Seven 7 poultry rules for your farm
Do you have passion for poultry and really wish to stay long in the business? then . Obey these rules
* Rule (1)
Only order for birds you can conveniently take care of this is the most important rule of all
Instead of sticking 500 birds and the struggle to feed them or give them medication. Buy 200 .feed and give them good medication.
Trust me you’ll make more profit than keeping 500 and struggling to feed and give the medication. If this happens. You’ll battle with stunted growth recurrent morbidity or diseases outbreaks and high mortality
* rule (2)
Never borrow money to start poultry business unless you are an expert
Of course. There is no expert in poultry business in fact. We learn everyday every stock you take in will always teach you something different. However. Haven learn from all the different characteristics displayed by each stock. You get to know more and won’t be excited when challenges come. You’ll know how to handle them without much damage
* rule (3)
Be vigilant “.the little thing you don’t take as anything matters if you want to succeed in poultry. You must take it as a really business. Do you know what a business man does every morning when he gets to his store. He prays. Then open the store and go around to check if everything is in its place he take stock of what he met there and relate with his record yesterday before closing the store. Don’t just open your pen and start rushing to give your birds feed and water and rush out again. Check around.watch how they behave when you come in .Check what fell and what is no longer in it’s place.
Rule (4)
Never ignore warning ⚠️ signals
Yes I call them warning signals
1. bad smell
2. withdrawal from feed
3. Moodiness
4. Withdrawal from water 💧
There are numerous warning ⚠️ signals I can’t mention here .in fact they are so many.
A farmer must know how his birds behaves when they see him enter the in the morning. How they behave when he serve them feed.he should know the very active terrors and gentle lambs
If you keep these signals. You’ll easily spot when something is not right
Rule (5)
Never change feed indiscriminately
I know you do this .yes.you
When farmer’s talk about changing feed from this to this and that then this all in the name getting better results. I’m always scared for them.
Whether you are changing from a bad feed to a good one. You most be very careful.
Do you know every change in feed affects your bird negatively first before gradually bringing in the results you don’t desire? Most of the time ⏲ you may suffer withdrawal. Coccidiosis, feed wastage.
Imagine changing from mash to pellets indiscriminately. Do you know what that means? Have you studied the difference between mash and pelleted feed and the process of digestion?
They may contain the same ingredients but the formulation process varies so is the digestion process
Note :
I don’t mean changing from starter to grower or finisher.but changing from on commercial feed to another. e.g change from chicken/ alam to other brands.
Even whenever you need to change from starter to grower follow the rules 75% starter and 25% grower. 50% grower and 50% starter and finally 75% grower and 25% starter. at the end you change 100% to grower feed . You can follow the same rule whenever you need to change from one phase feed to other. This one works for feed of the same brand too.
Each company use their own unique ingredients to make their feeds although the may give the some nutritional content. Before using any feed for birds. Find out first about the feed and make sure you stick with it
Rule (6)
Never let your birds run dry of water
Have you heard of heat stress? If it has happened to your birds then you’ll understand what I’m saying.
Heat stress can wipe your entire flock. and it may leave your birds vulnerable to all kinds of infections as their immune system get weakened and may take more than 14 days to fully recover.
Your birds can survive 48 hours without feed but they can’t survive 7 hours without water. Instead of running out of water. Please. run out of feed
Rule (7)
If you can’t drink that water don’t give it to your birds
Some farmers takes chicken as they are just animals and nothing matters. Maybe they’re forgotten they are dealing with delicate live animals.
Waterborne diseases are some of the deadliest disease and most difficult to control. Imagine a tiny drop of harmful substance inside the drinking water. It’ll contaminate the whole water. If it was feed it may not be that bad please. If you can’t drink that water don’t give it to your birds. I’m not talking about medication water.
More guidelines on Chicken keeping.
If you’re thinking of starting Poultry Chicken Farming, here are seven important things you must know! 👇😍🐓🐔🥚🥚
1. Market research
It is very important to critically look at the demand that needs to be met. Is there high demand for table eggs, out grower chicken or broiler meat? Most start-up farmers go by what a friend or relative or neighbouring farmer is doing and hope to reap the benefits.
It is important that you take your time to talk to clients or potential customers and listen to them. Do a survey on restaurants, hotels, open air or takeaway eateries, supermarkets and delis and collect as much data as possible.
Ask questions about seasonal trends of products that you intend to bring into the market. Sometimes your assumptions may not match your survey results or outcome, so be ready to change your original plans and make new decisions.
2. Farm location
A poultry farm can be located on any dry land anywhere in the country as it is not dependent on any weather patterns. However, the ideal location would be outskirts of urban or peri-urban cities where there is ready market for both meat and eggs. Construct your farm where there is access to all weather road, away from riparian land that experience occasional flooding and landslide.
3. Housing system
The most common housing system in this country is deep litter, where the entire floor is covered by wood shaving and the other equipment like nest boxes, feeders and drinkers are centrally located. It is best suited for all types of birds and conforms to animal welfare requirement.
The free-range type is common for Sasso chicken with a bit of housing at night and scavenging in an open enclosure. In organic farming, the chickens are most of the time on free range scavenging and are on restricted commercial feed with no use of antibiotics and any additive.
4. Demand for building
The most ideal house in this region must be open sided rectangular shaped structure, with roof made of iron sheet or locally available waterproof material. The long side of the house must be on an East-west orientation to reduce direct sunlight on the chicks.
Side walls should be 2-3 feet high made of bricks, iron sheet or block and the rest covered by wire mesh and chicken netting at 6-7 feet high. The floor could be concreted or compacted with red soil.
5. Choice of breed and supplier
If you want to keep commercial layers, choose type of breed which is hardy with low mortality rate, fast growth rates, high peak production, long peak period and good persistence (like Bovans brown). If it is for both meat and egg production, look for a breed of high feed conversion efficiency, and of good tasty and tender quality meat (like dual purpose Sasso).
6. Optimal health protection
Threats to your flock will include but not limited to protozoal and parasitic diseases, bacteria, yeast and mold and viral infections. You will need good rearing conditions that include proper brooding, temperature control, ventilation and humidity as well as quality water and adequate feed supply all the time.
Biosecurity is pivotal to your success; the premises must be highly sanitised within and around the site with limited flock visits to only authorised personnel. Vaccination schedule must be followed to the letter and must be chosen based on efficacy and administered professionally.
7. Record keeping
Anything that cannot be counted cannot be measured. Most farmers ignore the value of good record keeping. Feed being the highest production cost in poultry production, means that it must be weighed to the level of grammes fed/bird/day, and weight sampling must be done on weekly basis to establish production efficiency.
