What is poultry farming ?

 Poultry is a term for domesticated fowl, particularly focusing on the species valued for their meat and egg use, such as chickens and turkeys. In this lesson, we will focus on chicken production of meat and eggs. 

POULTRY REARING

Poultry contributes to improved human nutrition and food security by being a leading source of high-quality protein in form of eggs and meat. It acts as a key supplement to revenue from crops and other livestock enterprises, thus avoiding over-dependence on traditional commodities with inconsistent prices. It has a high potential to generate foreign exchange earnings through the export of poultry products to neighboring countries. Poultry is highly prized in many social-cultural functions such as dowry and festivities. The poultry industry in Uganda is relatively new. Its major problem is therefore associated with its further expansion, though care must be taken to avoid overproduction. The industry is characterized by widely diverse methods of production which include the following: village flocks, small-scale commercial flocks and large-scale commercial farms. Constraints in poultry production include production-related constraints (inadequate access to improved breed, access, and affordability of feed, disease control); lack of knowledge and skills, inadequate capital at all levels, and marketing.

Image by Xuân Tuấn Anh Đặng from Pixabay 

 

Systems of Management

·                   Free-range

·                   Semi-intensive

·                   Intensive

Housing: essential features

·                   Building a large poultry house ideal for chicken

·                   Be rainproof

·                   Be secure from windy rains

·                   Have smooth surface walls to stop mites and other pests from hiding

·                   Periodically spraying the poultry unit with insecticide and disinfectants

·                   Periodically removing the dropping/cleaning the poultry house regularly

·                   Have good ventilation and in hotter areas at least 2 sides should be partly chicken wire mesh

·                   Preferably have cemented floor for ease of cleaning and disinfecting

·                   Be rat-proof

·                   Using plenty of litter after cleaning the poultry house

·                   Keeping the right number of birds in poultry houses

·                   Separating chicks from old birds

 

 A sample of large poultry house ideal for chicken

Management of chicks

·         Before chicks arrive at home; make sure that;

Ø  A brooder is in place

Ø  Paraffin lamps/electric bulbs/charcoal stove is available

Ø  Litter for the floor is available

Ø  1m2 will accommodate 20 chicks upto 4 weeks old.

·                   Temperature control: 350C for day-old chicks, 24-270C for 1 week. Reduce heat as they grow especially at night. Feeding Exotic chicken

·         Broilers – 1 to 3 weeks feed with chick mash, 3 to 6 weeks feed with broiler starter, thereafter with broiler finisher.

·         Layers – 1 to 8 weeks feed on chick mash, after 8 weeks introduce growers mash gradually, then with layers mash after drop of first egg.

Management of Layers

·                   Allow for good air circulation in laying house

·                   Layer needs on average 120 gm of food per day

·                   Distribute food troughs and water troughs evenly (one basin/50 birds)

·                   Provide grit at 20 weeks

·                   Laying nests must be kept in dark places, collect eggs 3 times a day, allow a nest/5 hens

·                   Provide soft clean litter

·                   Store eggs with small end down

·                   Clean dirty eggs with steel wool/coarse leaves (never wash them)

·                   Add greens to the diet and whenever possible vitamins to water

·                   Debeaking at onset of lay

·                   Culling when egg production drops below 40%

Laying nests.

Characteristics of a good layer

·         Bright red comb and wattles

·         Alert eyes

·         Width between pelvic bones should measure at least 2 fingers

·         The beak and claws should look bleached

·         The cloaca should be moist

REARING LOCAL CHICKEN

Advantages and limitations of rearing local chicken

a) They are self-sustaining i.e. can raise their own replacement stock

 b) They are hardy birds that can survive hard conditions

 c) Management requirements are not critical as those of commercial exotic breeds

 d) They are immune to some diseases and parasites

 e) Their products fetch more money than those from exotic birds

Advantages of local chicken Limitations of local chicken

 

a) They have low growth rate

 b) They produce fewer small sized eggs and comparatively little meat

c) People keep them without commercial intentions

d) They have been neglected by breeders/scientists despite their potential

Raised poultry house ideal for local chicken

Improving production of local chicken

1. Control of parasites and diseases

·         External parasites that affect local chicken include: poultry body louse, stick tight flea, poultry lice, ticks, feather mites and leg mites.

·         Control can be done using commercial/synthetic or herbal insecticide.

·         Herbal preparations are cheaper for local chicken but a lot of research is still needed in this area to establish proper dosage.

·         Internal parasites include worms and coccidia.

·         Worms can be eliminated using a potent dewormer preferably given as a tablet because these chickens have low water consumption.

·         Deworming should be done at least every month.

·         Commercial coccidiostats can be used alternately with herbal preparation. These must be given to birds on 8th, 9th, and 10th days of age. Repeat as directed by veterinarian.

·         In early days, vitamins-mineral mixtures should be given to chicks to minimize losses.

·         Vaccination of birds especially against New Castle Disease. Target first vaccination at the beginning of the dry seasons, repeat after one month and every four months thereafter.

2. Feeding Local Chicken

 a) Farmers can mix their own feeds using the abundant carbohydrate and protein feed available in their area.

 b) Feeding should be accompanied by green feeds and fruits such as pawpaws

 c) Only palatable green feeds should be given to birds. Avoid poisonous feeds.

Good and Poisonous /unpalatable green feeds to poultry

Good green feeds to poultry Poisonous/unpalatable green feeds

a) Macdonald (Kafumbe omukazi)

 b) Black jack (Ssere)

c) Asystasia schimperi (Temba)

 d) Vermonia amygydalina (Omululuuza)

 e) Kisanda

 f) Amaranthus (Ddodo)

 g) Pawpaw leaves

 h) Ascalepias simulunata (Akabombo)

 i) Marmodica fortida (Ebbombo)

Good green feeds to poultry Poisonous/unpalatable green feeds

 

a) Datura stromonium (Amaduudu)

 b) Ferns (Kayongo)

 c) Fresh cassava leaves

 d) Fresh sweet potato leaves

 e) Tobacco leaves

 f) Nicotina rustica (Ssetaaba)

 g) Castor oil leaves (Ricinus communis)

 h) Siyesbeckaia orientalis (Sseziwundu)

 i) Sunflower leaves

 j) Irish potato leaves

k) Tomato leaves

 l) Dichrocephata latifolia (Bbuza)

 m) Tagetes munital (Kawunyira)

 n) Pumpkin leaves (Essunsa)

3. Selective Breeding Even in the local birds, there are some laying strains and those that can be developed for meat production.

a) Selecting indigenous Egg Strains from the local stock

·         These are usually small chickens with elongated bodies

·         They have tail feathers that stand higher than their head

·         They are usually birds that lay 25 eggs and above in one laying season under the unimproved situation

·         When improvement is done in feeding, disease and parasite control, etc. such birds may not go broody.

                      

b) Selecting broiler strain from indigenous stock

·         These are usually birds whose bodies do not spread out

·         They are compact and if you follow their bodies, you can draw a circle around them.

·         After selection, the birds in these lines should be bred. Selection and breeding takes a lot of time and effort but we must get started.

·         The following should be observed in rearing local chicken:

·         Vaccination against Newcastle disease

·         De-worming

·         Remove mites and lice manually or better still using medicated powder

·         Provide water as much as possible

·         May supplement free range with other feeds e.g. maize bran and concentrates

·         Avoid buying chicken in dry seasons because diseases, especially Newcastle, are more rampant in dry seasons

·         Avoid buying birds when there is a disease outbreak

·         Buy birds of almost the same age i.e. 2-3 months are more ideal. Avoid buying old birds

·         Plan for synchronised mating and therefore synchronized reproduction and production to ease management

 

 

How to programme/synchronise local birds

 a) Assume a farmer has 14 local hens and 2 indigenous cocks

 b) Give each bird own nest when they start to lay. A builder’s kalai is ideal because it is metallic and can easily be disinfected by heating on fire. Put ash in kalai first then dry grass on top.

 c) Boil one egg from each bird and put it in nest as a landmark for each hen. Mark the egg.

 d) Remove eggs that are laid on the day they are laid. Write dates on them using pencil and store them together on trays with broad end facing up. Leave boiled egg in nest.

Precaution during egg storage

(i)                 Do not store eggs in a kitchen where it is hot. Heat may partially incubate the egg  and kill the embryos in them

(ii)                 Do not store them on top of a cupboard because heat from roof may incubate them.

(iii)            (iii) Keep eggs in a cool secure place.

Egg collection.

 

Incubation by mother hens

(i)                 Usually one bird starts incubating by staying overnight on the boiled egg. Leave this hen on the boiled egg for 10 days while it is waiting for other birds

(ii)                 After the 10 days, give all the birds that would have started incubating (within the 10 days) 17 selected but recently laid eggs

(iii)               Leave the birds that refuse to incubate alone

(iv)               If you want to eat or sell, eat/sell those which were laid first (old ones).

(v)                 Avoid giving these eggs to birds:  very small, round eggs, very dirty, cracked eggs, extremely pointed eggs, very big eggs, very old eggs.

(vi)               When done this way, all birds will hatch on the same day. An egg takes 21 days, 6 hrs to hatch.

Eggs can also be collected and taken to a hatchery instead of incubation by mother hens.

4.  Economics of production

o   Usually 80% of hens are programmable i.e. 11 in this example

o   If each is given 17 selected eggs (11x17 =187 eggs)

o   Hatchability is usually 90% i.e. (11x15= 165 day old chicks)

o   3 to 5 hatchings are possible per bird though 7 hatchings are possible if birds sit on the eggs consecutively.(You must provide adequate water and feed)

o   Remember to change water frequently

o   Therefore with 14 birds, a farmer may hatch (4x165) =495 to (5x165) = 825 chicks with possibility of 1159 chicks if seven hatches are attained per year. General Disease control Practices The following can only be used as guidelines for disease control, for proper disease diagnosis and treatment, consult the veterinarian.

o   Don’t overcrowd brooders

o   Adequate ventilation

o   Feed must be of good quality

 

o   Give clean water ad-lib

o   Don’t mix young and older birds

o   Clean poultry house

o   Dispose of dead birds quickly and isolate sick ones

o   Provide disinfectant at entrance to house

o   NB: Antibiotics should never be used to replace good management and should be used on prescription by a veterinarian.

Signs of ill health

Ø   ·      Dullness

Ø    ·     Reduced feed intake

Ø    ·      Reduced water intake

Ø     ·    Low egg production o Reduced growth rate

Ø      Rough coat Record keeping It should include

·                   Production data e.g. number of eggs produced

·                   Amount of food eaten

·                   Health interventions e.g. treatment

·                   Deaths

·                   Sales and purchases

 

• There are many segments of the poultry industry. These segments are all interlinked and many times owned by the same company. This type of ownership is called Vertical Integration. 

Vertical Integration

·                   It is a style of business management that allows for maximum control of the products produced.

·                   It is much like a ladder concept, as each segment relies on the segment below it to supply it with what it needs while that segment must produce the product the next segment needs.

·                   It is like a hierarchy of needs that are met within one company.

·                   It allows the poultry industry to develop their product efficiently and to produce a high quality product.

·                   Generally has 8 levels – Primary Breeders – Feed Mill  – Breeders – Hatchery – Growout  Farms – Processing Plants – Further Processing – Transportation and Marketing

Transportation & Marketing

Further Processing

Processing Plants

Growout Farms

Hatchery

Breeders

Feed Mill

Primary Breeders

Primary Breeders

Poultry industry in Sri Lanka has shown a phenomenal growth over the past three decades or so. As a result, poultry products have become essential food items in Sri Lankan menus. Demand of chicken meat and eggs have been met by local producers by now

Broiler sector

A total of 31 broiler parent breeders are in the practice of producing day old chicks (DOC) which has to be sold to large, medium and small scale meat producers. 

There were 1,185,352 of parent day old chicks in 2013 compared to 1,064,601 in 2012  with an 11% increase. These parent stock would continue to produce 124.1 million DOC in  2014 compared to 110.7 millions in 2013. Out of the total availability 73 % is produced by locally. As a result it is projected to get 162 , 500 MT of chicken meat ; a  12.3 % increase as 2013 production .  So, the chicken meat production is in upright trend and per capita availability will be 7.98 kg/year in 2014.

The farm-gate prices of live broiler have been within a range of Rs. 165-263 per/kg giving rise to chicken meat available even less than Rs. 380.00/kg which is the controlled chicken meat price( skin on- frozen)  at present. Therefore, the upward trend in production would lead to available chicken meat at same range . The increment of number grandparent farms 2 to 3 and increase of local day old chick production in year 2013 shows the decreasing dependency of importation in poultry industry. 

Exports

The poultry sector shows remarkable growth in increasing exports (hatching eggs for broiler parents and commercial broilers) .

Layer Sector

The layer day old chicks (DOC) is being produced by 17 layer breeder farms. The DOC production for year 2013 has been decreased by 5.3 %( 7.79 to 7.38 millions) compared to year 2012. According to the imported amount in 2013 and import plans for year 2014 it has been estimated to produce 7.84 million day old layer chicks in year 2014

 

Animal Feed Production Sector

Animal feed production also shows a growth (7.5 %) in year 2013 compared to 2012.The important feature is the expansion of self mixed feed production sector compared to commercial feed production sector. It is expected to increase the feed production with more involvement of self mixers in year 2014.

Animal feed cost is around 70 % of total production cost of chicken meat and eggs. The production of maize ( which has been imported earlier ) locally ,shows development in decreasing the import dependency of feed raw materials. The country is self sufficient in maize by now. It is anticipated to get maize for animal feed production from Rs. 37.00 - 42.00 depending on the season in year 2014.  

The soya bean production for livestock feed is started in 2013 and the extent has increased in 2014 Maha season. It is expected to have further increased extent in 2014 Yala season. 

·         Their responsibility is to develop and reproduce strains of chicken that meet the requirements of chicken producer/processing companies.

Primary Breeders

·         Through development and reproduction they aim to achieve desirable characteristics such as abundant white meat and efficient feed conversion.

·        Breeder chicks with the appropriate mix of desirable characteristics are then sold to integrated chicken firms. 

Feed Mill

·         Chicken companies own feed mills that convert raw materials into finished feed according to very specific formulas developed by poultry nutritionists

·         They produce different formulas to feed all of the different nutrition stages of chickens. 

Breeders

·                   Generally operated by contract growers who raise the breeder chicks to adult birds.

·                   Breeding hens and roosters are kept under tight biosecurity on breeder farms to produce fertile hatching eggs.

·                   The offspring of breeder parents will then be raised to become broilers for the market. 

Hatchery

·                   Is a specialized facility designed to hatch fertile eggs received from breeder farms.

·                   Fertile eggs are placed in incubators and carefully monitored to ensure that correct temperature and humidity levels are maintained throughout the entire incubation period. 

·                  Towards the end of incubation, the eggs are placed in hatching trays where the chicks hatch out by pecking their way through the large end of the egg. 

Growout Farms

·                   The newly hatched chicks are transported to growout farms where independent farmers raise them to market weight under contract with the company.

·                   The company provides the chicks, feed, and any necessary pharmaceuticals. 

·                   The farmer provides the growout barns, water, bedding (“litter”), electricity, and his own management skill.

·                   The chickens reach market weight in six or seven weeks and are collected to be taken to the processing plant. 

Processing Plants

·                   The processing plant harvests the birds by humane standards and are inspected by the USDA for any disease or defects.

·                   The carcasses are then chilled to limit the growth of bacteria.

·                  Following chilling they are packaged for distribution or cut into parts. 

Further Processing

·         They are specialized operations or plants that receive whole chicken or cut-up parts and perform a variety of further processing steps.

·         These steps include cooking, breading, or marinating.

Transportation and Marketing

·                   Chicken products are transported in refrigerated trucks from the processing and further processing plants, and then to the grocery stores, restaurants and other customers.

Value to the Economy

·                   Vertical integration within the poultry industry gives producers greater control over the production of quality products that successfully meet consumer wants and needs.

·                   Vertical integration results in a more cost effective production process and a more affordable product for the consumer.

Chicken Breeds 

·                   The Chicken Industry has well over fifty breeds that are recognized by the American Poultry Association. These breeds are broken down by classifications and use. The use of these animals would be layers, meat, and dual use. 

Meat Breeds 

·         They are not really breeds.

·         Instead, they are hybrid varieties or combinations of many different breeds.

·         These varieties are developed for specific characteristics: – grow faster and larger – larger breast meat yield  – more efficient feed conversion – more disease resistance

·         These varieties are used by broiler producing companies that commercially produce broilers sold in supermarkets.

·         Weakness of these varieties. – They do not lay as many eggs as the layer breeds.

Specific Variety Used in Industry 

·         Cornish Cross

o   White Cornish x White Plymouth Rock

·         Their fast growth allows them to reach 4-5 lbs in  6 weeks and 6-10 lbs in 8-12 weeks.

o   White Cornish

·         They are part of the English Class

·         They have a very broad and meaty body

·         White Plymouth Rock

·         They are part of the American Class.

·         They tend to be docile and fairly good dual-purpose breed.

·         White Leghorns

Ø  They are part of the Mediterranean Class.

Ø  Very good layer of white eggs

Ø   Basis of commercial egg industry.

          • Rhode Island Red

Ø  They are part of the American Class.

Ø  They lay brown eggs.

Ø  Production-bred strains lay very well. 

Turkey Breeds

·         There are currently eight breeds of turkeys that are recognized by the American Poultry Association. There are several breeds that are not officially recognized as a breed but these are the varieties that are commercially used by the industry. These breeds are predominately used for meat.

Meat Breed 

·                   Broad Breasted White

Ø  Commercially the most widely-used breed of domesticated turkey.

Ø  They have shorter breast bones and legs than “standard” turkeys.

o   They are unable to breed naturally and require assistance from humans.

Ø  Produce more breast meat and their pin feathers are less visible when the carcass is dressed due to their white color.