Poultry farming

21/03/2023

Poultry World discusses points that should constantly be adhered to and monitored, in order to produce the best quality day-old chicks from your hatchery. Poultry production, being a series of specialist entities, requires that each, in turn, is carried out correctly, in order to achieve the ultimate goal, which is to produce a chicken of the best quality in the least time and under the optimal environmental conditions that will allow the chick to grow stress-free, and perform to its maximum genetic potential. In order to achieve this, a series of events need to be strictly adhered to by all the relevant links in this production chain.

21/03/2023

Food and Water for Chicks
Make sure your chicks have clean drinking water in a container that they can’t fall in and drown.

Dip their beaks in the water when you first unpack them from the shipping box to teach them how to drink. Normally the mother hen would teach them this, but you’ll need to fill in. Be careful to dip just the tip of their beak into the water.

If you hatched your chicks in an incubator, you may wait until the day after they hatch to teach them to drink. They may learn on their own!

For the first day, give them water with probiotics only.
Too much sugar or electrolytes can cause ‘pasty butt. ‘
Don’t use honey in place of sugar, it can have a type of botulism that can kill baby animals.
Provide chick starter crumbles for your little peeps and watch to see if they eat.
If your chicks were vaccinated for coccidiosis, you should give them non-medicated feed.
If they aren’t showing any interest in their food, try clipping up some tiny pieces of lettuce on top of the crumbles.
For other types of baby poultry, check to see if starter crumbles contain enough protein.
Provide chick grit to help aid their digestion. I use chick grit with probiotics.

04/02/2023

06/08/2022

The Ethiopian indigenous chickens are none descriptive breeds closely related to the Jungle fowl and vary in color, comb type, body conformation and weight and may or may not possess shank feather. Broodiness (maternal instinct) is pronounced
They are characterized by slow growth, late maturity and low production performance. The mean annual egg production of indigenous chickens is estimated at 60 small egg with thick shell and deep yellow yolk color (Yami and Dessie,1997). Egg laying period and number of eggs laid per period areto some extent higher in urban than in rural areas (CACC, 2003).The productivity of local scavenging hens is low, not only because of low egg production potential, but also due to high chick mortality. About 40-60% of the chicks hatched dies during the first 8weeks of age mainly due to disease and predator attack. It is estimated that, under scavenging conditions, the reproductive cycle consists of 20 days laying phase, 21 day incubation phase and finally a 56days brooding phase that the number of clutches size per hen per year is probably 2-3. Assuming 3 clutches per hen per year, the henwould have to stay for about 168 days out of production everyyear, entirely engaged in brooding activities The developments of innovative ideas for improving real poultry production require complete understanding of the system and its operators. Furthermore, research directions and strategies should be geared to addressing farmer real problems and constraints so as to help them expand and become self-sufficient .Hence important element is in the sustainable development of community is the active involvements of the community members in any development activities, which should start with their participation in identifying their own problem and constraints and deciding on the best alternatives and most appropriate strategies to meet such needs. There is, therefore, present study was designed to identify residents problems and constraints emending the developments of their community and to list the possible opportunities and

06/08/2022

Poultry refers to all domestic birds, kept for production of meat and eggs for human consumption such as chicken ,turkey, ducks, geese, quails, ostrich, and guinea fowl (Kekeocha,1984). The total Ethiopian poultry population is estimated to be56.5 million of which 99%is made up of indigenous chickens(ILCA, 1993). Majority of the national chicken population 41.7%comprises of chickens 0-8weeks of ages, characterized by high mortality of about 40-60%. The laying flock seems to be dominated by old age and surplus breeding males. About 30.9%of the total national chicken population is hens of which about16% are none layers. The four regional states (Oromia, Amhara ,SNNP, and Tigray) collectively accounts for about 96% of the total national poultry population. Chicken rearing is not common in lowland of Ethiopia i.e. Somali, Gambella, Afar, and Benishangul-Gumuz regional states which collectively own

06/08/2022

Survey on rural chicken production system was conducted in three peasant associations of Haromaya Woreda of Oromia regional state to generate information on the problems and constraints emending the developments of their community with particular emphasis on poultry production and to list the possible opportunities and strategies that could solve these problems. A total of 120 households were used for the survey work. Finally, all the data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics. About 77.5% of all the respondents share family dwellings with poultry, attributed to the small flock size ,low priority given to chicken and relatively high cost of poultry house construction. The results obtained clearly showed that poultry diseases are widely spread in the Worada and farmers pointed out that, Newcastle Disease, fowl cholera; respiratory diseases and predators are responsible for the major losses of birds in the study sites. Almost all the respondents reported poultry and poultry product market price fluctuation attributed to limitation in land holding, disease occurrence and low purchasing power of the consumers. About 100% of the respondents reported to keep different classes of chicken together, the practice of which facilitates transmission of diseases. In summary the results of this study tends to indicate that production performance of indigenous chicken is low

05/03/2022

14/11/2021

Different Poultry Species and Breeds
All species of poultry are used by rural smallholders throughout the world. The most important species in the tropics are: chickens, guinea fowl, ducks (including Muscovy ducks), pigeons, turkeys and geese. Local strains are used, but most species are not indigenous. The guinea fowl (Numididae) originated in West Africa; the Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata) in South America; pigeons (Columba livea) in Europe; turkeys (Meleagrididae) in Latin America; pheasants (Phasianidae) in Asia; the common duck (Anas) in Europe; and geese (Anser) in Asia.
Flock composition is determined by the objectives of the poultry enterprise (see Chapter 1). In Nigeria for example, the preference is for the smooth-feathered, multicoloured native chickens or Muscovy ducks. Multicoloured feathers serve as camouflage for scavenging birds against predators, including birds of prey, which can more easily see solid colours (especially white). Foundation stock is usually obtained from the market as grower pullets and young c**kerels. A hen to c**k ratio of about 5:1 is common. Both sexes are retained for 150 to 300 days, for the purposes of culling, selling, home consumption and gifts, most of which require adult birds.
In the last 50 years, there has been a great advance in the development of hybrid breeds for intensive commercial poultry production. This trend is most noticeable in chickens, turkeys and ducks. The new hybrids (those of chickens in particular) are widely distributed and are present in every country in the tropics, even in the most remote villages. The hybrids have been carefully selected and specialised solely for the production of either meat or eggs. These end-product-specialised hybrid strains are unsuitable for breeding purposes, especially for mixing with local village scavenger stock, as they have very low mothering ability and broodiness.
For the smallholder, keeping hybrids means considerable changes are required in management. These changes are expensive for the following reasons:
All replacement day-old chicks must be purchased.
Hatchery chicks require artificial brooding and special starting feed.
Hybrids require higher quality balanced feed for optimum meat and egg production.
Hybrids require more careful veterinary hygiene and disease management.
Egg-laying hybrid hens require supplementary artificial light (a steadily increasing day-length up to 17 hours of total light per day) for optimum (profitable) egg production.
The meat and eggs from intensively raised hybrid stock are considered by many traditional consumers to have less flavour, and the meat to have too soft a texture. Consumers will thus often pay a higher price for village-produced poultry meat and eggs. Thus for rural family poultry keepers, it is more appropriate to maintain and improve local birds to meet this demand.
Chickens
Chickens originated in Southeast Asia and were introduced to the rest of the world by sailors and traders. Nowadays, indigenous village chickens are the result of centuries of cross-breeding with exotic breeds and random breeding within the flock. As a result, it is not possible to standardize the characteristics and productive performance of indigenous chickens.
There is no comprehensive list of the breeds and varieties of chickens used by rural smallholders, but there is considerable information on some indigenous populations from various regions. Most of this is based on feather colour and other easily measured body features (genetic traits), but more detailed data are becoming available. Examples of local chickens from different parts of the tropics are given in Tables 2.1 to 2.3 below. These evaluations were usually carried out under intensive management conditions in research stations, as the objective was to evaluate the local birds’ productivity. More recently, data on the performance of local chickens under extensive management have become available, which makes it possible to compare performance under extensive and intensive systems
Performance of local breeds in South Asia (intensively housed)
Traits
Desi
Naked Neck
Aseel
Kadak-anath
Black Bengal
12 wk live wt (g)
544
629
640
NA
433
Age at 1st egg (d)
208
NA
219
NA
200
Eggs/hen/year
116
104
100
80
NA
Egg wt (g)
46
45
51
39
49
Fertility (%)
81
80
55
90
86
Hatchability (%)
55
61
45
61
68
Source: Acharya and Kumar, 1984. Desi means “local” (as in Bangladeshi)
Characteristics such as adult body weight and egg weight vary considerably among indigenous chicken populations, although reproductive traits, such as the number of laying seasons per year, the number of eggs per clutch and hatchability are more consistent. Desi hens in Bangladesh range from 190 to 200 days of age at first egg (an easy measure of age-at-sexual-maturity), and they lay 10 to 15 eggs per season in 3 to 4 clutches (3 to 4 times) per year, with a hatchability of 84 to 87 percent (percent of eggs set) (Haque, 1999).
Local chicken breeds of Ethiopia
Traits
Tukur
Melata
Kei
Gebsima
Netch
24 wk body wt (g)
960
1000
940
950
1180
Age at 1st egg (d)
173
204
166
230
217
Eggs/bird.yr
64
82
54
58
64
Egg wt (g)
44
49
45
44
47
Fertility (%)
56
60
57
53
56
Hatchability (%)
42
42
44
39
39
Source: Shanawany & Banerjee, 1991 as cited in Forssido, 1986; Australian Agricultural Consultancy and Management Company, 1984; Beker and Banerjee, 1990.
Indigenous village birds in Ethiopia attain sexual maturity at an average age of seven months (214 days). The hen lays about 36 eggs per year in three clutches of 12 to 13 eggs in about 16 days. If the hen incubates her eggs for three weeks and then rears the chicks for twelve weeks, then each reproductive cycle lasts for 17 weeks. Three cycles then make one year. These are very efficient, productive and essential traits for survival.
Guinea fowl
Guinea fowl are native to West Africa but are now found in many parts of the tropics, and are kept in large numbers under intensive systems in France, Italy, the former Soviet Union and Hungary. In India, guinea fowl are raised in parts of the Punjab (Shingari et al., 1994), Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Madhya Pradesh, usually in flocks of a few hundred birds. Guinea fowl are seasonal breeders, laying eggs only during the rainy season, under free-range conditions. They are very timid, roosting in trees at night, and although great walkers, they fly very little.
Guinea fowl thrive in both cool and hot conditions, and their potential to increase meat and particularly egg production in developing countries deserves better recognition. The first egg is normally laid at about 18 weeks of age, and unlike many indigenous birds (which produce a single clutch a year), guinea hens lay continuously until adverse weather sets in. In West Africa, laying is largely confined to the rainy season. Guinea hens under free-range conditions can lay up to 60 eggs per season, while well-managed birds under intensive management can lay up to 200 eggs per year. The guinea hen “goes broody” (sits on eggs in the nest) after laying, but this can be overcome by removing most of the eggs. A clutch of 15 to 20 eggs is common, and the incubation period for guinea fowl is 27 days. Domesticated guinea fowl under extensive or semi-intensive management in Nigeria were reported to lay 60 to 100 eggs with a fertility rate of 40 to 60 percent.

14/11/2021

Free-Range Extensive Systems
In Africa, Asia and Latin America, 80 percent of farmers keep poultry in the first two extensive systems. Under free-range conditions, the birds are not confined and can scavenge for food over a wide area. Rudimentary shelters may be provided, and these may or may not be used. The birds may roost outside, usually in trees, and nest in the bush. The flock contains birds of different species and varying ages.
Backyard Extensive Systems
Poultry are housed at night but allowed free-range during the day. They are usually fed a handful of grain in the morning and evening to supplement scavenging.
Semi-Intensive Systems
These are a combination of the extensive and intensive systems where birds are confined to a certain area with access to shelter. They are commonly found in urban and peri-urban as well as rural situations. In the “run” system, the birds are confined in an enclosed area outside during the day and housed at night. Feed and water are available in the house to avoid wastage by rain, wind and wild animals.
In the European system of free-range poultry keeping, there are two other types of housing. The first of these is the “ark” system, where the poultry are confined overnight (for security against predators) in a building mounted on two rails or skids (usually wooden), which enable it to be moved from place to place with draught power. A typical size is 2 × 2.5 m to hold about 40 birds.
The second type of housing is the “fold” unit, with a space allowance (stock density) for adult birds of typically 3 to 4 birds per square metre (birds/m2), both inside and (at least this) outside. The fold unit is usually small enough to be moved by one person. Neither of these two systems is commonly found in developing countries.
Intensive Systems
These systems are used by medium to large-scale commercial enterprises, and are also used at the household level. Birds are fully confined either in houses or cages. Capital outlay is higher and the birds are totally dependent on their owners for all their requirements; production however is higher. There are three types of intensive systems:
Deep litter system: birds are fully confined (with floor space allowance of 3 to 4 birds/m2 within a house, but can move around freely. The floor is covered with a deep litter (a 5 to 10 cm deep layer) of grain husks (maize or rice), straw, wood shavings or a similarly absorbent (but non-toxic) material. The fully enclosed system protects the birds from thieves and predators and is suitable for specially selected commercial breeds of egg or meat-producing poultry (layers, breeder flocks and broilers).
Slatted floor system: wire or wooden slatted floors are used instead of deep litter, which allow stocking rates to be increased to five birds/m2 of floor space. Birds have reduced contact with faeces and are allowed some freedom of movement.
Battery cage system: this is usually used for laying birds, which are kept throughout their productive life in cages. There is a high initial capital investment, and the system is mostly confined to large-scale commercial egg layer operations.
Intensive systems of rearing indigenous chickens commercially is uncommon, a notable rare exception being in Malaysia, where the industry developed in response to the heavy demand for indigenous chickens in urban areas (Supramaniam, 1988). However, this accounts for only two in every 100 000 (0.002 percent) of that country’s indigenous chicken.

14/11/2021

A study on income generation in transmigrant farming systems in East Kalimantan, Indonesia (see Table 1.2), showed that family poultry accounted for about 53 percent of the total income, and was used for food, school fees and unexpected expenses such as medicines (Ramm et al., 1984).

Flock composition is heavily biased towards chickens in Africa and South Asia, with more ducks in East Asia and South America. Flock size ranges from 5 - 100 in Africa, 10 - 30 in South America and 5 - 20 in Asia. Flock size is related to the poultry farming objectives of:

home consumption only;

home consumption and cultural reasons;

income and home consumption; and

income only.

(See Table 1.3.)

In Bangladesh (Jensen, 1999), the average production rate per local hen of 50 eggs/year was regarded by some as low productivity. However, if it is considered that 50 eggs per hen per year represents four hatches from four clutches of eggs laid, incubated and hatched by the mother hen, and the outcome is 30 saleable chicken reared per year (assuming no eggs sold or eaten, 80 percent hatchability and 25 percent rearing mortality), then it is a remarkably high productivity.

PRODUCTION SYSTEMS

Family poultry are kept under a wide range of conditions, which can be classified into one of four broad production systems (Bessei, 1987):

free-range extensive;

backyard extensive;

semi-intensive; and

intensive.

14/11/2021

Family poultry is defined as small-scale poultry keeping by households using family labour and, wherever possible, locally available feed resources. The poultry may range freely in the household compound and find much of their own food, getting supplementary amounts from the householder. Participants at a 1989 workshop in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, defined rural poultry as a flock of less than 100 birds, of unimproved or improved breed, raised in either extensive or intensive farming systems. Labour is not salaried, but drawn from the family household (Sonaiya 1990b). Family poultry was additionally clarified as “small flocks managed by individual farm families in order to obtain food security, income and gainful employment for women and children” (Branckaert, as cited in Sonaiya, 1990c). Family poultry is quite distinct from medium to large-scale commercial poultry farming.

Family poultry is rarely the sole means of livelihood for the family but is one of a number of integrated and complementary farming activities contributing to the overall well-being of the household. Poultry provide a major income-generating activity from the sale of birds and eggs. Occasional consumption provides a valuable source of protein in the diet. Poultry also play an important socio-cultural role in many societies. Poultry keeping uses family labour, and women (who often own as well as look after the family flock) are major beneficiaries. Women often have an important role in the development of family poultry production as extension workers and in vaccination programmes.

For smallholder farmers in developing countries (especially in low income, food-deficient countries [LIFDC]), family poultry represents one of the few opportunities for saving, investment and security against risk. In some of these countries, family poultry accounts for approximately 90 percent of the total poultry production (Branckaert, 1999). In Bangladesh for example, family poultry represents more than 80 percent of the total poultry production, and 90 percent of the 18 million rural households keep poultry. Landless families in Bangladesh form 20 percent of the population (Fattah, 1999, citing the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 1998) and they keep between five and seven chickens per household. In LIFDC countries, family poultry-produced meat and eggs are estimated to contribute 20 to 30 percent of the total animal protein supply (Alam, 1997, and Branckaert, 1999), taking second place to milk products (38 percent), which are mostly imported. Similarly, in Nigeria, family poultry represents approximately 94 percent of total poultry keeping, and accounts for nearly four percent of the total estimated value of the livestock resources in the country. Family poultry represents 83 percent of the estimated 82 million adult chickens in Nigeria. In Ethiopia, rural poultry accounts for 99 percent of the national total production of poultry meat and eggs (Tadelle et al., 2000).

Poultry are the smallest livestock investment a village household can make. Yet the poverty-stricken farmer needs credit assistance even to manage this first investment step on the ladder out of poverty. Poultry keeping is traditionally the role of women in many developing countries. Female-headed households represent 20 to 30 percent of all rural households in Bangladesh (Saleque, 1999), and women are more disadvantaged in terms of options for income generation. In sub-Saharan Africa, 85 percent of all households keep poultry, with women owning 70 percent of the poultry. (Guéye, 1998 and Branckaert, 1999, citing World Poultry 14).

Income generation is the primary goal of family poultry keeping. Eggs can provide a regular, albeit small, income while the sale of live birds provides a more flexible source of cash as required. For example, in the Dominican Republic, family poultry contributes 13 percent of the income from animal production (Rauen et al., 1990). The importance of poultry to rural households is illustrated by the example below from the United Republic of Tanzania (see Table 1.1). Assuming an indigenous hen lays 30 eggs per year, of which 50 percent are consumed and the remainder have a hatchability of 80 percent, then each hen will produce 12 chicks per year. Assuming six survive to maturity (with 50 percent mortality), and assuming that three pullets and three are c**kerels, the output from one hen projected over five years would total 120 kg of meat and 195 (6.8 kg) eggs.