In order to achieve a tremendous success and profit in poultry production, there are some key factors that must be properly managed. Such factors include those things that supports life, believe me, birds are living things, they also require the basic necessities of life to survive, grow well, live healthy, reproduce and probably give you the rearer or the farmer your desired output. Definitely, once the output is measurably high, profit is maximized, but once you are adamant to the needs of your chickens, they will give you the opposite which is low output.
Those factors are;
- Good feeding condition
- Air
- Light
- Temperature
- Sanitation and restocking
- Quality information on metrics
Good feeding condition
For your birds to do well and give you high productivity you must maintain a good feeding habit, you do not starve your birds and expect high output, from experience, if you feed your birds anyhow, they will give you anyhow result and definitely you will not feel good. Most importantly, for those of you who are into egg production, the more your pullets are well fed the more sizable Eggs they will produce, when you starve your pullets they will Lay tiny or small eggs and such will not give you your desired profit. Feed chickens with clean feeding and water trough to avoid diseases outbreak.
Drug administration must be done based on time and schedule and the right dosage must given as prescribed by the Veterinary doctor.
Air
Birds as living things generally require fresh air at the right temperature. Never try to reduce the amount of fresh air the chickens are supposed to get, for instance may be the weather is cold and you want to increase the temperature of the poultry house. Try as possible as you can to change the method of heat supply without obstructing air flow. Whenever the poultry house is hot and stuff, the chickens automatically become unstable and uncomfortable, they won’t eat or drink and this alone can cause weight reduction and definitely result to low performance and productivity.
Chickens can be affected by Viral and bacterial infections once they are exposed to bad health conditions. Dust and ammonia destroys the respiratory system of birds.
Harmful bacterial can be dispersed in dust like the Escherichia Coli and it can lead to damage of the mucous membranes and these can cause low productivity. Every poultry farmer that wants to be successful must be mindful of the atmosphere of his/her poultry house to avoid diseases and low output in production.
Light
Right from day old, light is highly recommended for chicks. There should not be darkness or shadowed area in the poultry house because without light the birds won’t eat or drink and this alone will produce a very bad result and will reduce productivity. But if a poultry farmer can maintain steady light in the pen from day old till your birds reach the recommended seven -day weight specifically for broilers,then natural day light can be very okay. For layers, it is quite different because layers need warm and more suitable environment to lay eggs. Layers hardly lay eggs during cold season, so they need light to give you more eggs which will also increase your profit.
Temperature
In order to achieve success in poultry keeping, a moderate and comfortable temperature range must be maintained. Temperature rises and falls have a very high detrimental effects on chickens especially the young chicks.
Excessive heat or cold affects production and may result to mortality. Therefore, every serious farmer must not joke with temperature as it reduce output when not properly managed, but if properly managed, the chickens will gain the recommended market weight and that will help to increase productivity and profit.
Sanitation and restocking
Your birds need clean and hygienic environment to grow well and healthy, the way you the farmer can contact diseases if your environment is not clean, that is also applicable to chickens, especially the young chicks. When cleaning the poultry house, try to remove the litter and organic materials before you wash out the house with water. The sanitizing agent can only be very effective if the organic materials are been properly removed. Once cleaning and sanitation is over, leave the poultry pen to fallow for two weeks before restocking.
Quality information
You need precise information on metrics of production and environmental parameters; for example the amount of temperature in degrees Celsius, needed at a given time in production, humidity, ammonia contents or air density, light intensity, vaccination metrics and timelines, feed amounts per time, weight gain per period and medications in time of disease. Most poultry farmers lack all these information on metrics and run their farm on predictions and assumptions which give inconsistent results and fluctuating rates of mortality. Some poultry farmers resort to social media groups to seek information on production and environmental metrics where they receive chorus answers that are dangerous and not remarkably right. Smart poultry farmers who crave for consistency in production output use digital applications for example docpol.com to get timely production information and metrics delivered to their mobile phone with little or no subscription fee. Docpol.com experts also offer farming advise by ensuring that appropriate knowledge are implemented for the best productivity results
Most importantly, always visit your birds in their pen and observe them closely. This can avert or prevent any impending danger on time.
Wishing you success!
Thank you