Barn Spotlight: Suncrest Colony Farms

Location: Tourond, Man.

Sector: Broiler breeders

The farm: Suncrest is a Hutterite colony with a diverse agricultural operation. They’ve been raising broiler breeders since 2010 under the guidance of barn manager Ryan Kleinsasser.

The need: To get started in the broiler breeder sector, the colony bought an older farm. Fast-forward 10 years and the aged facility was approaching its best before date. What’s more, the producers needed room to expand. Thus, when they had the opportunity to move into a new location, they seized it. First, they started building a new pullet barn in the summer of 2020. Second, they got started on a layer barn. Both facilities were completed by November 2021. 

Manager Ryan Kleinsasser standing in front of the hopper, which the colony built themselves. They elevated the bottom table for cleaning purposes.

An egg conveyor connects a double-wide barn with a solid wall in between seperating two groups of 5,000 birds on each side.

They installed a Jansen hatchery egg packer with a farm grader. With only a handful in Manitoba, it’s something new.

They have a spiker pen in the back of the barn. Before they introduce the spikers to the flock they leave them in the pen for a few weeks.

The barn: The structures are made of concrete walls with a plastic finish, both on the inside and outside, making them easier to wash. Both facilities also include Roxell oval pan feeders. For their nest system, they went with a Jansen community nest – a centre nest with a side scratch. “It’s better all around,” says Kleinsasser of the nests, noting lower floor eggs. They also went with a Jansen egg packer and conveyer system that brings the eggs to a central location. For ventilation, they installed the Better Air inlet system and Better Air fans. While they’re currently running two flocks of 10,000, they built the facilities to accommodate future growth. For more, see the photos and descriptions to the right. 

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.