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 31 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] 32 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 33 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 turn is achieved
