You can almost feel it when your birds aren’t performing the way they should. They’re eating, but something is missing. Growth feels slow. Immunity feels shaky. Stress creeps in quietly. And here’s the twist most farmers never see coming: the answer might already be in your kitchen. Herbs that many people ignore - cloves, garlic, ginger, cinnamon can flip the entire energy of a flock. Not superstition, not trial and error but real plant power with real results. Cloves Cloves act like tiny guardians in your birds’ gut. The eugenol inside them fights off harmful microbes and steadies digestion. Birds start converting feed better, and you can literally see the difference in their body weight. Use 0.5 to 1 gram per kilo of feed for chicks, up to 2 grams for older birds, or boil a clove or two per liter of water a few times a week. Garlic Garlic brings that bold hit of allicin—strong enough to lift immunity and help birds hold their ground during disease pressure. Crush one clove per lite...

Many farmers swear by bitter leaf and neem as natural health boosters for poultry. They’re right, both plants are packed with compounds that fight disease and support immunity. But here’s where most people go wrong: mixing them together like a herbal cocktail. That combination might do more harm than good. Let’s quickly unpack it. Bitter Leaf (Vernonia amygdalina) This plant is a natural detoxifier. It flushes out toxins, improves appetite, and supports liver function which are all crucial for growth and feed conversion. Its bitter compounds also help control coccidiosis and intestinal worms when used moderately. Think of it as a gentle cleanser that helps your birds stay sharp and eat well. Neem (Azadirachta indica) Neem is tougher medicine. It’s antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and antiparasitic. Farmers use neem tea or soaked leaves to control infections like Newcastle or bacterial diarrhea. It strengthens the immune system and repels insects naturally. But it’s also very poten...

If you have ever wondered how to naturally boost your flock’s health, cloves might be the little powerhouse you’ve been overlooking. Not just a kitchen spice, cloves pack a punch in poultry farming and your birds will thank you. What Makes Cloves Special? Cloves contain eugenol , a compound with antibacterial , antiviral , and antioxidant properties . That’s a fancy way of saying cloves help fight infections, reduce gut stress, and even improve digestion. In practical terms, healthy guts mean better feed absorption, stronger immunity, and more vigorous growth for your birds. Key Benefits for Your Flock: • Improved immunity: Cloves help ward off common infections naturally. • Better digestion: Stimulates enzyme activity and gut health. • Enhanced growth: Healthier birds eat better and convert feed more efficiently. • Natural antimicrobial support: Reduces risks from harmful bacteria in the water and feed. How to Use Cloves in Poultry: 1. In Feed: Crush or grind the cloves into a fine ...

There are several diseases that can be symptomatic in poultry farming as we have human. In fact, a sign may indicate different poultry diseases. Not everytime green poops will interpret Gumboro, it could be as a result feed the birds consumed. What we call cough in poultry is actually Chronic Respiratory Disease (CRD). CRD is a form of poultry disease that interferes the respiratory tract of the birds, it may cause labour breathing, chirping and slight cough. It is a common disease affecting broilers follows by Coccidiosis . We have talked about Causes, Symptoms and Inorganic Treatment of CRD in one of our previous articles.  In this article, we focus on organic treatment of cough in broilers. The required recipes are ginger, cayenne pepper, scent leaf and garlic which can be prepared as follows: 1.) 750gram each of ginger, garlic and cayenne pepper.  2.) 50gram of scent leaf.  3.) Blend all in 1 litre of water. You may also like to read more about: • The Use...

In the course of raising broilers, the first thing that cross farmer's mind is how to make the birds have highest weight in the shortest possible time. This is easily achievable provided that the farmer can understand all it takes. There are different factors that contribute to the bird's weight gain. Broiler strain, health status, air, feed and water quality are some of the factors to be considered. The use of antibiotic growth booster by some farmers has been banned by NAFDAC because it causes antibiotic resistance in animals which make them unsafe for consumption.  There are organic or natural recipes that can be used as growth boosters either being added to feed, water or consumed directly. They are not only cheaper and safer but also enhance  general health of broilers. Some of the organic boosters are: 1. Bitter Kola Bitter Kola is not only full of antimicrobial effects but also an important natural growth booster for broilers to gain unexpected weight within short peri...

Molasses is the thick dark brown syrup of a texture inbetween the real maple syrup and golden syrup. Molasses is a byproduct originated from crushed sugar cane, sugar beets or refined sugar making process.  It is the left over after boiling down the cane juice. People majorly use it as a sweetener in baking and cooking processes. Aside being a sweeter, molasses has been an important part of livestock feeds for long period of time. It can be used as binder for feed components and to increase palatability. Since molasses is sweet, it is added to water during cold weather to encourage drinking. Beyond taste and binding abilities, it also offers health benefits to the heart and enables the muscle building. Blackstrap molasses Blackstrap molasses happens to be the proper choice for chickens as it is high in iron, magnesium, potassium and calcium which are important to chicken's health. Though it can be replaced with other related types of molasses. Besides, molasses based feed...

Bitter leaf (Vernonia amygdalina) is a shrub or small tree that grows throughout tropical Africa. It is a very important protective food and useful for the maintenance of health and treatment of various human and poultry infections. Coccidiosis spread faster in intensive system of rearing, it rarely affect extensive rearing system because of the birds' access to some herbs which bitter leaf is one of them. Adding bitter leaf extract to chicken's drinking water prevent and cure coccidiosis. How To Prepare Bitter Leaf  Extract Just like any other leaves, there are two major ways of extracting bitter leaf juice depending on the quantity required. Bitter leaf can be extracted by hand squeezing or by the use of kitchen blender. The juice is expected to be as thick as wine. To use manual method, gather some bitter leaves. Remove the leaves from the stem and rinse them in a bowl. Rinse properly but do not squeeze too hard. The quantity depends on the volume of juice require...

Spices are useful in our day to day activities especially for cooking of food. Only few people know that these spices can also be used to cure certain ailments in the poultry flock. It simply means that you cannot only cook your chicken with spices but also use the same spices to treat certain poultry infections. Ginger, pepper, salt, garlic, aloe vera, turmeric and sour milk are just among the food and spices that are medicinal in nature. They are therefore essentially required by farmers practising organic farming. Below are some medicinal spices and their ethno-veterinary importance: 1.) Garlic Garlic is a family of onions. It boosts birds' immunity, fights respiratory diseases and also produces sulphur in the body. It can therefore kill external parasites because the sulphur in the chicken's blood will overpower the parasites. Just add 3 cloves of garlic to 5 litres of water or a pinch or two of powdered garlic in dry feeds everyday. 2.) Ginger Ginger has antiviral...