DO YOU LOVE FARMING?

DO YOU LOVE FARMING? | Ecency

HERE ARE TIPS ON KICK-STARTING A POULTRY FARM

Some Popular Poultry Breeds For Farming

There are some popular and mostly raised poultry birds. Among them chickens, turkeys, quails etc. are mostly raised poultry birds.
• Chicken
• Turkey
• Quail
• Ostrich
• Duck
• Pigeon
• Peacock

The most common and widely raised poultry birds are chicken. About 5k million chickens are being raised every year as a source of food (both meat and eggs of chicken). The chickens which are raised for eggs are called layer chicken, and the chickens which are raised for their meat production are called broiler chickens. The UK and USA consume more meat and eggs of chicken than other countries of the world. On an average the UK alone consumes more than 29 million chicken eggs everyday. However, in a word commercial poultry farming is very necessary to meet up the demand of animal nutrition (eggs and meat). Commercial poultry farming is also very profitable. And commercial poultry farming business is one of the traditional business ventures. Here we are describing more about the advantages of poultry farming business and the steps for running this business.

Benefits of Poultry Farming

Billions of chickens are being raised throughout the world as a good source of food from their eggs and meat. However, here I am shortly describing the main benefits of poultry farming.

• Poultry farming doesn’t require a big space unless you are going to start commercially. You can easily raise some birds on your own backyard with one or numerous coops or cages. So, if you are interested in poultry farming, then you can easily do it on your own backyard with several birds.
• Commercial poultry farming business also ensure high return of investment within a very short period. Some poultry birds like broiler chickens take shorter duration of time to mature and generating profit.
• Poultry farm structures do not require high maintenance. You can minimize diseases and illness in poultry by following proper hygiene and care. Diseases are less in some poultry birds like quails, turkeys etc.
• In most cases, you don’t need any license. Because almost all types of poultry birds are domestic. Although, if you need license from the relevant authority it is also easy for poultry.
• Poultry provides fresh and nutritious food and has a huge global demand. Global consumers of poultry products prefer them due to their nutrients and freshness. Poultry products are not much expensive and most of the people can afford those.

Methods of Poultry Farming
• Yarding Method: Yarding poultry farming method is such a method in which cows and chickens are raised together. The farmer makes a fence in his yard and keep all the poultry birds and cattle there together. The birds and cattle has the freedom of movement inside the fence. It is a very popular system used by small farmer.

• Battery Cage Method: Battery cage layer poultry rearing method is one of the very common methods used in many countries. In this system usually small sized metal cages are used. Every cages can accommodate about 3 to 8 hens. The walls of the cages are generally made of mesh or solid metal and the floor is made of sloped wire mesh which allow the faeces to drop down. When the hens lay eggs, then all the eggs gather in the egg collecting conveyor belt of the cage. In this system food is provided in front of the hens by a long bisected metal or plastic pipe and water served to them by using overhead nipple systems. The cages are arranged in long rows in one above another system. There may have several floors in a single shade which can keep many even thousands of hens together. For reducing feather and vent pecking, the light intensity is generally kept lower than 10 lux.

Basic Poultry Farming Equipments and their Uses
• Feeders
Feeders are equipments used in feeding poultry birds. The food is deposited in the feeder and the birds feed from it. The amount of feeders provided for a poultry farm should be according to to amount of birds available. It is important that you always keep the feeders clean to ensure the health safety of the birds.
• Heaters or Brooders
It is essential that the temperature of the poultry farm be regulated especially during cold weather. The heater or brooder is an equipment used in regulating and increasing the temperature of the poultry farm. These helps to keep the birds warm when the weather is cold.
• Incubator
This is an instrument used in hatching eggs. Egg hatchery with an incubator can be described as a means of hatching of eggs in an unnatural way. These means can be employed when there are many eggs to be hatched.
• Chick box
The chick box is an equipment where the poultry birds are kept for egg laying. It has a roll away egg tray attached to it so that when eggs are layed, they roll away and the birds will not trample on the eggs. This particular equipment help in preventing egg damage.
• Fly Tray
Fly trap is an equipments used in controlling the number of flies around a poultry farm. It helps to poultry farmer reduce the number of flies in the poultry.
• Poultry Plucker Rubber Finger
This is an equipment applied to chicken dressing machine. These rubber fingers are fixed to the bottom and side plate of the of the dressing machine in order to produce many dressed chicken in a short period.
• Cages and Coops
This poultry equipments is used for keeping poultry birds. Coops and cages are poultry equipments suitable for small scale poultry farming.
• Water Pots and Drinkers
Neat water is required for growth and digestion in poultry birds just like in humans. Therefore, the drinkers are equipments used for supplying water to the birds. You must ensure that the drinkers are washed regularly to avoid disease.
• Egg Washer
Egg washer is an equipment that makes use of a powder called the egg washing powder. Water is added into the egg washer and then the egg washing powder is added also. It is used for washing the eggs before delivery.