MAAJABU YA MTANDAONI,BOFYA HAPO CHINI HUTAAMINI MACHO YAKO
LOADING.....
single comb of medium size. The egg shell is brown in colour while the flesh, skin and feet are yellow. The bird is a prolific layer and makes a good mother.
LOADING....
single comb of medium size. The egg shell is brown in colour while the flesh, skin and feet are yellow. The bird is a prolific layer and makes a good mother. 4. The Barred rock – Dual purpose This is a tail bird with a deep long square body. The barring (black parallel stripes of plumage) is uniform throughout the body with a grayish under colour. 5. New Hampshire red This is a hardy bird and an excellent layer which produces tinted eggs. It has a single comb of medium size. The flesh, feet and legs are yellow in colour.
Poultry Keeping & Management
Page 29
Activity 3.2
1. The following birds are all poultry breeds except:
a) Quail
b) Parrot
c) Turkey
d) Chicken
e) Ducks
2. Which of the following characteristics are true of light poultry breeds? Tick the correct ones.
a) Nervous and get upset by sudden movements
b) They eat more,
c) Mature early and get into production earlier
d) They go ‘broody’ or try to incubate their own eggs
e) Are smaller in body hence cheaper to maintain
f) They have an inferior carcass
g) They are quieter
Compare your answers with those given at the end of this unit.
You now know the various chicken breeds available in Kenya and their characteristics. Next we shall discuss incubation practices.
Section 3.2: Incubation
Incubation is the process of keeping eggs under favourable temperatures in order to promote embryonic growth and the hatching of young chicks. Before we look at the process of incubation, let us look at the composition of a chicken egg.
Composition of a Chicken Egg
A chicken egg is made up of various parts as shown in figure 3.5 below:
The shell
The shell membrane
Albumen
Chalazae
Yolk.
Poultry Keeping & Management
Page 30
Figure 3.6: Diagram of a fertilized chicken egg
The Shell
This forms 12% of the egg and is largely made up of calcium carbonate which
makes it hard. It protects the interior parts of the egg and has pores that allow
gaseous exchange.
Shell Membranes
This is the inner lining of the shell. It has 2 membranes that separate at the broad
end of the egg to form an air space.
Albumen (egg white)
The albumen makes up 55% of the egg. It is a jelly-like, colourless fluid when
fresh.
It surrounds the yolk and serves as a food reserve for the developing chick.
Chalazae
These are 2 twisted cords which hold the yolk from both ends of the egg.
If the chalazae is broken the yolk shakes and is displaced from its normal position.
Yolk
The yolk makes up 33% of the egg. It is yellow in colour and spherical in shape. It
has a germ spot which develops into a chick. A fertilized germ spot is called a
plastoderm while an unfertilized one is called a plastodisa. The yolk contains
food reserves for the developing chick and is rich in vitamins, fats, minerals and
protein.
Qualities of Eggs for Incubation
Eggs for incubation should have the following qualities:
They should be fertilized
They should be of medium size i.e. about 55-60gms in weight
Should have smooth shells
Oval shaped
Not cracked
Clean to ensure that pores are open
Shell
Chalazae (dense protoplasm)
Inner
membrane
York
Air space
Germ layer spot
Outer membrane
Albumen
Poultry Keeping & Management
Page 31
Should not have abnormalities such as blood spots, meat spots, double yolk
etc.
Should not be more than 5 days old.
Egg Candling
Egg candling is a method used to check eggs for fertility and determine which ones
will hatch into chicks. It involves observing an egg through light rays, see figure 3.7
for the candling technique.
Figure 3.7: Candling technique
Candling Method
As you can see from Figure 3.7, candling is a simple method which you can do at
home using the following procedure:
Cut a small round hole on top of a cardboard box. The hole should be just
big enough to sit the pointed end of the egg
Place a torch inside the cardboard box just under the hole
Place the egg on the hole and turn on the light
You will be able to see if the egg is fertile. A fertile egg has blood veins and a
black spot inside the egg. Figure 3.8 shows you the results of candling.
a) Fertilised egg b) Unfertilised egg
Egg
Light source
Hole to place egg
Cardboard or
wooden box
Poult
TAFADHALI SHARE HABARI HII KWA RAFIKI ZAKO HAPO CHINI ILI IWAFIKIE NA WENGINE PIA
Pig industry sustains livelihoods of many families in Kenya. Pig rearing has been one of wellestablishedindustry
in Kenya following growing export markets and increasing number of health
conscious consumers. Pig production if efficiently managed has great potentials for increasing
protein supply in Kenya. Smallholder pig farms in Tharaka-Nithi County have been facing
varying and dismal profits. The main objective of this study will be to establish which
institutional arrangements and management factors affect the profit efficiency of small-holder
pig farmers in Tharaka-Nithi County. A multi-stage purposive sampling technique will be
adopted to collect cross sectional data of eighty (80) smallholder pig farmers in Maara
Constituency by the use of semi-structured interview schedules. The work will employ Data
Envelopment Analysis to come up with profit efficiency rankings among the farmers and
stochastic frontier profit function will be used to analyze the factors that affect profit efficiency.
The data will be processed using STATA and DEA Frontier packages. The findings could be
useful to the stakeholders of the pig industry sub sector to formulate policies pertaining to pig
enterprise inputs, marketing issues and financial products and also can establish benchmarks
which can be used as a package for enhancing and stabilizing profit efficiencies of smallholder
pig farmers which in turn could help improve the Kenya economy.
An Overview of Livestock Sub-sector in Kenya Perspectives, Opportunities and Innovations for Market Access for Market Access for Pastoral Producers Recent statistics point that the livestock sub-sector in Kenya accounts for approximately 10% of the National Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is 30% of the agricultural GDP. It employs about 50% of the national agricultural workforce and about 90% of the ASAL workforce. 95% of ASAL household income comes from this sub-sector. This is despite the fact that the sector receives only 1 % of the total annual budget allocation. The livestock resource base is estimated at 60 million units comprising of 29 million indigenous and exotic chicken, 10 million beef cattle, 3 million dairy and dairy crosses, 9 million goats, 7 million sheep, 0.8 mi camels, 0.52 mi donkeys and 0.3 million pigs. (Strategy for Revitalizing Agriculture (SRA) 2003) Kenya is broadly self-sufficient in most livestock products but is a net importer of red meat mostly inform of on-the-hoof animals trekked across the porous boundaries of neighbouring countries- Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania. Livestock supply in Kenya results from a complex set of interactions between Kenya and its neighbours and the traditional Middle East market and their respective livestock populations, demand and market prices. Kenya is part of a regional market where livestock flow according to markets and price differentials in a liberalized system throughout the region as a whole and where Nairobi represents a focus of demand for the region Supply of red-meat from domestic cattle, shoats and camels falls short of demand, and is almost permanently augmented by a traditional livestock trade drawn in from neighbouring countries, especially Somalia, Tanzania, Sudan and Ethiopia in varying quantities according to demand, which maintains a supply/demand
[1.6MB]SIJAAMINI WEMA SEPETU ANACHOKIFAYA HAPO KWENYE HII VIDEO BOFYA UONE
