Chicken meat is very popular throughout the world. It is seen as a healthy meat low in fat and rich in protein (lean meat). It is a meal for a family so you don’t need a refrigerator
To prepare for the chicks’ arrival it is best that you have a time plan or schedule
the house will be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected
shavings or litter on the floor
the brooder surrounds in place
the brooder heater checked and adjusted (if there is one)
feeders and drinkers in place. Chicks usually look for water first.
a supply of a small amount of starter feed is scattered on paper on the floor of the brooder so that the chicks can start to eat
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For the first 7-10 days the chicks will be brooded (see section 5.) Broiler chickens can grow very fast but only when well looked after and given good feed
After 3 weeks of age when the house temperature is less than 28–30 oC they grow best. In the tropics, the temperature is normally above 30 oC in the day time so they will grow a bit slower than usual
Some chickens will die in the first week particularly those that are small and weak. You must remove and bury them immediately
You can expect to lose at least 4 - 5 chicks out of 100 in the first 3 weeks. Another 2 may die later. Mortality can be much higher especially if management and housing conditions are poor. Some broilers, as they get older, may become lame and are unable to walk and get to the feeders. This is partly a breeding problem but may be reduced by slowing growth in the second week for about a week by limiting feed intake.
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Ideally, chicks should be given a bought formulated diet. A commercial starter diet should be purchased and fed for at least the first 10 days because they need to get off to a good start
They will have eaten only about 250 g of feed during this time. This will cost you less than 25 ¢/bird
A grower diet will then be introduced by mixing what remains of the starter diet with the same amount of the grower diet. This will mean that they can adjust easily to the new feed
When the mixture is finished, chicks will be on the grower feed only
Check chicks several times a day to see that they are comfortable and have feed and water
Check your chickens frequently. They do not like it too warm.
It will be helpful if you have weighing scales so that you can weigh feed given to the chickens and get the live weight of a sample of 10 birds every 2 weeks caught with a simple leg catcher. This will tell you how well your chickens are performing
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Do your birds reach targets at 3 weeks and 6-7 weeks? This should be your marketing age range for best growth and feed consumption?
Weight gain is weight of bird divided by age in days then divided by the total number of birds to obtain the average weight gain of one bird
Feed efficiency is feed consumed (kg) during a fixed number of days divided by the total weight of all birds (kg) consuming that amount of feed
As a guide, the average weight of your chickens at 6 weeks should be 1600 g and at 7 weeks 1750 g
Feed efficiency should be under 2.5 kg feed for 1 kg of weight gain at 7 weeks of age [a worked example of these calculation is given at the back of the manual]
Although your chickens look healthy you must still inspect them several times a day. You do not want to lose any. They are now becoming valuable and attractive to a thief
8.1 Marketing
Selling your chickens profitably is essential. You can sell them
alive on a bird or on a weight basis
through a middle man who will take some of your profit for himself
dressed, plucked, eviscerated (guts) and organs (lungs, liver, heart) removed. This is time-consuming
sell to an abattoir for processing
In some regions you will not have all of these choices
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8.2 Manure
Chicken litter will produce very valuable manure rich in nutrients
You can:
use it on your garden
make it into a compost
sell it
You are encouraged to grow your own vegetables and fruits as they are important for your family and cheap. Manure not only provides plant nutrients but importantly organic matter for the soil, This allows the soil to breathe
8.3 Record keeping
It is essential that you keep good records of feed used, dead birds, weight of birds at the end. These records will then be used to determine if you made a profit or a loss.
[A broiler record sheet is given at the end of this manual. The trainer will work through an example with you]
Little mention has been made here of vaccination of chicks. This is normally done at the hatchery.
[END OF UNIT IV]
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UNIT V
9. COMMERCIAL EGG PRODUCTION
There are several choices of how you house your hens for egg production:
in group battery cages (expensive but saves floor space)
indoors on the floor (barn hens or deep litter)
free-range out-of-doors during the day
large groups or colony cages indoors (see later)
For replacement or point-of-lay pullets (young hens not yet in lay) there are two options
the farmer can purchase hybrids or pure bred chicks from a hatchery (expensive) or
the farmer can hatch and raise his own chicks
9.1 Hatching chicks
The farmer:
can have a flock of breeder hens with one rooster for about 8 hens.
will need nest boxes with litter and placed in a secure, dry place
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will store the fertile eggs in a cool place for no more than 8 days
will allow a broody hen to incubate the eggs or your own small incubator (expensive and needs a reliable power supply although there are kerosene or paraffin heated incubators. (See section 9.2)
water and feed should be placed close to the broody hen in an isolated place
the nest should have a 2 cm layer of sand then 2 - 3 cm of litter on top at day 21 eggs will hatch out
Half will be females. The farmer must decide what to do with the males. They will grow much slower than broiler chickens but can be given a lower - quality feed than broilers after 3 - 4 weeks of age. It still may not be profitable to grow and sell them. Mother and chicks must be kept separate from the main flock of adult hens until about 4-5 weeks old.
9.2 Artificial incubation
A reliable power supply is essential for satisfactory egg incubation. A thermostat is needed to control the temperature at 39.5 oC and the relative humidity needs to be > 50%. Small-scale poultry breeders have successfully built small incubators to hatch 50 - 100 fertile eggs. A light bulb (s), controlled by a thermostat, provides heat although heating coils are also used. A tray of water on the floor of the brooder keeps the humidity above 50%. The eggs are turned 3 - 4 times a day. Ideally this should be done by marking the egg so that one complete
