RAISING DAY OLD CHICKS TO GROWERS

■Day 1-day 7
- The chicks need to be in a brooder.
What is a Brooder?
- a brooder is a simple construction that is used to raise chicks until a point they are not so vulnerable.
- brooders maybe small rooms, wood construction, brooder boxes etc.
- chicks should stay in a brooder for at least 3 weeks - 4 weeks

●How to make a good brooder!
- make sure the brooder is not cold. ( provide source of heat ie. 100,watts Bulb, hot water bottles, brooder pots, etc)
- consider constructing brooders that's not too big and not too small.
-clean and disinfect the brooder before receiving chicks
- provide enough drinkers and enough feeders
- make sure the brooder is free from insects, rodents and mature chicken.
- provide dry dusting materials (saw dust or rice husks).

■Feeding chicks between day 1-day 7
- the best feed at this age is starter (crumbs or mash). - starter crumbs
- fugo starter mash
- pembe starter mash
- at this age avoid mixing of the feed with jenga, omena, pellets etc. You can mix starter crumbs and starter mash at a proportional ration.
- Avoid feeding broiler starter crumbs for chicks that are not broilers.

●Drugs .
- chick formula (egocin,veta chick start, poltricin, vitamet chick etc, dosage (one teaspoon for 5lts, ½teaspoon for 2 litres and ¼teaspoon for one litre)
- aliseryl (this is a blend of various vitamins that will help your chicks grow fast with strength and energy. Also helps chicks boost the appetite and also helps in preventing numerous diseases). Dosage same as chick formula
- liquid paraffin- this is not the normal paraffin we use at homes. This is a medicated paraffin that helps relieve constipation, helps in digestion, prevents injuries to alimentary canal and helps chicks to pass soft droppings.
- so week one give a combinations of chick formula, aliseryl and liquid paraffin

■Give Newcastle at day 7_
Day 8- day 14
■Feeds
-Same as previous week
-
●Drugs
-continue with chick formula
- use coccidiostat (biosol, coccid, vetatrim, biotrim etc) in place of aliseryl. This will help to prevent coccidiocis.
- drop liquid paraffin
so, second week you give a combination of coccid+chick formula
-give gumboro vaccine at day 14
■Day 15- day 21
- feed as previous week
●Drugs
- combination of vitamin and antibiotics ( aliseryl, neoxy vitamin, miramed, agranyl etc)
- repeat Newcastle vaccine
■Day 22- day 28
●Feed .
Start introducing chick mash. (Mixing chick mash with starter )
- incase you started with crumbs, continue giving crumbs until they are 7 weeks old.
●Drugs
- give coccidiostat
- repeat gumboro at day 28.
■Week 5.
Here the chicks are old enough and can survive out of the brooder.
●Feeds
- chick mash/ chick crumbs( or mixture of mash and crumbs)
●Drugs
- vitamins.
■Week 6
Feeds- as in week 5
Drugs, coccidiostat and strexia
●Vaccinate fowl pox._
■Week 7
●Feeds
- gradually introduce growers( mix chick mash and growers)
- drugs - feed suppliments ie molar plus, vigosine or tonophos.
■Week 8
Feeds, growers mash( you can mix with pellets, omena, jenga etc)
10 kgs of growers (mixed rations)
.- 6kgs growers mash
- 1kg jenga
- 1kg omena
-1 kg pellets
- 1/2 kg ngano
-¼kg sunflower
-¼kg cotton
●Drugs
-vitamins and antibiotics
-vaccinate fowl typhoid.

Follow up Abdulrafeeh Abdulkareem

#broiler #feed #feeding #chicken #farming #farmlife #farmer #farm #farmersmarket #Agriculture #Agricultural #agriculturelife #agri #pullet

Whenever thinking of poultry farming, Seven things you must need to know:

1. Market research

It is very important to critically look at the demand that needs to be met. Is there high demand for table eggs, out grower chicken or broiler meat? Most start-up farmers go by what a friend or relative or neighbouring farmer is doing and hope to reap the benefits.

It is important that you take your time to talk to clients or potential customers and listen to them. Do a survey on restaurants, hotels, open air or takeaway eateries, supermarkets and delis and collect as much data as possible.

Ask questions about seasonal trends of products that you intend to bring into the market. Sometimes your assumptions may not match your survey results or outcome, so be ready to change your original plans and make new decisions.

2. Farm location

A poultry farm can be located on any dry land anywhere in the country as it is not dependent on any weather patterns. However, the ideal location would be outskirts of urban or peri-urban cities where there is ready market for both meat and eggs. Construct your farm where there is access to all weather road, away from riparian land that experience occasional flooding and landslide.

3. Housing system

The most common housing system in this country is deep litter, where the entire floor is covered by wood shaving and the other equipment like nest boxes, feeders and drinkers are centrally located. It is best suited for all types of birds and conforms to animal welfare requirement.

The free-range type is common for Sasso chicken with a bit of housing at night and scavenging in an open enclosure. In organic farming, the chickens are most of the time on free range scavenging and are on restricted commercial feed with no use of antibiotics and any additive.

4. Demand for building

The most ideal house in this region must be open sided rectangular shaped structure, with roof made of iron sheet or locally available waterproof material. The long side of the house must be on an East-west orientation to reduce direct sunlight on the chicks.

Side walls should be 2-3 feet high made of bricks, iron sheet or block and the rest covered by wire mesh and chicken netting at 6-7 feet high. The floor could be concreted or compacted with red soil.

5. Choice of breed and supplier

If you want to keep commercial layers, choose type of breed which is hardy with low mortality rate, fast growth rates, high peak production, long peak period and good persistence (like Bovans brown). If it is for both meat and egg production, look for a breed of high feed conversion efficiency, and of good tasty and tender quality meat (like dual purpose Sasso).

6. Optimal health protection

Threats to your flock will include but not limited to protozoal and parasitic diseases, bacteria, yeast and mold and viral infections. You will need good rearing conditions that include proper brooding, temperature control, ventilation and humidity as well as quality water and adequate feed supply all the time.

Biosecurity is pivotal to your success; the premises must be highly sanitised within and around the site with limited flock visits to only authorised personnel. Vaccination schedule must be followed to the letter and must be chosen based on efficacy and administered professionally.

7. Record keeping

Anything that cannot be counted cannot be measured. Most farmers ignore the value of good record keeping. Feed being the highest production cost in poultry production, means that it must be weighed to the level of grammes fed/bird/day, and weight sampling must be done on weekly basis to establish production efficiency.

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For more Keep following Nicholas Pleysier
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How to construct a poultry house:

Commercial chicken farming requires a high-level of expertise, understanding and commitment to be successful.

Whilst it’s important to emphasize the need for excellent flock management at all times, something that comes with experience and aptitude, adopting the correct housing techniques and equipment will set a firm foundation for success of your poultry venture.

The following is a guiding checklist for poultry house construction:

"A poultry house should provide the birds with a comfortable environment and protect them from the extremities of the prevailing weather (rain, wind and sunshine).

"It should have adequate space for the flock to be kept in the house. The ideal stocking density is:

1. Layers: one square metre for 6 birds.

2. Broilers: One square metre for 11 birds.

"It should be open-sided to allow natural ventilation with an east-west orientation to minimise the amount of sunlight entering the house directly. Its not good for sun rays to strike directly into the poultry house.

"It should be rectangular in shape and have a wall not higher than three feet on the longer side. The widith should be at least 7-9 metres, but for the length you are only limited by your land. Avoid building poultry houses in a square form.

"The wall can be made from stones, iron sheets, timber, silver boards or bricks

"The rest of the side of the wall should have a chicken wire mesh. The wire mesh on the sides of the house should be of a small gauge to prevent entry of wild birds, dogs and rodents. This normal chicken mesh is not long lasting.....within a few months it rusts and gets off the house. its better to use a plastic quoted mesh.

"The roof of the house should have a reflecting surface and pitched with overlaps to ensure that the house is comfortable and well ventilated. There should be enough gap between the birds and the roof to avoid heat stress. The pin of the house should be 8 metres from the ground, and the sides should be 5 metres.

"Concrete floors are the best finishing as they are easier to clean and disinfect. Do not put "nil" after putting concrete on the floor.

"There should be a foot-bath at the entrance of the house for those entering the poultry house to disinfect their foot wear. You know farm boys have a tendency of jumping the foot bath, but if it is wide enough they cannot jump it.

"To reduce the risk of rodents gaining entrance into the poultry house, clear all the vegetation in a radius of 3-5 metres around the pen.

"The feed store should also be separate from the house to reduce risk of attracting rodents.

"It should be constructed in isolated areas to minimise the risk of contamination.

"your poultry house plan must have a tank raised inside the poultry house. Exposing water to sunshine in bad, as it gets warm and birds may reject it, or may facilitate heat stress during the dry seasons.

"The house should be fenced to exclude stray animals and visitors.

"The doors should always be locked.

"On poultry farms, an all-in all-out system is the best management practice as it prevents the build up of disease causing organisms and disease outbreaks. Its always good to have one age group in each house, but not putting different ages in one house!

In case where farmers want to keep flocks of different ages, then each flock must be housed in its own.

Ventilation:

Ventilation is the circulation of fresh air through the flock house and exhaustion of stale air out of the flock units and its achieved by air passing from one side of the house and exhausting through the opposite side.

Ventilation of poultry houses serves several functions including:

1.Removing excess heat and moisture.

2.Providing oxygen while removing harmful gases.

3.Reducing dust hence improving the air quality.

You must always allow optimal ventilation to avoid chicks getting suffocated.

Distribution of Feeders and Drinkers in poultry houses:

Feeders and drinkers are among the most important equipment in the poultry house. This is because properly feeding birds and watering them is of paramount importance.

In others words, it is essential for birds to get proper access to both drinkers and feeders. Notably, improper distribution of such equipment can lead to a number of adverse effects as discussed below.

One of the major problems associated with improper distribution of feeders and drinkers is that it can lead to cannibalism in poultry.

In other words, it can lead to dominant birds pecking on feathers or other parts of the submissive birds. This behavior leads to the weaker birds not being able to fully satisfy their nutrition needs and as such, their growth and production is restricted.

Secondly, if you are unable to properly distribute feeders and drinkers in your poultry house then you can expect to observe varied growth rates among your flock. This is because when birds compete for such equipment, superiority complex is promoted among the dominant ones and the weaker ones are unable to access them.

The dominant ones therefore grow at a significantly higher rate as compared to the submissive ones. The point here is that one way of ensuring that you have uniform growth in your flock is by correctly distributing both drinkers and feeders evenly.

Water quality: birds should not be given dirty water. Broilers need a constant water supply. You should never limit them feed and water. For better feed utilisation, keep the water available, away from the Heat source, a meter away from feeders.

The arrangement of feeds and water should be that the two are not far from each other. Just a meter apart is enough.

There are a number of key things you should keep in mind when distributing feeders and drinkers in your poultry house. These are namely; the type of feeder or drinker used and the age of the birds.

For instance, when using a trough feeder you should make sure that each bird has 10 cm feeding space. On the other hand, if you are using circular feeders you should see to it that each bird has a feeding space of at least 4 cm.

How to Construct a Poultry House

Commercial chicken farming demands expertise, understanding, and unwavering commitment for success. Getting your poultry housing right is crucial for laying a solid foundation for your venture. Here's a handy checklist to guide you through poultry house construction:

Provide Comfort: Ensure your poultry house offers a comfortable environment shielding birds from weather extremities like rain, wind, and direct sunlight.

Spaciousness: Allocate adequate space based on stocking density:

Layers: 1m² for 6 birds
Broilers: 1m² for 11 birds

Ventilation: Opt for an open-sided house with east-west orientation to allow natural airflow. Avoid direct sunlight exposure.

Structure: Construct a rectangular-shaped house with a wall not exceeding three feet in height on the longer side. Opt for materials like stones, iron sheets, or bricks for durability.

Mesh Matters: Use a small gauge chicken wire mesh to prevent entry of wild birds, dogs, and rodents. Consider a plastic-coated mesh for longevity.

Roofing: Choose a reflective surface for the roof and ensure proper pitch for ventilation. Maintain adequate gap between birds and roof to prevent heat stress.

Flooring: floors should be ideal for easy cleaning and disinfection.

Hygiene Measures: Install a foot-bath at the entrance and clear vegetation around the pen to deter rodents. Keep the feed store separate to minimize rodent attraction.

Isolation: Construct the house in isolated areas to minimize contamination risks.

Ventilation Management: Optimal ventilation is crucial for heat and moisture regulation, oxygen supply, and air quality improvement. Open curtains for airflow during warm weather and close them for warmth during cold spells.

Safety: Fence the area and keep doors locked to prevent entry of stray animals and visitors.