16/05/2021
POULTRY GUIDE #
Chicken is the most kept bird in Kenya. Chicken can be kept for either meat or eggs depending on the farmers interest. Poultry farming is a huge source of income to different groups: the poultry farmers who rear the chickens and the marketing agencies tasked with marketing the farmer's produce, just to mention a few players in this sector. Secondly, poultry farming produces one of the most nutritional sources of protein: chicken eggs and chicken meat.
For a successful poultry following :
1.ALWAYS HAVE A BUSINESS PLAN
Ensure that your business plan includes the following crucial information: where you intend to get the finances to run the poultry farm, the intended market of the produce from the poultry farm, the objectives of starting your poultry farm, the budget for your poultry farm, and all the resources required to start the poultry farm.
2.CHOOSE A BREED
Next, decide on whether you want to practise Layer poultry farming or Broiler poultry farming. Layers are poultry kept for their eggs while Broilers are those poultry kept for their meat.Ensure that you pick the right breed of chicken according to the choice of poultry farming picked.
3.LARGE-SCALE OR SMALL-SCALE POULTRY FARMING
Before beginning poultry farming, one should first settle on the number of poultry they want to keep.One should decide on whether they would want to partake in either large-scale or small-scale poultry farmig according to the maximum number of poultry one would like to keep in the piece of land. On this point, it is indispensable to have the knowledge that overcrowding your chicken will have a negative effect on their productivity as a whole or even mortality.
4.COMMERCIAL OR DOMESTIC POULTRY REARING?
You should bear in mind whether you are keeping the poultry for commercial purposes or domestic purposes. This is in order to know how much you would want to invest in the poultry farm. If you settle on poultry farming for commercial purposes, one is required to set a profit target that will help to build and expand the business.-growth.
5.ENSURE THAT YOU HAVE CAPITAL, LAND, AND EQUIPMENT
One must be equipped with heating gadgets that keep the chicks warm. (infra-red bulbs/jikos) Other equipment required include: egg trays, cages, coops, a waste disposal system, perches, feeders, drinkers, nests, crates, and an effective lighting system.
6.MARKET
It is paramount to ensure that you have a market before beginning poultry farming. It may also be a wise choice to analyze what other poultry farmers in your area aren't doing right, and maximize on that to ensure that you meet the consumer's unmet needs. Once you have found the necessary market, ensure that you increase this market by advertising. This may also help to maintain loyalty among your consumers as it helps in the reputability of your poultry farming business.
7.POULTRY FARMING STRUCTURES
It is necessary to ensure that you have the required poultry farming structures. For one, the flock of any type of poultry should be provided with adequate spacing.The same rules apply to all poultry rearing, only the measurements differ depending on the bird.Ensure that your structure has enough ventilation to avoid infections and respiratory problems. Ensure that your poultry structure is of the required standard thus keeping away predators which are a big mess on birds.You don't have to invest so much on structure, use the locally available materials and have a simple standard structure where air circulation is key.
8.MAKE A DECISION HOW TO BEST RAISE YOUR CHICKENS
There are two main ways to raisechicken. Conventional systems have chickens confined to barns that are temperature and photo-period controlled areas. Free-range systems allow your chickens to just about have the run of the farm to behave as naturally as possible.
9.FEEDS
For good results in poultry farming invest in quality feeds. For chicks use quality starter mashother chicken invest on quality growers mash, layer mash...
For broilers invest on quality pellets for quality meat...
Clean feeding is paramount for healthy flock, ensure your feeders and drinkers are cleaned or disinfected every morning to avoid infections.
10.DISEASES
A birds p**p will always be the first sign of unhealthy bird.... Any change in the color of the p**p will signify some abnormalities in the flock which should be handled immediately to avoid further spread if viral.You don't have to give time to see how the Ebirds responds for a vet officer to visit.. The vet should visit immediately you sense some abnormality.
11.ACCOUNTING
Just like any other business, a poultry farming business should be guided by the basic principles of accounting and record keeping.You should always maintain clean records of the amount of feeds used everyday, the number of chicks hatched, the number of eggs laid, This helps to make it easier to monitor the growth of your poultry farm, and to decipher the areas causing losses and tend to them effectively.
