Small-scale chicken production - Journey to Forever

Agrodok 4

Small-scale chicken production

N. van Eekeren A. Maas

H.W. Saatkamp M. Verschuur

This publication is sponsored by the World's Poultry Science Association (WPSA)

? Agromisa Foundation and CTA, Wageningen, 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photocopy, microfilm or any other means, without written permission from the publisher. First edition: 1990 Fourth revised edition: 2006 Authors: N. van Eekeren, A. Maas, H.W. Saatkamp, M. Verschuur Editors: F. W. Aqhdam, J. Boland Design: J. Boland Translation: I. Guijt, W.J. Guijt; C. McGregor (editing) Printed by: Digigrafi, Wageningen, The Netherlands Revised by: G. W. Bouwman, G. de Lange and I. Puls ISBN Agromisa: 90-8573-069-4 ISBN CTA: 978-92-9081-347-7

Foreword

This Agrodok provides a wealth of useful information on how to overcome the main constraints in small-scale poultry production and deal with threats like predation and infectious diseases. It is a practical booklet with chapters on hatching, housing, nutrition and health. I sincerely hope and believe that the knowledge, tools and experiences offered here will be a valuable resource for poultry keepers. Above all, I hope that it will inspire readers to generate new ideas through applying the ideas they find here.

Chickens deserve to be treated well ? and professionally. You will see that the birds will show their gratitude by improving their performance! I wish you a healthy flock and a successful enterprise!

Dr. Ren? P. Kwakkel Wageningen University - Poultry Nutrition Research

This edition has been revised by Ineke Puls, Gert Wouter Bouwman and Gert de Lange of PTC+, Barneveld, under the guidance of Farzin Wafadar Aqhdam. Agromisa kindly acknowledges their contributions and critical comments. We also acknowledge the financial support of the World's Poultry Science Association, which made it possible to publish this Agrodok in several languages.

A number of illustrations used in this Agrodok derive from the Network for Smallholder Poultry Development (`Poultry Network'), USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the Newcastle Disease Field Guide by Alders and Spradbrow (ACIAR). The nutrition tables were provided by PTC+ and are based on a variety of sources.

Jeroen Boland Agromisa

Foreword

3

Contents

1 Introduction

6

2 Chicken breeds

8

2.1 Commercial and hybrid breeds

8

2.2 Local breeds

10

2.3 Choosing a chicken breed

11

3 Housing

13

3.1 Free-range chickens

14

3.2 Small-scale housing

17

3.3 Some housing options

19

4 Housing equipment

23

4.1 Feeders

23

4.2 Drinkers

26

4.3 Perches

27

4.4 Laying nests

28

5 Nutrition

33

5.1 Water

34

5.2 Energy requirements

34

5.3 Protein requirements

36

5.4 Vitamin requirements

37

5.5 Mineral requirements

37

5.6 Other ingredients in chicken diets

39

6 Feeding methods

40

6.1 Feeding in various housing systems

40

6.2 Feed intake

41

6.3 Restriction of energy intake

44

6.4 Feed composition

45

4

Small-scale chicken production

7 Health care

49

7.1 Infectious diseases and their causes

49

7.2 Hygiene and biosecurity

53

7.3 Vaccination

56

7.4 Parasites and feather pecking

58

8 Hatching and raising chicks

60

8.1 Hatching using brooding hens

60

8.2 Artificial hatching

61

8.3 Raising the chicks

62

9 Improving local chickens

65

9.1 Cock exchange programmes

65

9.2 Culling

65

10 Products and by-products

67

11 Farm records

69

11.1 Important data

69

11.2 Cost pricing

71

Appendix 1: Diseases and parasites

73

Appendix 2: Nutrition tables

76

Appendix 3: Common feedstuffs

83

Further reading

87

Internet sites

89

Useful addresses

90

Contents

5

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