Poultry Operations Supervisor

Seven Sons Poultry Supervisor

Location

Seven Sons Farm - Roanoke, Indiana

Employment

Full-time; average 35-45 hours per week

Typical schedule

8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.; rotating weekend coverage

Team leadership

4-5 part-time poultry team members

Role scope

Pasture-based laying hens and broiler flocks

Role Purpose

Lead the safe, humane, compliant, and efficient operation of Seven Sons' pasture-based laying hen and broiler enterprises. The Poultry Supervisor translates production plans and approved poultry programs into reliable daily execution through hands-on flock care, team leadership, recordkeeping, equipment stewardship, and continuous improvement. The role is accountable for flock welfare and performance, egg quality and handling, poultry-specific biosecurity, outdoor access, and timely communication of risks and results.

Primary Accountabilities

1. Flock Health, Welfare, and Production

• Direct and participate in daily care for laying hens and broilers, ensuring consistent access to feed, clean water, appropriate shelter, ventilation, bedding, shade, and pasture.

• Observe each flock daily for health, behavior, injury, predator pressure, environmental stress, and signs of disease; take immediate practical action within training and promptly escalate concerns.

• Monitor and report lay rate, egg quality and breakage, flock weights and weight gain, mortality, feed use, water availability, and forage condition.

• Plan and execute flock placements, transfers, mobile-coop moves, and loadouts in coordination with the Farm Operations Director and required farm support.

• Minimize floor eggs, cracked eggs, feed waste, water interruptions, preventable mortality, and handling stress through proactive management.

2. Pasture, Outdoor Access, and Predator Management

• Execute the approved outdoor management plan, including fencing changes, paddock rotations, rest periods, outdoor water access, shade, and stocking-density requirements.

• Maintain meaningful outdoor conditions by monitoring vegetation and forage quality, identifying reseeding or mowing needs, protecting resting paddocks, and coordinating poultry pasture needs with the appropriate farm owner without assuming ownership of broader land-stewardship work.

• Maintain poultry netting and electric-fence effectiveness and oversee poultry guard-dog practices, including keeping dogs out of hen houses and following sanitation requirements before reentry when needed.

• Inspect for predator activity and pasture hazards; correct poultry-controlled issues and escalate infrastructure or land work outside the poultry team's scope.

3. Egg Collection, Handling, and Cold Chain

• Ensure eggs are collected, handled, transported, and placed into approved refrigeration promptly and no later than the timelines established in the current S.E. Plan.

• Maintain Daily Documentation of egg cooler temperatures.

• Maintain accurate egg-production, cooler, transport, and traceability records and support product holds, customer notification, or recall actions when directed by the approved response plan.

4. Biosecurity, Sanitation, and Regulatory Execution

• Uphold the current Salmonella Enteritidis (S.E.) Plan and poultry biosecurity procedures in daily operations; follow the S.E. Plan Administrator's direction and promptly report deviations or suspected disease.

• Monitor poultry-house access, ensure required visitor scheduling and logs, & maintain entry/exit footbaths.

• Oversee flock-turn cleaning and disinfection of houses, nesters, feeders, water lines, tools, and poultry-related equipment; inspect and sign off on readiness before fresh bedding or flock placement.

• Coordinate required pullet documentation and age-based environmental testing with the S.E. Plan Administrator, including sampling logistics, record submission, and immediate escalation of positive or questionable results.

• Maintain required poultry compliance records for the retention period in the governing plan and make them available for internal review or inspection.

• Maintain the approved rodent-trap, bait-station, and fly-monitoring program for each flock; complete weekly checks and record results in the required logs.

6. Feed, Water, Equipment, and Inventory

• Maintain reliable operation of poultry feeders, feed storage and delivery components, watering systems, nest boxes, solar systems, mobile housing, fencing, and poultry-assigned vehicles and tools.

• Monitor poultry feed inventory and consumption, communicate forecasts, and place or coordinate weekly orders through the approved purchasing and feed-supply process.

• Perform routine poultry-equipment checks, basic maintenance, and troubleshooting; document issues and coordinate specialized repair or general farm-infrastructure work with the accountable owner.

• Maintain orderly poultry work areas and appropriate inventories of sanitation supplies, testing materials, fencing components, and routine repair parts.

7. Team Leadership and Workforce Planning

• Lead, manage, and accept accountability for poultry work performed by the team; model safe, humane, respectful, and efficient work practices.

• Build and communicate weekly schedules and daily priorities based on flock needs, season, compliance tasks, planned transitions, and rotating weekend coverage.

• Assign work according to capability, provide clear training and feedback, verify completion, and develop team members' judgment and technical skill.

• Manage poultry-team performance in partnership with the Farm Operations Director, including recognition, coaching, documentation, hiring input, and corrective action when necessary.

• Ensure adequate coverage for daily animal care, emergencies, weekend duties, and occasional evening flock transitions.

8. Planning, Reporting, and Continuous Improvement

• Maintain complete, timely, and accurate poultry workflows, schedules, production metrics, compliance logs, equipment checks, and issue records in approved systems, including Google Sheets.

• Attend weekly Level 10 meetings and provide concise updates on flock performance, staffing, risks, corrective actions, upcoming transitions, and resource needs.

• Use production and compliance data to identify root causes, recommend improvements, standardize effective work, reduce waste, and strengthen reliability.

• Immediately notify the Farm Operations Director and the appropriate plan administrator of animal-welfare concerns, food-safety risks, suspected reportable disease, loss of feed or water, cold-chain failures, significant mortality, predator events, or other material disruptions.

Decision Authority and Working Relationships

May direct: Daily poultry-team assignments, routine flock moves and pasture rotations, poultry equipment checks, normal feed orders, sanitation work, record completion, and immediate low-risk corrective actions within approved plans and budget authority.

Must coordinate: Flock transport and loadouts; specialized repairs; broader land or infrastructure work; staffing actions; supplier changes; material spending; testing schedules; and operational changes affecting other farm processes.

Must escalate immediately: Suspected disease or positive testing; animal-welfare emergencies; material feed or water interruption; refrigeration failure; significant mortality; regulatory deviation; product-traceability concern; serious injury; or a condition outside training, policy, or authority.

Required Qualifications and Attributes

• Reliable, accountable, and able to lead through clear expectations, follow-up, and constructive feedback.

• Sound judgment, attention to detail, and a practical problem-solving approach in changing outdoor conditions.

• Ability to perform year-round physical work, lift 50 pounds or more, and complete repetitive tasks safely in varying weather.

• Basic mechanical aptitude and willingness to learn poultry equipment, electric fencing, sanitation systems, and preventive care.

• Ability to maintain accurate records and use Google Sheets for schedules, metrics, and workflows.

• Willingness to complete all required training and follow animal-welfare, food-safety, biosecurity, and company procedures.

• Availability for rotating weekend coverage and occasional evening work during flock transitions or emergencies.

Preferred Background

• Poultry, livestock, farming, landscaping, construction, equipment operation, or another outdoor production environment.

• Team leadership in agriculture, trades, manufacturing, logistics, or a similar hands-on operation.

• Experience with battery-powered tools, mobile equipment, water systems, electric fencing, animal handling, or regulated recordkeeping.