeder barns. Their oldest son Martijn runs a dairy farm they bought three years ago. And their daughter Lisa runs a broiler breeder farm they purchased last year. 

Paul (left) and his youngest son Sander run the main farm with Paul’s wife Henriette.

Floor eggs are down significantly since the Bertens family installed the new system

The producers feel the birds like the natural look and feel of the wood.

The barn now includes hardwood slats with galvanized slat supports.

The idea
While Paul and Henriette moved to Canada from Holland 13 years ago, they still keep in touch with producers from Europe. In recent years, they started hearing good things about pairing Van Gent nests, which are made from film faced high quality plywood, with hardwood slats and galvanized slat supports. “They all really liked those nests and had good results,” Paul says.

The change
Working with Glass-Pac, they decided to try the Van Gent nests with wooden slats at their main farm. They installed them this year in a barn they built five years ago that originally included a plastic-based system. Paul quickly noticed a difference. “Out of nest eggs are less than a quarter per cent now,” he says. With the layout being nearly identical to other systems, Paul attributes this success to the birds liking the look and feel of the new system. “It’s firm. It’s natural. It’s warm. They really like it.” 

Barn Spotlight highlights new and renovated barns and hatcheries. Do you know of a good candidate to be featured? Let us know at poultry@annexweb.com.