Family Poultry Training Course/Scavenging Chickens Training Handbook- Scenario (Situation)
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Contents |
Scenario (Situation)
The Status Quo (current situation)
Village owner has a flock of 3 hens and 1 cockerel (there are also 10 chickens of different ages-these will be ignored here)
Incubating all eggs
One hen lays a clutch of 12 eggs in 24 days. Farmer removes 3 eggs for his/her family. Hen sits on 9 eggs. Eight chicks hatch out. Mortality is 75% - 6 die and only 2 chicks reach maturity.
| Laying eggs | 24 days |
|---|---|
| Sitting on eggs | 21 days |
| Raising chickens | 80 days |
| Back in lay | 15 days |
| Total | 140 days |
Scenario 2
Incubating only some eggs
Flock size is the same - 3 hens and 1 cockerel.
The hen lays a clutch of 12 eggs in 24 days. All eggs are removed each day. The farmer will keep 7 eggs for himself and family. Five sound, fresh eggs from this hen and other hens are returned to the broody hen to incubate. Four eggs should hatch and 3 chickens should survive because the hen can look after fewer chicks much better. Improved management and feeding also allow this high survival rate. The hen is still out of production for 140 days. In one year the hen will provide the owner with 18 eggs and 8 chickens. The flock of 3 hens will produce in a year 54 eggs and 24 chicks. Compared to Scenario 1, for the same flock there are 30 more eggs and 9 more chicks with better management, care and virtually no extra inputs
Scenario 3
Chicks removed from mother at hatch
Same flock size of 3 hens and 1 cockerel.
Hen lays 12 eggs in 24 days. Farmer removes 4 eggs for the household. Hen incubates 8 eggs and 6 chicks are hatched out. The chicks are immediately separated and the hen is treated for broodiness (see 5.2). The hen would have spent - 24 days laying eggs 21 days sitting on eggs 19 days coming back into production TOTAL 64 days out of production
Mortality of chicks is now only 15% so 5 chicks reach maturity for keeping, eating or selling through this cycle of 2.6 times in a year or 167 days; there are 198 days remaining for the hen to lay. If fed and managed well, the hen may lay an additional minimum of 40 eggs (20% production). If 3 hens go through the same cycle there will be 31 eggs taken from the clutches (4 eggs per hatch). There will be an additional 3 x 40 = 120 + 31 eggs giving a total of 151 eggs per year. There will be 5 x 2.6 = 13 chickens per hen x 3 = 45 chickens per year. With the same flock size it is possible to increase annual egg production (scenario 1) from 24 eggs to 151 eggs and from 15 chickens to 45 per year with few extra inputs using simple management methods. It will take care, time and a little extra feed.
Where do I go from here?
The next phase of improving production of village poultry will focus mainly on those producers who have successfully managed to increase their poultry production as a result of following the suggestions made in this course. You will then move up to another level of management.
One way of improving output of eggs and meat is to form a discussion group where ideas can be exchanged and some trials undertaken. There may be opportunity to set up a small hatchery to produce village chickens for sale locally. Historically there has almost always been a strong demand.
Confinement
Confining scavenging poultry to a small enclosed area will reduce mortality by excluding predators, thieves and accidents. It will also allow the farmer to manage better the flock. On the other hand there will be less feed to scavenge and additional supplementary feed will be required. It also allows the farmer to improve the flock by for example introducing a superior cockerel to mate with his/her best hens. The area may be subdivided so that there are two or more flocks, one of which can be improved at a time.
Small Scale Layer or Broiler House
The house (120 x 59 x 45 cm high) is constructed entirely from local material and can house either 50 hybrid broilers or 30 hybrid layers. The slope of the floor is 1 in 8 to allow hen eggs to roll outside the enclosure. It is ideally suited to a family wanting to get started in semi-commercial poultry production but with limited finance. The pen can be subdivided and the house can be moved by two persons and the manure is then easily collected.
Local Feedstuffs
There may be opportunity to find local feeds at little or no cost around your village. These could be byproducts from the food industry (e.g. production of tofu), rice bran, brewery waste, coconuts or the aquatic plant, duckweed (Lemna). It grows widely and vigorously on shallow ponds; it can yield up to 20 tonnes of dry matter/ha and has about 25% of high quality protein on a dry matter basis. Although it has a high water content, it can be mixed with other feedstuffs such as rice bran to provide chickens with an excellent diet. There is a wide range of edible seeds e.g. kapok tree seeds, rubber seeds, seeds from Leucaena sp that will help to increase meat and egg production. Starchy roots and tubers (energy sources) and their green tops such as cassava and sweet potato vines, when dried, are also rich in protein and many other nutrients.
End of course
