Poultry farming is a business which can earn you a big money, but there are some things that you must know and do to be a successful
chicken farmer. In this post we will analyzed all the best advise we can give to make you a successful farmer.
Every day we receives hundred of questions on our blog Chicken and Snail's blog from both old and new chicken farmers. Since our blog is all about poultry farming and Snail.
These advice will be analyzed bellow
1.WHERE TO GET YOUR CHICKEN
There is a lot of differing opinions on the best place to buy your chicken. some have advice that best way to buy chicks is from hatcheries. Others would suggest you buy from a reputable poultry breeder.
But our own advice, Here are some things you should consider before making your decision on where to buy your chicken.
a) You must know what role you expect your chickens to play. Do you want them for meat? Do you want them simply for eggs? Deciding this before buying your chickens will help you determine what type of breed to buy, the kind of pens (house) that you will need, etc. This post will help you to choose the breed that is right for you.
b) Never buy chicken from someone you don’t personally know or from those that sells on the streets. You might end up getting a diseased chicken or a bird with some health challenge's, or an older hen that is past her productive years. If possible, take a more experienced poultry farmer with you so that he or she can advice you when and where purchases your birds.
c) You must decide on what chicken breeds you really want to get and stick to them. A flock with a mix of breeds can sound good, but some breeds do not mix well with other and this may hinder their growth. If you are planning to have more than one breed of chicken in your pens make sure you do some research before buying new chicken.
d) Always remember that foreign chicken grow very fast. Don't buy too many chicks at once because you may not have room for all of them. Make sure you have a big enough house for them to stay in for up to 6 weeks and you must always get money for feeds.
e) Pick a breed appeals best to you, you're the one that has to take care of them everyday rain or shine. You'll do better with them, be happier, and stay with poultry longer. Extreme climate? If you want them bad enough you can make them work.
When adding new chickens to your flock, make sure you put them in a different house, Keeping the new chickens away from the old will lesser the risk of the old contracting any disease from the new chickens, It is recommended to keep them quarantined for a month so that you can be rest assured that they did not have any diseases.
Providing a Comfortable Coop for your Chickens.
f) The number one advise chicken expert will give you in building a house is to make sure that the house is big so that chicken can have cross ventilation. The bigger your chicken is the more ventilation they needs. for 10-15 chickens in no time. You can always build a temporary wall if it's too large, but building additions is much more difficult. So make your chicken house is bigger.
g) Never under estimated these three words , dryness, cleanliness and ventilation. Your chickens must be kept in a dry house to help control disease and health challenge's. Also, give your chicken house as much ventilation as you can, without making it draughty. A dirty house and a pile of wet floor can provide a good breeding ground for chicken disease, so keep the chicken house cleaned always.
h) Put wood save or saw dust on the floor so as to help in drying the floor.
• Putting saw dust in the house will help in removing every waste at once.
j) Protect your chicken from predators, finally, Use heavy gauge hardware cloth and try to avoid chicken wire. Chicken wire does not stand the test of time and your chickens, especially the roosters might injure their combs when they stick their heads through the wire. Cat and dogs can chew through most chicken wire.
Now that you have bought your chicks and built them a great house, all you need to do is to know how to take good care of your chicken.
We have some tips that will be helpful for your Chicken business
1. If you are new in poultry farming, it is recommended to ask questions from those that have been in the business for long time, then follow their advice. There is no substitute for experience as it is the best teacher and what sounds good in theory over multiple decades may not always turn out .
2. Chicken can eat everything when they are older, They will eat anything from burnt food, leftover food, fish carcasses, pumpkin rinds, etc. Just make sure not to feed them toxic and poisonous foods and plants.
3. Buying a good balanced commercial feed, If you're not a nutritionist, don't mix your own feed, and don't let supplements or "treats" make up more than about 10% of the food you provide for your birds.
4. Don't wait until it's dark before you put the chickens inside their house in case of free rangers chicken,. This is when a lot of predators attack so make sure you put them in early.
5. Keep everything clean. Cleanliness in the area may be harder to maintain with all the poop but remember to clean out their house, run, feeders and waterers as needed. This will keep them cleaner and less likely to get parasites or get sick.
6. Chicks can drown easily in water bowls. Fill water bowls with clean pebbles or marbles to prevent accidental drownings.
7. Spent time getting to know your birds. Watch their behaviour, droppings etc. It can save their lives if you're able to notice the even the slightest warning signs early on.
8. mites and lices are a common and fatal issue whether you have 5 chickens or 500. Make sure you take the necessary precautions.
9. If your hen is laying eggs, feed them with a premium quality layer feed with additional calcium and that will make the eggs to be strong, Keep feed available all the time so they can eat, the more they eat the more eggs they laid
11. Check the body weight, color of the comb & wattles, crops and droppings of your chickens regularly and make sure you know what it should look and how it feel like. When you see that something is not right with your chicken, isolate it immediately from other chicken.
12. Make sure you personally feed your sick chicken and make it to drink
sufficiently. This may sound like common sense but it can take all the difference between life and death within a few short days.
13. Always vaccinating your chickens , Vaccinations can save you a lot of risk and help to make your chicken healthier.
chicken farmer. In this post we will analyzed all the best advise we can give to make you a successful farmer.
Every day we receives hundred of questions on our blog Chicken and Snail's blog from both old and new chicken farmers. Since our blog is all about poultry farming and Snail.
These advice will be analyzed bellow
1.WHERE TO GET YOUR CHICKEN
There is a lot of differing opinions on the best place to buy your chicken. some have advice that best way to buy chicks is from hatcheries. Others would suggest you buy from a reputable poultry breeder.
But our own advice, Here are some things you should consider before making your decision on where to buy your chicken.
a) You must know what role you expect your chickens to play. Do you want them for meat? Do you want them simply for eggs? Deciding this before buying your chickens will help you determine what type of breed to buy, the kind of pens (house) that you will need, etc. This post will help you to choose the breed that is right for you.
b) Never buy chicken from someone you don’t personally know or from those that sells on the streets. You might end up getting a diseased chicken or a bird with some health challenge's, or an older hen that is past her productive years. If possible, take a more experienced poultry farmer with you so that he or she can advice you when and where purchases your birds.
c) You must decide on what chicken breeds you really want to get and stick to them. A flock with a mix of breeds can sound good, but some breeds do not mix well with other and this may hinder their growth. If you are planning to have more than one breed of chicken in your pens make sure you do some research before buying new chicken.
d) Always remember that foreign chicken grow very fast. Don't buy too many chicks at once because you may not have room for all of them. Make sure you have a big enough house for them to stay in for up to 6 weeks and you must always get money for feeds.
e) Pick a breed appeals best to you, you're the one that has to take care of them everyday rain or shine. You'll do better with them, be happier, and stay with poultry longer. Extreme climate? If you want them bad enough you can make them work.
When adding new chickens to your flock, make sure you put them in a different house, Keeping the new chickens away from the old will lesser the risk of the old contracting any disease from the new chickens, It is recommended to keep them quarantined for a month so that you can be rest assured that they did not have any diseases.
Providing a Comfortable Coop for your Chickens.
f) The number one advise chicken expert will give you in building a house is to make sure that the house is big so that chicken can have cross ventilation. The bigger your chicken is the more ventilation they needs. for 10-15 chickens in no time. You can always build a temporary wall if it's too large, but building additions is much more difficult. So make your chicken house is bigger.
g) Never under estimated these three words , dryness, cleanliness and ventilation. Your chickens must be kept in a dry house to help control disease and health challenge's. Also, give your chicken house as much ventilation as you can, without making it draughty. A dirty house and a pile of wet floor can provide a good breeding ground for chicken disease, so keep the chicken house cleaned always.
h) Put wood save or saw dust on the floor so as to help in drying the floor.
• Putting saw dust in the house will help in removing every waste at once.
j) Protect your chicken from predators, finally, Use heavy gauge hardware cloth and try to avoid chicken wire. Chicken wire does not stand the test of time and your chickens, especially the roosters might injure their combs when they stick their heads through the wire. Cat and dogs can chew through most chicken wire.
Now that you have bought your chicks and built them a great house, all you need to do is to know how to take good care of your chicken.
We have some tips that will be helpful for your Chicken business
1. If you are new in poultry farming, it is recommended to ask questions from those that have been in the business for long time, then follow their advice. There is no substitute for experience as it is the best teacher and what sounds good in theory over multiple decades may not always turn out .
2. Chicken can eat everything when they are older, They will eat anything from burnt food, leftover food, fish carcasses, pumpkin rinds, etc. Just make sure not to feed them toxic and poisonous foods and plants.
3. Buying a good balanced commercial feed, If you're not a nutritionist, don't mix your own feed, and don't let supplements or "treats" make up more than about 10% of the food you provide for your birds.
4. Don't wait until it's dark before you put the chickens inside their house in case of free rangers chicken,. This is when a lot of predators attack so make sure you put them in early.
5. Keep everything clean. Cleanliness in the area may be harder to maintain with all the poop but remember to clean out their house, run, feeders and waterers as needed. This will keep them cleaner and less likely to get parasites or get sick.
6. Chicks can drown easily in water bowls. Fill water bowls with clean pebbles or marbles to prevent accidental drownings.
7. Spent time getting to know your birds. Watch their behaviour, droppings etc. It can save their lives if you're able to notice the even the slightest warning signs early on.
8. mites and lices are a common and fatal issue whether you have 5 chickens or 500. Make sure you take the necessary precautions.
9. If your hen is laying eggs, feed them with a premium quality layer feed with additional calcium and that will make the eggs to be strong, Keep feed available all the time so they can eat, the more they eat the more eggs they laid
11. Check the body weight, color of the comb & wattles, crops and droppings of your chickens regularly and make sure you know what it should look and how it feel like. When you see that something is not right with your chicken, isolate it immediately from other chicken.
12. Make sure you personally feed your sick chicken and make it to drink
sufficiently. This may sound like common sense but it can take all the difference between life and death within a few short days.
13. Always vaccinating your chickens , Vaccinations can save you a lot of risk and help to make your chicken healthier.
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