Artib Farm

Cockerels are the young roosters, the male counterparts of the layers (meant for egg production) which reach maturity within 5 to 6 months of age. Before the discovery of modern broiler, cockerels were the meat producers while the hen lays eggs for chicks or table purpose. Most farmers do not regularly rear cockerel in commercial quantity due to their slow growth rate, low feed conversion rate and non tender meat at maturity. Some of the beneficial property of cockerel are low price of chicks, ability to withstand stress and possession of sweet meat. Besides, a matured cockerel can weigh up to 2.5 kg under proper care (Health and feeding management).  Cockerels feed on Starter Feed for their first 4 weeks, grower from 4 week of age to about 16 week old and they can then be exposed to locally formulated feed from wheat offal, corn bran, palm kernel cake, cheap grains and groundnut cake. They can also set free to free range from 4 week of age, this really saves feeding cost. ...

Layers are the egg laying hens; the female counterpart of cockerels. They are otherwise refer to as PULLETS . They possess low body weight and fat. Layers are in different forms based on their laying ability and body weight. They start laying around 16 to 21 week old and body weight of about 1.5 kg around to laying age. The classes of egg laying hens are White and Brown egg laying hens. They are capable of laying up to 325 eggs annually. The egg and yolk colour vary from one form of layer to the other. They feed starter feed till 8 week old, grower feed from 8th week till about 5% of them start laying and layers feed throughout the laying period. 1.) White Egg Laying Hens This type of hens is comparatively smaller in size. They eat less food and the color of the egg shell is white. Some of the popular breeds of white egg laying hens are Isa White, Lehman White, Nikchik, Bab Cock BV-300, Harvard White, Hi Sex White, Sever White, Hy line White and Bovanch White. They might not ...

Health management cannot be neglected in the story of successful poultry business. It cuts across medication and vaccination schedule as well as General Disease Prevention . In our previous articles, we discussed medication and vaccination schedules for Broiler , Noiler and Layers . Also, the article - Commercial Cockerel Farming , it explained feed, space requirement for cockerel and handling of roosters. This article will mainly focus on the medication and vaccination schedule for cockerels. Antibiotics, Anticoccidiosis, antiviral (tyloxine based drug) and multivitamin are the required drugs to be considered while cockerels depend mainly on Gumboro and LaSota vaccines. Below is the vaccination and medication programs for cockerel birds. Be aware that there are certain abrupt conditions which might call for sudden treatment or vaccination of your flock. It is therefore advisable that you always consult an experienced farmer or veterinary doctor during infection outbreak. ...

Cockerels are the young roosters, the male counterparts of the layers (meant for egg production) which reach maturity within 5 to 6 months of age. Before the discovery of modern broiler, cockerels were the meat producers while the hen lays eggs for chicks or table purpose. Since hatcheries produced separate hybrids for meat and egg productions, the pullets (layers) are kept for egg production while the cockerels given out at a very cheap price. Thinking of commercial meat production, most farmers do not consider cockerel for some reasons. Some of the reasons for rejecting the cockerels on commercial quantity are: 1. Slow growth rate. 2. Low feed conversion rate. 3. Non tender meat at maturity. Even with the above reasons, there are still advantageous features of the Cockerels over Broilers. Good features of cockerels are as follow: 1. Cost of chicks is very low which enhances more profit. 2. Cockerels are strong and therefore easier to raise. 3. Meat from cockerels possess b...

Feed and space are important requirements that should be properly checked for profitable egg production. Some of the expectations of layer farmers are high efficiency of at least 75%, big and healthy eggs on daily basis. All these can be disrupted by inadequate feed and space per bird. Although there are other factors like Biosecurity, Medication and Vaccination Schedule contributing to optimum performance of layers, but space and feed requirements cannot be neglected. Feed Requirement There three types of feed for layers depending on their age and nature. These are Starter, Grower and Layer feeds. Starter feed is given for the first 8 weeks and a chick will need at least 1.2 kg of the feed at this stage. Grower Mash is given to the birds between 8 to 20 week of age or until when 5 to 10% of the birds started laying. They need at least 5.2 kg of feed at this level. A bird is expected to weigh at least 1.5 kg at this stage. Layers Mash is introduced to the birds when 5-1...

As earlier discussed in our previous Article - Noiler Feed And Space Requirements , noilers are hybrid of cockerel and broiler which are capable of reaching table size (mature) within four months. Noiler birds can also mature before four (4) months depending on certain factors like biosecurity, stock density, air quality, feed quantity and quality. In this article, we are to discuss noiler health management in the aspect of medication and vaccination program. Below is the health management schedule for noiler: Day 1: Multivitamins (to ease transportation stress) Day 2-4: Antibiotics, Multivitamins in the afternoon Day 5-8: Anticoccidiosis, clean water in the afternoon Day 9: Multivitamins Day 10: LaSota vaccine (plus skimmed milk) Day 11: Multivitamins, clean water in the afternoon Day 12-15: Antibiotics, clean water or multivitamins depending on the weather condition Day 16: Multivitamins Day 17: Gumboro vaccine (plus skimmed milk) Day 18: Multivitamins Day 28: L...

Intensive (contained) poultry housing system allow the farmer to have more control over Feed Maximization, disease control and protection of the birds against predators. There are several methods attached to this system ranging from deep litter to raised floor and makeshift caging system which can be used in a backyard or standard roof. This article may focus on small scope poultry business but its concepts can be applicable to large project. With the explanation, it shows that there are three types of intensive system and they are explained as follow: 1.) Deep - litter system A properly managed deep litter system provides good environment for the high quality breeds and a good source of manure. Litter has to be changed as at when due and kept dry always to prevent quick spread of diseases or infections. Advantages of deep litter system includes: * Previous studies showed that if all being equal, layers produce more eggs on deep litter than in cage system. * It allows the b...

Just like any other business, poultry farming needs certain requirements for optimum business operation. There are several ways of classifying amenities for poultry farming depending on the type of farming, nature/cost of requirement and farmer's point of view. It can be classified based on importance as BASIC and ADDITIONAL facility or based on cost as FIXED and VARIABLE cost. However it is being classified, certain inputs are more important than others. Classification Of Poultry Facility a) Based On Nature/Cost i.) Fixed cost: These are the inputs that once they are obtained, they can be used for a long period of time without replacement but only need to be maintained. Typical example of such requirements are land, poultry house, feeders, drinkers, cages, electrical wiring and gadgets etc.  ii.) Variable cost: They are the farm inputs that are recurrent i.e they cannot be used for very long period of time but need to be purchase at the beginning of every stocking op...