Course Overview
Introduction
Welcome to our course on poultry keeping. Poultry keeping is one of the most
popular forms of businesses among small-scale farmers. This is because poultry
requires little capital, is easy to rear and easy to manage. Poultry keeping thus
provides farmers with a great opportunity to start an income generating activity.
The aim of this course is to provide you with all the knowledge and skills you need to
raise poultry for meat and eggs and manage a small-scale commercial poultry
business. This main target group of this course is farmers who are interested in
starting a poultry business. However, extension workers and other stakeholders who
are interested in working with small-scale poultry farmers will also benefit. There are
many types of poultry but in this course we shall concentrate on chicken. We will
start by looking at the economics of poultry production so that you can make an
informed decision about the viability of this business before you start. Then we shall
discuss various important aspects of poultry farming, such as, poultry housing, types
of chicken breeds, brooding, feed management, health management, and poultry
production and marketing.
Course Objectives
By the end of this course you should be able to:
Explain the economic importance of poultry farming
Determine the best housing design for your poultry project
Identify a suitable breed for your poultry project
Determine the best poultry management system to use for your project
Formulate feed rations based on the nutrient requirements of your chicken
Implement routine poultry management practices such as, poultry hygiene,
debeaking, pasting and detoeing;
Identify poultry diseases and take the necessary control measures
Prepare your poultry products for the market and record all your activities.
Course Content
This course is divided into the following 9 units:
Unit 1: Introduction to Poultry Keeping
Unit 2: Poultry Housing
Unit 3: Breeds of Poultry
Unit 4: Poultry management systems
Unit 5: Feed management
Unit 6: Routine poultry management practices
Unit 7: Health management
Unit 8: Poultry products and marketing
To help you acquire the skills you need to be a good poultry farmer, you will be
expected to attend demonstration seminars which will be held at the Thika Training
Poultry Keeping & Management
Page 6
Institute’s model farm.
Icons Used in the Units
In the margin of these units, you will find the following icons which tell you what to
do:
Read the objectives of the unit.
Complete the Activity. Activities help you to process and apply what you are
learning.
Read the summary of what you have covered in the unit.
Take note of an important point.
Poultry Keeping & Management
Page 7
Unit 1
Introduction to Poultry Keeping
Welcome to the first unit in our course on poultry farming. In this unit you learn
about the advantages and disadvantages of poultry farming, the economics of
poultry keeping and what motivates farmers to keep poultry. We shall also give you
a summary of the cost of poultry production to help you assess if the business is
profitable.
Let us start by reviewing our objectives for this unit.
Unit Objectives
By the end of this unit you should be able to:
Explain the advantages and disadvantages of poultry keeping.
Assess the viability of your poultry business.
Section 1.1: Advantages and Disadvantages of
Poultry Keeping.
As you well know, poultry is kept in many rural and peri-urban homes in Kenya either
for domestic or commercial purposes. In this section we shall discuss the advantages
and disadvantages of poultry keeping.
A pedicure on the other hand, is a beauty treatment for improving the condition and
appearance of the feet and toenails. A standard pedicure starts with sanitizing the
feet. This is followed by filing and/or cutting the toenails, and soaking the feet in
warm, soapy water to which an antiseptic is added. Once the feet are softened, the
therapist then proceeds to scrub any areas of the foot which has hardened, rough
skin. Under the nail is cleaned and cuticles are gently pushed back. Nail polish is then
applied to the toenails.
Advantages of Poultry Keeping
What are the advantages of poultry keeping? Think about it for a minute and then
complete the following activity.
Poultry Keeping & Management
Page 8
We believe your list included the following advantages of poultry keeping:
Chicken can be reared in a small space
The stocks needed to start a chicken business are readily available
Chicken can be reared throughout the year
The returns on investment take a shorter time
Many people prefer to eat chicken compared to other sources of protein
Chicken feed on by-products such as, maize germ, maize bran, sunflower
seed cake, wheat bran and wheat pollard
Market for chicken meat is wide and lucrative
Growing customer base does not require advertisement CHOLESTORAL
Disadvantages of Poultry Keeping
The disadvantages of poultry are not many and include the following:
Some chicken diseases can affect humans
Chicken can die of preventable diseases like New Castle, Gumboro, Fowl Typhoid, Cholera and Cholera Pox
If not well protected, chicken can be eaten by a host of predators, like mongoose, eagles, cats and snakes
As you can see, the disadvantages of chicken are not so serious because they can all be prevented. In the next section we shall discuss the economics of poultry keeping.
Section 1.2: Economics of Poultry Keeping
Before you start a poultry business, it is important to find out if it makes economic sense. In this section we shall look at the economic value of chicken and how to cost your poultry project.
Economic Value of Poultry
A poultry business provides an important supplement to income from crops and livestock. Poultry farming helps to reduce overdependence on traditional commodities whose prices are not stable. Before you continue reading, complete the following activity.
Activity 1.3
Economic Value of Poultry (Time: 20 mins)
A. Write three reasons why chicken keeping is an important economic activity.
1. __________________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________________
3. ____________________________________________________
B. Use the space provided below to write down one compelling reason why you are interested in chicken farming.
Compare your answers with the information given in the following section.
Poultry Keeping & Management
Page 10
The economic value of poultry is one of the reasons why farmers take an interest in poultry farming. The following is the economic value of poultry keeping:
Provides income from the sale of chicks, meat and fertilized and unfertilized eggs;
The feathers are used to make stuffing for pillows mattresses and quilts
It supplement other incomes from livestock and crops
Poultry droppings are used as livestock (ruminant) feed, as it is a rich source of non-protein nitrogen and provides protein
Poultry manure increase soil fertility and can be sold as fertilizer
Poultry droppings make excellent slurry for biogas production plants
The by-products of a hatchery are used to make livestock protein supplements.
It can generate foreign exchange earnings through the export of poultry products
Used for recreation and also in poultry competitions and shows. In some communities they are kept for their crowing ability.
Use in special festivals, traditional ceremonies, as a gifts, and in traditional medicine.
We hope you now appreciate the economic value of poultry. Let us now estimate the cost of poultry production so that you can determine its profitability.
Economics of Poultry Production
Before you start a poultry business, it is important to determine whether it is profitable and sustainable. There are two costs of production that you should take into consideration. These are:
Fixed costs
Variable costs
Your profits will be greatest if you are able to keep your variable costs to a minimum. Let us look at each type of cost in further detail.
Fixed costs
These are the costs that remain constant throughout the management of one flock. These include the following:
Cost of day – old chicks (approximately 12%)
Housing depreciation
Depreciation of equipment
Depreciation of birds (laying birds) this does not apply to broilers.
Miscellaneous e.g. insurance of building and equipment
Variable costs
These are those costs that vary depending on the number of chicken you have. They include the following:
Feed costs – is the major item that takes 73% or over
Labour cost – 7%
Mortality – 5% throughout the growing period
Fuel for brooding and litter – 2%
Veterinary and pharmaceutical costs – 3%
Transport and marketing costs – 10%
