There is no point in setting up a farming venture unless it can be sustained; that is, it can survive over the long term. Therefore it is essential to make a survey in which key questions must first be answered honestly before the farmer decides to launch into a poultry enterprise in which he or she will have to invest time and precious money.
It is assumed that all trainees have a particular interest, but little information, in setting up a poultry enterprise on a commercial or semi-commercial scale and are here to learn some basic management skills. It is only from practice and experience that the farmer will become an efficient poultry producer and this course forms the foundations of a successful poultry enterprise.
The other important aspect is that the farming of poultry must not harm the environment by polluting water ways with plastic bags, poultry waste or chemicals used in the farming industry for example. Each one of us has the responsibility to protect and improve the land we farm.
Any poultry farm will usually be part of a farming system (vegetables, plantation crops, gardens, special crops, trees, other livestock) and all parts must be catered for and must not be compromised. In other words a new poultry venture will likely be part of the existing system.
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(a) Your first task is to introduce yourself and give us some information on your background. We would like to know what you do, why you are here and a little about your village and family
(b) Now that we know a little about you I will tell you a bit about myself
(c) I am sure that you may have some questions to ask. These may relate to the course or to any other matter. So please ask them
1.1 What will I learn from this course?
At the end of the course you should understand the basic facts about keeping poultry for egg production and meat production.
You should have a good knowledge of
their housing
the different systems of how chickens are kept
their feeding and management
health and hygiene
poultry farming is a business. It is essential to have a business plan
the importance of forming a poultry cooperative or forming an association of producers with the same interests in poultry production
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1.2 Why keep chickens?
Can you make a list of reasons why people keep chickens? There are at least 6 reasons although not all of them apply to your particular situation. Write down what you think here and we will discuss them.
I will add some of the most important reasons that relate particularly to the health of your children.
Chicken meat and eggs contain special proteins that:
Allow your children to grow strong Allow their brain to develop so that they will be clever at school
Allow pregnant mothers to produce healthy babies and to breast feed them
Allow children to be healthy and not to catch cold and coughs
Eggs and meat also contain vitamins and minerals that are essential in your diet
If you decide to raise poultry always remember to keep some meat and eggs for your own family to eat
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1.3 The business of poultry farming
There are many small farmers that are making money out of raising meat birds (broilers) in developing countries. They buy day-old chicks from chick breeders who may be far away and usually sell them live after 7-8 weeks. They also buy their feed in from the nearest feed mill. This may be a long way away and this will mean that feed is expensive. They will need to sell their broilers at a high price.
Because of long distances, and because of unreliable transport, sometimes some chicks arrive sick or dead. If there are enough producers, they can form a co-operative and may be able to establish a small poultry hatchery (see section 14). This will help to make chicken meat production sustainable. A depot can be set up to purchase and store large amounts of feed to sell to the poultry keepers at a cheaper price. Egg producers may also benefit from such an arrangement.
Producing eggs is more difficult than broilers. The day-old chicks are very expensive and you have to wait more than 18 weeks before the hen will lay an egg. They are not easy to rear as they must be grown slowly and according to a plan. They also need to have good housing and nest boxes so there is a higher initial capital cost than growing meat birds. There is usually a shortage of eggs in villages and they may have to be transported long distances to customers so there is often great opportunity to farm commercial hens starting with a few and then expanding. The customer can purchase a few eggs at a time so the financial outlay is less than buying a broiler chicken.
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There may be opportunity for commercial egg production by starting in a small way. We will talk about this later
When you finish this course, we plan to be able to help you with your chicks, their feed supply and the trainers will be able to give you advice. You will see during the course that there are different ways to keep laying hens and broiler chickens
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1.4 Background information
You will need to look at all aspects of commercial poultry production before you decide to become a poultry farmer
This means that you will have to seek out information in a survey
On the basis of this information you will make a business plan. This will tell you how much money you can expect to make (or lose) each year
A good business plan will allow you to go to the bank to borrow money to get your commercial poultry farm started
You will not start with a feasibility study now but towards the end of the course when you will know more about poultry and what farming poultry entails. But you should look at this from time to time throughout the course at the questions that need to be answered so that you can gather the necessary information.
End of Unit I
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UNIT II
2. POULTRY BREEDS
There are many different breeds of chickens. We will only mention here those that have commercial potential (meat and/or eggs).
Dual Purpose. These are used to produce both meat and eggs such as Rhode Island Reds or Plymouth Rock.
Today, for large – scale commercial production they do not produce enough eggs
nor do they grow fast enough for meat production
they eat too much feed
they are not very efficient in converting feed to eggs and meat
Dual purpose breeds may have a role to play where it is not possible to get better breeds or conditions are not ideal or feed is not of the best quality
Special Breeds. These have been selected for egg production
the White Leghorn was very popular for many years
it has a small body (1.5 kg) and lays many white eggs
the Black Australorp is another popular breed
it is very docile (quiet) and lays a tinted (light brown) egg
it is medium-heavy body weight (2.2 kg) and therefore eats quite a lot of feed
it is good for free-range (out doors) conditions as it is not flighty
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Hybrids. In the commercial world today only hybrids (cross-breeds) selected for either meat or egg production (not both) are used. Because of hybrid vigour
they lay more eggs than special and dual purpose breeds
they lay large, brown or white eggs
they eat less feed per kg of weight gain for meat or per kg of eggs
the male chicks from hybrid layers grow very slowly and normally have to be killed. They are usually too expensive to rear but it depends on feed costs and circumstances
the hybrid broilers grow faster than pure breeds
they produce more meat especially breast meat than the pure breeds
Hybrid chicks are only available to the small farmer through a breeding company. The farmer will not have the parent breeding stock and therefore can not breed these chicks himself. Replacement pullets must be bought in but are not always available in remote areas.
EXERCISE
In a few words list all the characteristics (e.g. many brown/white eggs) that you would like to see in 1. a laying hen, and 2. a broiler chicken.
