Riftlands Poultry Farm

27/01/2023

I had spent an hour in the bank with my dad, as he had to transfer some money. I couldn't resist myself & asked...
''Dad, why don't we activate your internet banking?''
''Why would I do that?'' He asked...
''Well, then you wont have to spend an hour here for things like transfer.
You can even do your shopping online. Everything will be so easy!''
I was so excited about initiating him into the world of Net banking.
He asked ''If I do that, I wont have to step out of the house?
''Yes, yes''! I said. I told him how even grocery can be delivered at door now and how amazon delivers everything!
His answer left me tongue-tied.
He said ''Since I entered this bank today, I have met four of my friends, I have chatted a while with the staff who know me very well by now.
You know I am alone...this is the company that I need. I like to get ready and come to the bank. I have enough time, it is the physical touch that I crave.
Two years back I got sick, The store owner from whom I buy fruits, came to see me and sat by my bedside and cried.
When your Mom fell down few days back while on her morning walk. Our local grocer saw her and immediately got his car to rush her home as he knows where I live.
Would I have that 'human' touch if everything became online?
Why would I want everything delivered to me and force me to interact with just my computer?
I like to know the person that I'm dealing with and not just the 'seller'. It creates bonds of Relationships.
Does Amazon deliver all this as well?'''
Technology isn't life..
Spend time with people .. Not with devices 👇

Shared: Author Unknown

Keep following: Riftlands Poultry Farm

27/01/2023

I was running payroll for a small business. Every month the company would barely make ends meet.

In fact, the company had to cut back on other expenses and miss debt payments.

This happens in most turnaround businesses. The loss of sales is painful.

So how do entrepreneurs create jobs? SALES.

Let me say it again for the people in the back. SALES.

Owners/founders need to produce sales to get a business started. This begins with identifying customer problems and creating solutions. It is hard work.

But once the ball gets rolling, employers need help with delivering solutions.

This is how jobs are created.

Owners will hire the best talent to help with work.

Now that seems simple but it’s not easy. Reinvesting in the business is the second part of the equation.

If the owner runs a great business with good profit, then they need to reinvest those profits. If done right, the business will need to hire more talent to fulfill customer demand. This is how Amazon went from 2 full-time employees to one million in less than 30 years.

Vijar.

09/01/2023

When ordering chicks or hatching eggs, chicken keepers often find themselves buying from hatcheries, but is it better to get chickens from a breeder? Chickens produced by big hatcheries are usually good layers but frequently

09/01/2023

08/01/2023

Turkeys Farming Nuggets.

I have had the previlage of growing up around farmers and also interacting with some of the best farmers in Kenya both in crops and animal husbandry. Growing up farm chores were a daily routine something I will always be glad I did. In doing so I interacted with animal medicine early in life, and my dad being a vet was so eager to teach the many why's a farmer has. There is a reason why u would feed a particular nutrient to get a particular outcome to animals, the same with crops I must submit.

The same analogy easily applies in poultry. In particular reference to turkies in this post, did you know number of eggs a turkey will lay is determined by how you brought up the poult? Yes in my experience raising poults, I have seen turkeys that lay 8 - 10 eggs per season.A well feed turkey lays 3 times a year and it should give 22- 32 eggs . The hutch ability of a good egg is attained just by what you feed the birds, the potency of it is from having a present mature active male around the hen mating every day through out a season.

A good hutching egg has it's qualities too. It's oval in shape, big in size, with a strong she'll, free from cracks, laid on dry surface, and is ofcoz fertilized!!!

When u breed a turkey make sure you don't mate siblings if you want your poults healthy . Feeding is the second answer to having good healthy turkies. A poult is a young one of a turkey Incase u didn't know.Poults should be kept in clean , warm , non windy housing away from wetness from day one to 3 months of age. Use a brooder for the best results, housing being the 3rd clue. Fourthly vaccinate and deworm your poult . Good feeds being the 5th clue, should be 60% rich in proteins, have some calcium for healthy bones structure formations, 20% starch , 20% vitamins...

A males presence during mating season is absolutely paramount. A good male is one that free of body ailment, well structured, not very heavy , should be a real c**ky guy, ensure he knows what to do. A good male can comfortably serve 3 hens in ratio of 1:3. Having several males fighting for a single hen may only end up in disaster as they fight real deadly wars and it's important that a hen gets it when she needs it ...mateing. several males around a single hen may end up with zero success in mating due to fighting. Ensure the male doesn't have very sharp mating nails to avoid injuring the hen. A good hen should give you 22-32 eggs per season, thrice a year.

A good producing turkey hen is very well structured. Long legs, well fed, not very old, good body structure, and is very naturing to poults. Cull and slaughter bad breeding stocks least they bring you loses in feeding and poor production .

When I look at a healthy bird, I see bright healthy feathers, bright red necks. Dark dull feathers, shaddy , skinny, manultrated, sickly birds are a reason I will keep off such a farm.

Now that is information that could save you brain damage from many why's? Why are my poults dieing? Why are my birds small in sizes etc. I consult and sell poults and turkeys ....call 0728381420 and enjoy your new year ...Atyne poultry .

07/01/2023

A hunter who doesn't hunt far from home will one day shoot his domestic animal.

05/01/2023

How to construct a poultry house:

Commercial chicken farming requires a high-level of expertise, understanding and commitment to be successful.

Whilst it’s important to emphasize the need for excellent flock management at all times, something that comes with experience and aptitude, adopting the correct housing techniques and equipment will set a firm foundation for success of your poultry venture.

The following is a guiding checklist for poultry house construction:

"A poultry house should provide the birds with a comfortable environment and protect them from the extremities of the prevailing weather (rain, wind and sunshine).

"It should have adequate space for the flock to be kept in the house. The ideal stocking density is:

1. Layers: one square metre for 6 birds.

2. Broilers: One square metre for 11 birds.

"It should be open-sided to allow natural ventilation with an east-west orientation to minimise the amount of sunlight entering the house directly. Its not good for sun rays to strike directly into the poultry house.

"It should be rectangular in shape and have a wall not higher than three feet on the longer side. The widith should be at least 7-9 metres, but for the length you are only limited by your land. Avoid building poultry houses in a square form.

"The wall can be made from stones, iron sheets, timber, silver boards or bricks

"The rest of the side of the wall should have a chicken wire mesh. The wire mesh on the sides of the house should be of a small gauge to prevent entry of wild birds, dogs and rodents. This normal chicken mesh is not long lasting.....within a few months it rusts and gets off the house. its better to use a plastic quoted mesh.

"The roof of the house should have a reflecting surface and pitched with overlaps to ensure that the house is comfortable and well ventilated. There should be enough gap between the birds and the roof to avoid heat stress. The pin of the house should be 8 metres from the ground, and the sides should be 5 metres.

"Concrete floors are the best finishing as they are easier to clean and disinfect. Do not put "nil" after putting concrete on the floor.

"There should be a foot-bath at the entrance of the house for those entering the poultry house to disinfect their foot wear. You know farm boys have a tendency of jumping the foot bath, but if it is wide enough they cannot jump it.

"To reduce the risk of rodents gaining entrance into the poultry house, clear all the vegetation in a radius of 3-5 metres around the pen.

"The feed store should also be separate from the house to reduce risk of attracting rodents.

"It should be constructed in isolated areas to minimise the risk of contamination.

"your poultry house plan must have a tank raised inside the poultry house. Exposing water to sunshine in bad, as it gets warm and birds may reject it, or may facilitate heat stress during the dry seasons.

"The house should be fenced to exclude stray animals and visitors.

"The doors should always be locked.

"On poultry farms, an all-in all-out system is the best management practice as it prevents the build up of disease causing organisms and disease outbreaks. Its always good to have one age group in each house, but not putting different ages in one house!

In case where farmers want to keep flocks of different ages, then each flock must be housed in its own.

Ventilation:

Ventilation is the circulation of fresh air through the flock house and exhaustion of stale air out of the flock units and its achieved by air passing from one side of the house and exhausting through the opposite side.

Ventilation of poultry houses serves several functions including:

1.Removing excess heat and moisture.

2.Providing oxygen while removing harmful gases.

3.Reducing dust hence improving the air quality.

You must always allow optimal ventilation to avoid chicks getting suffocated.

Keep following Dr Fami

05/01/2023

We are not jobless, we are .

Agriculture is a profession like any other but with imense opportunities.

Which will be our first farm to visit in 2023?

Ukulima ni fun. 👌


Akothee

03/01/2023

Broilers not harmful to your health, experts say

01/01/2023

Using Manure As Fertiliser

Livestock manure is a popular form of fertiliser, particularly when budgets do not allow for commercial fertiliser. Manure can be an effective supplementary organic fertiliser if handled and used correctly. It can, however, be very harmful if applied in excessive quantities.

Note that all manures are not equal. The mineral nutrient content of manure obtained from different animals differs widely in terms of both concentration and ratios between nutrient elements. Even manure obtained from the same type of livestock can differ drastically in nutrient content.

Chicken manure, for example, generally has much higher concentrations of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) than ordinary cattle kraal manure. It’s more than two times higher in N, three times higher in P, and more than one-and-a-half times higher than K. Caution should therefore be exercised when applying it.

Due to the low nutrient element concentrations of manure, it is typically applied in tons per hectare, rather than hundreds of kilograms per hectare, as in the case of chemical fertiliser.

10tonnes of cattle kraal manure will, on average, contain as much N, P and K as 300kg LAN (28% N), 300kg single super phosphate (8,3% P) and 200kg potassium chloride (50% K). Applications would then average between 5t/ha and 10t/ ha kraal manure for ordinary annual crops and between 20t/ha and 40t/ha for high-value vegetable and orchard crops, which have high nutrient requirements.

The recommended annual application of chicken manure is 2t/ ha.

01/01/2023

31/12/2022

When you rear chicken you don't have to wait for festivities to enjoy a meal of chicken.
Everyday will always be a festival.You get fresh eggs daily and eat the juicest most scrumptious chicken.
For me I rear chicken(mostly pure kienyeji) for my own consumption and not for business so I get to eat the best.For every chicken I slaughter I make sure 10 chicks are hatched in the process.It's like when you cut 1 tree you plant 3.
I also buy 5 or 10 broilers from farmers at 5 weeks and feed them on growers mash and sukuma wiki till they are 3 months old.If done this way their meat become more leaner.
I practise what I preach.If I preach about synchronisation of brooding hens to get more chicks I make sure I do it myself.If I preach about giving hot pepper to chicken for appetite boosting,egg production,deworming and stress removal I make sure that I experiment it on my own chicken.
If I preach about giving plain yoghurt to chicken for gut health I make sure that I do it to my own chicken.I preach water and drink water.
I have interacted with both large scale and small scale farmers and such solutions I suggest here are tailor made for small scale farmers(1 to 100 chickens in this case).
A farmer should eat the best.Even as you do business always reward yourself with the best.Life is for the living.You can choose to slaughter a hen or a c**k if you like.You can choose to slaughter a turkey or a goose or a guinea fowl if you like provided you eat the best.Stop eating chickens only when they are sick or dead.
If you have a space in your compound please keep chickens.Grow your own food that you are sure of.Poultry business can be started off little by little.Start with 5,start with 10,start with 20 or whatever number you want but atleast keep chicken.Why should you buy chicken expensively this festive season while you have a compound idling away?

Have yourself a Merry Christmas folks.

30/12/2022

Some guidelines for the first seven (7) days of brooding in poultry farm:

1. Early placement of chicks in the house, access to fresh clean water and feed after arrival is important .

The time of transport from the hatchery to the farm should be as quick as possible. There is no need for further delay once you have collected your birds from the hatchery/sales point.

On placement, provide an hour of clean water mixed with glucose or Vitastress, and wait to give feed until the one hour period of water is done. This helps to avoid constipation issues in chicks!

Once again, make sure good feed and fresh clean drinking water is readily available and easily accessible to reduce time for searching for feed and water by the newly arrived chicks. Please note that putting water/drinkers near pots or any other heat source is not good, when water is hot birds do not drink it.

Four hours after placement, randomly pick some of the chicks and check the crop fill .The target crop fill should be 85%. After 12hrs , it should be above 95%, and after 24hrs, the target crop fill should be above 98 to 100%.

2. Use of digestible raw materials in making feed for the chicks is necessary as their digestive system is not mature or always use chicks feed from reputable commercial feed manufacturer.

Don't try to produce your own feed if you are not an expertise in that field, instead purchase good an approved feed supplier within your locality to avoid stories that touch.

3. Place highly hygienic materials that have been adequately sanitized and disinfected in the brooding house. You should know that the chicks' immune response is not fully developed any health compromise might be more devastating for young chicks compared to older ones.

Biosecurity measures like foot baths, disinfection of premises and disinfection of equipment should be done using a struat and trusted disinfectant.

Dont joke with biosecurity. If you miss it, then you miss out. Restrict access to your day old chicks, have some workers dedicated to look after the brooder but not allowing everyone to enter, and these workers should not be working anywhere else! all equipment should have been washed, disinfected and sanitised with appropriate disinfectants.

A designated Uniform/clothings for the purpose of caring for your birds should be worn by the person/stockman caring for the birds.

If not, once immunity of your birds is compromised be ready to start counting your losses from the onset.

4 . Provide breed specific diet of high quality as this will enable the chicks to consume the amount needed for adequate growth .For broilers, you should give broiler feed. Which has both starter and finisher.

5 . Avoid overcrowding as this leads to competition for feed and water And causes pecking in chicks. Moreover, this will lead ultimately to a high number of lighter birds that will end up being at a disadvantaged when it is time for scrambling for feed in the midst of other heavier birds in the flock.

These lighter birds that you created in the brooder are the same birds you will see in your poultry house being chased around, and hiding in laying boxes and perches. Over crowding leads to poor growth and low production percentage when birds grow!

6. Ventilation: Much as we advise that you keep the brooder sealed off from draught, we do not mean that you deny the birds air exchange. Now, do not just seal off everywhere! Leave enough breathing space in the brooder!

Do not leave ammonia to build up in the house, open up during day for the ammonia and dust to get out.

Note:

Try to achieve good uniformity. i.e birds falling within similar average body weight. In layers, lighter and heavier birds are difficult to design feed programme for.

You can seperate them and grow each group together to allow light birds gain weight faster and catch before laying begins.This will enable a large percentage of the whole flock to attain peak production at the same time.

Remember, the main aim is to maximize profit in poultry by stopping disease challenges, reduced mortality, reduced antibiotics expenses and veterinary bills, and keeping them healthy and productive.

By~Dr Fami

30/12/2022

Feeding recommendation for the Kenbro from Kenchic is as follows:

Kenbro Meat Production (3-Phase)

High quality feed that is enhanced to give the kienyeji meat bird a natural pigmentation and a high carcass lean meat quality

1) Fugo Kienyeji Chick Mash

Day 0- Week 2, (455-500gms/Chick)

2) Fugo Kienyeji Grower Mash

Week 3-4, (1115-1170gms/Chick)

3) Fugo Kienyeji Finisher Mash

Week 5 - Week of Slaughter

Fast maturing (60 days):

5,030gms/bird (Target 2.25Kgs Live weight)

Slow maturing (60 days):

5,330gms/bird (Target 2.0 Kgs Live weight)

Kenbro Egg Production (3-Phase)

High quality feeds that enables early and sustained peak for quality eggs with yellow yolks

1) Fugo Kienyeji Chick Mash

Day 0- Week 2, (455-500gms/Chick)

2) Fugo Kienyeji Grower Mash

Week 3-24 (Point of Lay-10%)

(8,545-9,500gms/bird)

3) Fugo Kienyeji Layers Mash

During Kienyeji egg production

120-140gms/bird/Day

Kenbro Sustaining Diet (1-Phase)

1) Fugo Kienyeji Econ-Mash

-A well-balanced feed for all stages and production systems of a Kienyeji bird

-Targets non-commercial farmers who rear Kienyeji birds for subsistence.
~From Kenchic

29/12/2022

14/12/2022

*CONSTRUCTION OF THE POULTRY HOUSE*

Commercial chicken farming requires a high-level of expertise, understanding and commitment to be successful.

Whilst it’s important to emphasize the need for excellent flock management at all times, something that comes with experience and aptitude, adopting the correct housing techniques and equipment will set a firm foundation for success of your poultry venture.

The following is a guiding checklist for poultry house construction;

√✓A poultry house should provide the birds with a comfortable environment and protect them from the extremities of the prevailing weather (rain, wind and sunshine).

√✓It should have adequate space for the flock to be kept in the house. The ideal stocking density is:
- Layers: one square metre for 6 birds.
- Broilers: One square metre for 11 birds.

✓It should be open-sided to allow natural ventilation with an east-west orientation to minimise the amount of sunlight entering the house directly. Its not good for sun rays to strike directly into the poultry house.

✓It should be rectangular in shape and have a wall not higher than three feet on the longer side. The widith should be at least 7-9 metres, but for the length you are only limited by your land. Avoid building poultry houses in a square form.

✓This wall can be made from stones, iron sheets, timber, silver boards or bricks

✓The rest of the side of the wall should have a chicken wire mesh. The wire mesh on the sides of the house should be of a small gauge to prevent entry of wild birds, dogs and rodents. This normal chicken mesh is not long lasting.....within a few months it rusts and gets off the house. its better to use a plastic quoted mesh.

✓The roof of the house should have a reflecting surface and pitched with overlaps to ensure that the house is comfortable and well ventilated. There should be enough gap between the birds and the roof to avoid heat stress. The pin of the house should be 8 metres from the ground.