Best tips to have healthy layers for quality egg production

There is always that question of; what am I doing wrong? This applies mostly to poultry farming business. Without doubt, it is expected that you will succeed if at all you go everything according to the books. Rearing chicken for egg production is a profitable activity that calls for patience and heave capital investment. Below are top tips that will guide you to get the best out of your layers.

Ensure that you offer quality feeds 

Feed is very important in quality egg production. The type of feed that you give to your chicken will affect the productivity of your layers. As a wise poultry farmer take your time to research on the best quality feeds in your country. This will certify that you buy quality feeds for your layers. Most successful farmers would argue that mash or pellet feeds would do the trick. Yes, this is true but you ought to supplement the feed with greens, fruits and worms if possible.

Regular cleaning of nest boxes

Certainly, you would not feel comfortable sleeping or resting on a dirty place. The same case applies to chicken for egg production. They feel comfortable laying on nests that are cleaned regularly.

Give your layers space to roam about

Chickens that are happy always lay more eggs hence satisfying the farmer’s needs. Try as much as possible to rear chickens in a big space where they will find it easy to roam about. There are those poultry farmers that make use of flexible pens. Such pens give layers time to graze in clean and comfortable environs. Keep in mind that pens are of great benefit in protecting chicken from predators. 

Calcium is very important

Laying eggs drains a lot of calcium from layers. This means that you should supplement calcium to the feeds that you offer to your chicken. There are several calcium supplements that you can make use of to solve this calcium deficiency. Also, crushed oysters provide calcium and can be offered to egg producing chicken. 

Chicken inspection

Poultry farming business demands that a farmer be there to always inspect chicken. This type of inspection is done by checking the feet, wattles, combs, bills, wings etc. It is important to be very keen on broken bones and infected wounds. If at all there are signs that makes you worried, please take one of your layers to the vet for further examination. Alternatively, you can request your local vet to pay you a visit and help solve the situation.

Give your layers fresh water

Fresh water is essential in making certain that your chickens are healthy and highly productive. If you have been keen on layers they normally avoid dirty water and opt to stay thirsty. Therefore, always give your layers fresh water for maximum egg production.

Controlling parasites 

Your poultry house should be free from parasites such as mites. If you are not sure about the best insecticides to control parasites, kindly ask your local vet for assistance.

With the above tips, you can rest assured that your layers would be productive if you take time to follow the above pointers.

Best Brooding Technique

When it comes to broilers having the right brooder is key. Brooder is simply a room where you will place your broilers during the first few weeks or days. This room normally gives an easy time to the farmer when trying to control the temperature levels in the poultry house. It is worth pointing out that temperature or rather heat is essential for young birds to grow. The good thing about providing sufficient heat is that it gives the chicks an ideal room temperature to survive. Your brooder should act like the mother chicken where they find warmth when they try to sleep.  This critique takes you through the best ways to have your brooder in place for your broilers and layers.

Get to know about temperature levels

Depending on the age of the chicks, temperature levels differ inside the brooder. Below are recommended temperature levels that you should try to maintain inside the brooder:

Week	Temperature at chick level	Temp inside the house
1	30-35	30-32
2	30-32	27-29
3	28-29	24-26
4	26-27	21-23

From the above table, it is evident that temperature inside the brooder decreases as days go by. This makes sense since the chicks have wings to keep themselves warm. Probably you are wondering how you would be measuring temperature inside the brooder house. There are certain specific thermometers meant for poultry production. You have to ask any poultry store if they have any. Please ensure that you settle for a thermometer that suits your budget. Temperature at the chick level refers to the temperature on the wood shavings where the chicks lie.

Avoid corners in your brooder

A big mistake that farmers normally do is having corners inside their poultry houses. These corners can be considered as killing zones for either broilers or layers. Avoid corners at all cost as this will reduce the number of deaths you will be facing for your current flock. To do this, you can simply use ply-wood/ soft wood. To save on the wood, you can opt to cut them horizontally into two halves. These will take care of the corners that you have in your poultry house.

Ensure you use the right type of wood shavings 

Wood shavings is not a matter to be neglected. There are some poultry farmers who are normally mislead into buying the wrong type of wood shavings. The best wood shavings are those from a shaving machine. Do not settle for those that are from manual shaving machines. These are too bulky and will not provide a comfortable environment for your chicken.

Lighting up your brooder

Lighting your brooder is as important as keeping it warm. Provision of light ensures that your flock can feed day and night. This gives you an advantage of selling them early enough. Consequently, you will be getting your profits within the shortest time possible.

Bringing in new flock to the brooder

NOTE, before bringing a new flock to the brooder it is advisable to spray it using disinfectant. Of course this should be done after thorough cleaning has been done on the room. 

To sum up, simply try to be a unique poultry farmer worth talking about out there. Follow the above brooding tips to ensure that you rear top quality poultry products.

Surviving the last 2 weeks in broiler farming

Broiler farming is rearing of chicken simply for meat purposes. Most people are normally scared that rearing chicks from a tender age is a difficult task to be accomplished. Well, if you thought that this is the only obstacle to face then you better ask a small scale farmer doing this type of farming business. The first few weeks are normally very easy to handle more so in terms of finance. During the first week if you are rearing less than 500 broilers, this might cost you just a bag or two for feeds. This is easy to handle. 

The second week is also relatively easy since probably you might have to buy same number of bags as the first week. The nightmare begins in the third week as you approach the second week. As a matter of fact, most farmers into this type of farming business end up selling their flock at a tender age simply because they lack the funds to continue. It happens right?

Week four comes with a bang, demanding for 1 bag of feed everyday. This is not all, water intake on broilers is very high. 2000 liters can only take 1 week and some few days. At some point you might try to minimize on offering feed to these birds but truth be told, you will only be prolonging the rearing days. Eventually you might even have to rear your broilers for 7 weeks to reach the required size. True right?

The good news that wins a smile from someone venturing into this type of farming business is that the birds grow very fast as they approach week 5. In fact, if you give them plenty of water with regulated vitamin intake, you will be selling them in week 5. This implies that you will still be making profits even though you spent a fortune on them during the last few weeks.

Remember; Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve -Napoleon Hill