Victoria Mwelu is a poultry farmer in Tulimani, Makueni County. The chicken house is dark inside and crammed for the more than 30 chickens she rears. “I have to try and conserve space,” she says. Victoria went into poultry farming to make money from selling eggs as well as chicken meat. The small space, to her, is enough for the brood – which increases every few weeks and she has to sell off adult chickens to create space for the hatchlings.
“I have never looked at it as confined space. I have always thought it was big enough for my chicken,” she says. If it is not for a few wire-meshed sections, Victoria’s chicken house has little difference with a traditional human mud house. The floor is littered with uneaten chicken marsh and chicken droppings. A strong pungent smell is unmistakable inside. Do the chickens produce to Victoria’s satisfaction, we ask. “I believe so,” she says. “I don’t know if they can produce more if I changed their environment.” A few times, Victoria says, tragedy has struck in form of disease and she would lose nearly all of her livestock. “When a disease strikes, the chickens fall like dead birds from a tree,” she says. Victoria has never sat in a farming class. So, she can’t fully comprehend what happens with her chickens. Poultry farmers like Victoria rarely realise optimal profits from their ventures because their chicken rearing methods depress production. According to Dr Victor Yamo, a veterinarian and poultry specialist at World Animal Protection, there are fundamental practices that every poultry farmer needs to adopt to realise better production – whether the chicken is a broiler, a layer or kienyeji. He adds that for farmers to optimise their production they should strive to ensure the chicken’s fundamental needs are met.
avoid By Gardy chacha | Published Sat, July 8th 2017 at 00:00, Updated July 7th 2017 at 22:55 GMT +3 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Three-day-old broilers at Nyamvula Lenga’s poultry room in her quarter an acre plot at Lilongwe, overlooking the Port Reitz Creek in Mombasa County. [Photo: File, Standard] Victoria Mwelu is a poultry farmer in Tulimani, Makueni County. The chicken house is dark inside and crammed for the more than 30 chickens she rears. “I have to try and conserve space,” she says. Victoria went into poultry farming to make money from selling eggs as well as chicken meat. The small space, to her, is enough for the brood – which increases every few weeks and she has to sell off adult chickens to create space for the hatchlings. “I have never looked at it as confined space. I have always thought it was big enough for my chicken,” she says. If it is not for a few wire-meshed sections, Victoria’s chicken house has little difference with a traditional human mud house. The floor is littered with uneaten chicken marsh and chicken droppings. A strong pungent smell is unmistakable inside. Do the chickens produce to Victoria’s satisfaction, we ask. “I believe so,” she says. “I don’t know if they can produce more if I changed their environment.” A few times, Victoria says, tragedy has struck in form of disease and she would lose nearly all of her livestock. “When a disease strikes, the chickens fall like dead birds from a tree,” she says. Victoria has never sat in a farming class. So, she can’t fully comprehend what happens with her chickens. Poultry farmers like Victoria rarely realise optimal profits from their ventures because their chicken rearing methods depress production. According to Dr Victor Yamo, a veterinarian and poultry specialist at World Animal Protection, there are fundamental practices that every poultry farmer needs to adopt to realise better production – whether the chicken is a broiler, a layer or kienyeji. He adds that for farmers to optimise their production they should strive to ensure the chicken’s fundamental needs are met. Feeding and watering Due to progress in genetic selection and breeding, the poultry industry has been able to reduce the time it takes to get broilers to market weight (2kg) from eight weeks (1978) to six weeks (1990s) to five weeks (2005). According to Dr Yamo, to record this productivity, farmers must provide broilers with quality feeds and clean water. He notes that broilers are fed on a two-stage diet starting with Broiler Starter followed by Broiler Finisher.
Read more at: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/article/2001246544/common-mistakes-every-poultry-farmer-must-avoid
“I have never looked at it as confined space. I have always thought it was big enough for my chicken,” she says. If it is not for a few wire-meshed sections, Victoria’s chicken house has little difference with a traditional human mud house. The floor is littered with uneaten chicken marsh and chicken droppings. A strong pungent smell is unmistakable inside. Do the chickens produce to Victoria’s satisfaction, we ask. “I believe so,” she says. “I don’t know if they can produce more if I changed their environment.” A few times, Victoria says, tragedy has struck in form of disease and she would lose nearly all of her livestock. “When a disease strikes, the chickens fall like dead birds from a tree,” she says. Victoria has never sat in a farming class. So, she can’t fully comprehend what happens with her chickens. Poultry farmers like Victoria rarely realise optimal profits from their ventures because their chicken rearing methods depress production. According to Dr Victor Yamo, a veterinarian and poultry specialist at World Animal Protection, there are fundamental practices that every poultry farmer needs to adopt to realise better production – whether the chicken is a broiler, a layer or kienyeji. He adds that for farmers to optimise their production they should strive to ensure the chicken’s fundamental needs are met.
avoid By Gardy chacha | Published Sat, July 8th 2017 at 00:00, Updated July 7th 2017 at 22:55 GMT +3 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Three-day-old broilers at Nyamvula Lenga’s poultry room in her quarter an acre plot at Lilongwe, overlooking the Port Reitz Creek in Mombasa County. [Photo: File, Standard] Victoria Mwelu is a poultry farmer in Tulimani, Makueni County. The chicken house is dark inside and crammed for the more than 30 chickens she rears. “I have to try and conserve space,” she says. Victoria went into poultry farming to make money from selling eggs as well as chicken meat. The small space, to her, is enough for the brood – which increases every few weeks and she has to sell off adult chickens to create space for the hatchlings. “I have never looked at it as confined space. I have always thought it was big enough for my chicken,” she says. If it is not for a few wire-meshed sections, Victoria’s chicken house has little difference with a traditional human mud house. The floor is littered with uneaten chicken marsh and chicken droppings. A strong pungent smell is unmistakable inside. Do the chickens produce to Victoria’s satisfaction, we ask. “I believe so,” she says. “I don’t know if they can produce more if I changed their environment.” A few times, Victoria says, tragedy has struck in form of disease and she would lose nearly all of her livestock. “When a disease strikes, the chickens fall like dead birds from a tree,” she says. Victoria has never sat in a farming class. So, she can’t fully comprehend what happens with her chickens. Poultry farmers like Victoria rarely realise optimal profits from their ventures because their chicken rearing methods depress production. According to Dr Victor Yamo, a veterinarian and poultry specialist at World Animal Protection, there are fundamental practices that every poultry farmer needs to adopt to realise better production – whether the chicken is a broiler, a layer or kienyeji. He adds that for farmers to optimise their production they should strive to ensure the chicken’s fundamental needs are met. Feeding and watering Due to progress in genetic selection and breeding, the poultry industry has been able to reduce the time it takes to get broilers to market weight (2kg) from eight weeks (1978) to six weeks (1990s) to five weeks (2005). According to Dr Yamo, to record this productivity, farmers must provide broilers with quality feeds and clean water. He notes that broilers are fed on a two-stage diet starting with Broiler Starter followed by Broiler Finisher.
Read more at: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/article/2001246544/common-mistakes-every-poultry-farmer-must-avoid
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