Poultry Farming

Question 1 What does proper management of poultry includes?

Question 2 What are egger or layer?

Question 3 What are chicken or boilers?

Question 4 What are the disadvantages of desi hen?

Question 5 Name the exotic breeds of poultry and their characteristics in our country?

Question 6 What are vegetarian eggs?

Question 7 What determine the quality of eggs?

Question 8 What is the difference between boilers and layers and their management?

Question 9 Name few diseases in poultry birds?

The poultry industry with its production in the form of eggs and meat is of particular importance in providing a balanced diet for the human population.

Proper management of poultry includes improved methods of hatching, rearing, housing, sanitation, prevention from diseases and a sound marketing arrangement.

Chicken or Broiler

Chicken and eggs are choiced poultry products of a large section of non-vegetarian population, since it serves as a cheap source of animal protein. An egg laying poultry is called egger or layer and the poultry reared for obtaining meat is called chicken or broiler.

Poultry farming is undertaken basically to raise domestic fowl for egg production and chicken meat.

1) Poultry Breeders

Poultry breeds are included in following three categories:

a) Desi or indigenous breeds:

They are Aseel, Chittagong, Ghagus and Busra.

Aseel or Indian game breed provides high yield of meat and also is good egg layer. The average weight of cocks varies from 4 to 5 kg and of hens from 3 to 4 kg.

There occur only four popular varieties of Aseel, namely

(a) Peela (golden red),

(b) Yakub (black and red),

(c) Nurie (white), and

(d) Kajal (black)

The indigenous breeds of poultry are hardy (strong) and possess natural immunity against common diseases.

The disadvantages of desi hens :

(i) They are smaller in size

(ii) They are slow growing 

(iii) They lay less number of eggs (i.e., 60 eggs per year) and

(iv) They produce small sized eggs.

2) Exotic Breeds:

The two exotic breeds of poultry that are most popularly used in our country are:

(a) White Leghorn:

This very popular exotic breed of fowl produces long white eggs. Since white leghorn has small body size (body weight 2.7 kg of cock and 2.0 kg of hen), so need less feed for its maintenance. Thus, its farming proves quite economical.

(b) Rhode Island Red:

This is a dual type of breed, it is fairly good egg layer and also meat yielding (broiler). Some other exotic breeds of fowls in our country are Black Minorcha, Plymouth and Light Sussex.

(c) Cross breeds or Improved breeds of poultry:

The majority of the present day chickens used for production of egg and meat are the crossbreed blocks.Some improved crossbreed strains of fowl are HH260, IBL-80, B-77 and IIS-82

2) Variety Improvement

The programmes of cross breeding between Indian (indigenous) and foreign (exotic) breeds for variety improvement are focused to develop new varieties for the following desirable traits:

1) Quantity and quality of chicks

2) Dwarf broiler parent for commercial chick production for summer adaptation capacity / tolerance to high temperature

3) Low maintenance requirement

4) Improvement in hen housed for egg production and reduction in the size of the layer with ability to utilize more fibrous, cheap diet formulated using agricultural by products.

Egg and Broiler Production

There are two basic targets of poultry farming

1) Obtaining more and more eggs

2) getting flesh

Production of Eggs

A layer starts laying eggs at the age of 20 weeks. The egg production period in commercial layer is 500 days.

For increasing the egg production for the development of new variety or for improvement of variety of chicken with respect to quantity and quality of eggs, the following points are considered: 1) Egg number , 2) Sexual maturity , 3) Egg weight , 4) Body weight , 5) Feed efficiency , 6) Egg size,  7) Egg shape , 8) Shell colour , 9) Shell quality and 10) Internal quality of egg.

Production of vegetarian eggs: The fertile eggs rot rapidly than the infertile eggs thus, the production of infertile eggs is desired. Hens are capable of laying without the presence of cock and the eggs thus obtained are infertile. Such eggs are called vegetarian eggs.

Production of Broilers

Chickens are raised up to 6-7 weeks in the poultry farm. They grow to a weight of 700 gm to 1.5 kg in this period. They are fed with vitamin rich supplementary feed for good growth rate, better feed efficiency. They are produced as broilers and sent to market for meat purposes

Poultry Care

Good management practices are essential for the good production of poultry. These are often different for broilers and egg layers.

1) Housing, Shelter and Feed

Both layer and broiler breeds require different type of care :

a) Care for the layers. There are two distinct phases in the life of a layer:

(i) Growing period: The first phase of the life of poultry (i.e., the layer) is growing period (upto sexual maturity). During this period the chickens are called growers. The growers require enough space. Over-crowding tends to suppress their growth. The feed is given in a restricted and calculated manner.

(ii) Laying period: The period from sexual maturity till the end of egg laying is called laying period and the chickens are known as eggers or layers. The layers require enough space and adequate lighting. Light’s intensity and its duration has favourable effect on the laying output of the hens. Feed with vitamins, minerals and micronutrients also influence hatchability of eggs.

b) Care for the broilers:  Conditions provided have to be favourable for the fast growth and low mortality of broilers. The ration for broilers is protein rich with sufficient fat. In the poultry feed, the contents of vitamin A and K are kept high.

Diseases of Poultry

The poultry birds suffer from various diseases caused by viruses (Flue, Dermitis, Fowl pox, Ranikhet), bacteria (Tuberculosis, Cholera, Diarrhoea), fungi (Aspergillosis), parasites (worms, mites, lice), etc. They also suffer from nutritional deficiency diseases.