FAMILY POULTRY TRAINING COURSE
TRAINEE’S MANUAL
Purpose: to provide both women and men with sufficient information and knowledge to allow them to farm poultry in a commercial and semi-commercial way, and to decide if they can make money out of the venture.
Objectives: to learn about all aspects of raising poultry for their meat and eggs. Then to develop a business plan which will show them if they can make money out of a poultry farming enterprise operation in their country or region under the present conditions.
Course: there will be trainers who will guide the participants through all aspects of producing poultry. There will be ‘hands on’ practical work, visual demonstrations and a manual that will have diagrams, photographs and illustrations. Towards the end of the course, commercial poultry production will be dealt with in two specialised areas: 1. For meat (broiler) production and 2. For egg production.
1. INTRODUCTION
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.
(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.
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
