9 WAYS TO STOP HIGH MORTALITY RATE IN POULTRY

One major cause of economic loss in poultry farms is the death of birds. The moment a poultry farm is recording a high mortality rate before the end of a production cycle, the owner shouldn’t expect an encouraging profit—if not a loss—after sales. Economic loss due to mortality can be avoided or reduced to the minimum. It is very possible. The following tips will reveal how it can be achieved:

1. Always wash drinkers and replace the leftover water.
Make sure you wash the drinkers or drinking trough of your birds every morning and replace the water with clean and cool one. Don’t use chlorinated water or water from a stream or river that you don’t know its source. Also, ensure that you rinse off the drinkers to avoid re-contaminating the fresh water with soaps or detergents. Note: Please don’t ever discard leftover water around the pens. If you do, you’re signaling to soldier ants to pay your birds a visit. So discard leftover feeds and water far away from the production pens

2. Serve water before feeds Birds are different from humans or other animals. You must always serve them water before you serve them feeds, especially if you’re on a deep-litter system. This is to avoid stampeding as the chickens struggle for feeds at the same point. ALSO READ: Reasons for Keeping or Raising Animals

3. Avoid serving moldy feeds It is dangerous and risky to serve moldy feeds to your birds. Don’t do it. It is just like giving them poison. Moldy feeds can make your birds to become sick or have disease(s).

4. Strictly follow medication and vaccination schedule strictly.
You need to get the right vaccination and medication schedule of the poultry species you’re raising. This helps in immunizing your birds against some poultry killer diseases like Newcastle Diseases (ND), Fowl Pox, Fowl Typhoid, Gumboro Disease, Avian encephalomyelitis (AE or Epidemic Tremor), Marek’s Disease, etc. Medication such as dewormer and antibiotics are very important to the health of your chickens and other poultry species.

5. Collect and raise healthy chicks Most of the health problems faced by birds are as a result of a poor genetic background or early life. Some chickens are the product of poor parents. Some egg hatcheries are not reputable as they raise poor parent stocks to produce fertile eggs, or they buy eggs from bad and problematic parent stock farms. There are some poultry farmers who never make any attempts to know the source of eggs of a particular hatchery they are buying chicks from, hence they collect and raise problematic chicks.

6. Prevent ammonia build up When the litter in the poultry pen is left for a very long time, it gives rooms for increased production of ammonium gas, which will definitely choke your chickens, turkey, quail, etc. to death. So always remove wet or caked litters from pens and replace with new litters as soon as possible to avoid birds’ mortality due to choking or other respiratory problems. ALSO READ: Feed Formula Sample for Chick Mash There are hatcheries who don’t administer all the necessary vaccines such as Marek’s Disease Vaccine, Infectious Bronchitis vaccine (IBV) before distributing chicks to customers, thus exposing the future of those chicks to danger. Note: Always purchase your chicks from a very reputable hatchery. It is very important that you ask the officer in charge if they have given the chicks the necessary vaccines with proofs.

7. Build a predator-proof poultry The pen houses of your chickens should not be accessible to predators like foxes, hyenas, wild cats, rats and mice, snakes, hawks, etc. Make sure you install strong iron mesh nets round the pens and apply predator repellents. If you allow these predators to penetrate into your flock, they will kill and/or eat the number of birds they are capable of doing justice to.

8. Maintain proper hygiene and sanitation This is a somewhat wide topic, but the most important thing is that you should maintain proper hygiene and sanitation in and around your poultry farm. You should also take biosecurity serious as this is one thing most livestock farmers don’t take seriously until diseases are introduced into their farm. Click to read more about Health management and biosecurity

9. Supply sufficient feed to your birds I haven’t read or heard it anywhere that underfed animals grow well and produce excellently. Underfed birds are closer to their graves because they will always have low body weights and poor immune responses, and such birds will die sooner. So ensure you give enough feed and avoid overfeeding, which could lead to another problem.

COMMON MANAGEMENT PROBLEM IN LAYERS PRODUCTION

There are many problems that are associated with management of layers, which are encountered by poultry farmers will be discussed below.

Most of these problems can be averted when  farmers have good information about them. One thing about these problems if not addressed early is that they could result in critical economic losses in poultry farm.

These problem are :

1. Broodiness
Hens have a natural tendency to incubate their eggs. This trait is not found in commercial layers because it was bred out. Nonetheless, some hens still become broody occasionally. Any broody bird is always unproductive and it inconveniences other birds by sitting in the laying nest. Broody hens should be separated from the flocked and kept on a bare floor till broodiness is lost. After, they can be taken back to the laying house to continue laying eggs.

2. Cannibalism
Cannibalism is a situation where chicken pecks and injures another chicken. It begins when a bird is injured and other birds start to peck the injured area or part. Most times, an injured bird bleeds to death. Cannibalism can be prevented through beaks trimming. If any injured bird is sighted, it must be removed from the flock before it results in serious injuries. Overcrowding, underfeeding, proteins or amino acid deficiencies, and boredom are major factors that lead to cannibalism.

3. Egg Eating
This vice may occur when a bird lays soft-shelled eggs. It happens when birds are deficient of certain nutrients such as calcium. As a result of this, the layers mash must be of a balanced ration. A hen is tempted to peck at an emerging egg if it sees an egg coming out from the cloaca of another hen. When the egg is pecked, it breaks, and the hen starts to eat it immediately. To avoid this incidence, farmers must construct proper laying nests. Each nest should accommodate one bird at a time. The nests should be partially covered to become dark if the nests are the communal type.

4. Infertility
Due to infertility and a poor state of health, some birds stop laying eggs. This kind of birds must be culled (removed from the flock). All things being equal, all your birds should start laying eggs in their 25th week. After the 25 weeks, a farmer should start looking for unproductive birds, and any found should be culled to prevent feed and labour loss.

TIPS ON HOW TO INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY ON YOUR LIVESTOCK FARM

As a livestock farmer, there are many things you need to put in place in order to achieve the highest productivity you desire for your agricbusiness. If you can implement these following tips, your livestock farm productivity would improve.and you will make more profit.

a, Makesure you employ the right and diligent farm workers, and always be concerned about their welfare.

b, Cull or remove any non-performing or under-performing animals from your flock and draw out an effective and workable plan to replace them with performing ones.

c, Observe all the biosecurity measures so as to prevent disease outbreaks which results in economic losses.

d, Make sure you curb any form of pilfering on your farm.

e,Take nutrition very seriously and make sure you give your animals adequate feeds for best production.
Don’t forget that water is essential to animals, so your animals should not be deprived of water.

f, Replace any damaged or expired production material with good ones.
Take up-to-date records of every activity and inventory on your farm. This is important and essential in asset evaluation and worth.

g, If you’re financially capable, upgrade your farm technology to the latest one such as introducing automatic drinking system, feeding system and make sure you have read and digested enough information about them.

h, Give appropriate vaccines and medicines to your animals and you must carry this out in the right way.
Seek for professional assistance in a situation that you believe you’re incapable of handling.

I, Avoid wastage on your farm and be resourceful to convert any animal waste into money. Such as selling poultry manure to food crop farmers, processing dead birds to feed fishes and/or use animal dungs to breed maggots and earthworms.

You will see the good result when you do all the above. However, you must also consider God as an important partner for a successful business. Start with Him and He will surely guide and manage the business with you. Your farm is your property and investment. Therefore, you should put efficient and effective measures in order to make more profit on your farm.

Have a good and profitable business year.

FEEDS FORMULA FOR TURKEY

As a poultry farmer, good feeds is the most important thing in raising poultry birds, If you want to formulate a good concentrate feed for your adult turkeys and turkey poults, u can use the following formulae:

Feed Formula for Turkey Poult ( Young turkey)

IngredientQuantity (kg)

Total1000

Maize570
Wheat Offal120 kg
Soya Bean Meal153 kg
Groundnut Cake120 kg
Bone Meal20 kg
Limestone10 kg
Chick Premix2.5 kg
Salt2.5 kg
Methionine1 kg
Lysine1 kg
Total 1000

Feed Formula for Growing and Adult Turkey

IngredientQuantity (kg)

Total100 kg

Maize45
Soya Meal7.5
Wheat Offal12
Limestone5
Bone Meal2.5
Palm Kernel Cake12
Groundnut Cake15
Premix0.25
Toxin Binder0.15
Salt0.3
Super Liv0.05
Methionine0.15
Lysine 0.1
Total 100

How to Formulate feeds for all your poultry Birds

When you have many birds, you spent alot on buying feeds and this reduce the amount of profit you made on your farm. You are are also lost profit just because of quality of feed you buy. In this article we will discussed and teaches you how you can made your own feeds for better production and profits.
  Except for a few feed manufacturers who keep to the standards in poultry feed formulations, many feed companies make very poor quality feeds, a situation which has resulted in huge losses. Poor quality feeds lead to slow growth in chickens, low egg production, diseases, and death. Formulating your poultry feeds on the farm is one of the best ways to maintain quality and cut the cost of production.

The common feed ingredients are whole maize, cotton seed cake, soya beans, sunflower or fish meal. In addition, farmers need to add several other feed additives (micronutrients, minerals and vitamins) to ensure that their chickens have a balanced feed that meets their daily nutrient requirements.

Livestock feed materials are available cheaply, especially after the harvesting season. Depending on the costs of the raw materials, farmers who make their feeds at home save between 30% to 50% for every 70kg bag of chicken feed, depending on the source of their raw materials.

Due to government regulation, major feed companies have reduced the standard quantity of feed 25kg per bag, but the price of feed still remains almost the same. This means that farmers who can make their own feed make great savings on feeds which take up to 80 percent of the production costs.

To formulate livestock feeds, farmers have to use the Pearson Square method. In this method, the digestible crude protein (DCP) is the basic nutritional requirement for any feed preparation for all animals and birds.

Assuming that a farmer wants to make feed for his/her chicken using this method, he/she has to know the crude protein content of each of the ingredients to be used for making the feed.

The following are the DCP values for each of the common ingredients used in feed making:

Whole maize—8.23%

Soya—45%

Fishmeal—55%

Maize bran—7%

Sunflower—35%

Each class of chicken has its nutritional requirement. For example, if we want to make feed for layers, the feed should have at least 18% crude protein.

To formulate feed for layers, then you would have to calculate the percentage of DCP in each of the ingredients you want to use to ensure that the total crude protein content is at least 18%.

Therefore, to make a 50kg bag of feed for layers, a livestock farmer would require the following quantity of ingredients:

24.3kg of whole maize = 24.3kg

8.6kg of soya = 8.6kg

5.7kg of fishmeal= 5.7kg

7.1kg of maize bran= 7.1kg

4.3kg of limestone (as a calcium source) = 4.3kg

To find out if all the above ingredients meet this standard of 18% crude protein, a farmer can do a simple calculation as follows:

Whole maize — 24.3kg x 8.23 ÷100 = 2.0%

Soya — 8.6kg x 45kg ÷ 100 = 3.87%

Fishmeal — 5.7kg x 55kg ÷ 100 = 3.14%

Maize Bran— 7.1kg x 7kg ÷ 100 = 0.5%

Lime — 4.3kg x 0 kg ÷ 100 = 0.00%

Total % of crude protein = 2.00 + 3.87 + 3.14 + 0.5 + 0 = 9.51%

To get the total crude protein percentage of all these ingredients in a 50kg bag of feed, the farmer should take this crude protein content of the combined ingredients, divide by 50kg and multiply by 100,
Thus; 9.51 ÷ 50 × 100 = 18%.

This shows that the crude protein content of the above feed formulation is 19%, which is quite adequate for layers.

To ensure the chicken to get all they need in terms of nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and amino acids, you need these additives in their standard quantities.

Digestible Crude Protein requirement for:

Layers chick—18-20% CP

Growers—16% CP

Layers—18% CP

Broilers—22-24% CP

The feed should contain calcium for the formation of eggshells. Laying hens that do not get enough calcium will use the calcium stored in their own bone tissue to produce eggshells.
Layer feed should be introduced at 18 weeks.
Farmers who have more than 500 chickens, it is advisable to make 1 tonne of feed at once
Ensure that all the feed you make will last for one month and not longer. This ensures that the feed remains fresh and safe for chickens. Any feed that lasts more than one month may deteriorate in quality and can affect your chickens.
Daily feed requirements for each growth stage

Farmers should maintain the right feed quantities for chicken at each stage of growth as shown below:

An egg-laying chicken requires 130-140g of feed per day.
A chick requires a minimum 60g per day. If they finish their daily rations, give them fruit and vegetable cuttings to ensure they feed continuously.
Young chickens (or pullets) which are about to start laying eggs should be fed 60g for 2 and ½ months and then put on layer diet (140g per day). Supplement the feed with vegetables, edible plant leaves and fruit peelings in addition to their feed rations.
Broiler chicks require 67g per day. Broiler finishers require 67g of feed per day to the day of slaughter.
Chickens are very sensitive to aflatoxins- never use rotten ingredients while making feeds.
ALSO READ:  Water Consumption Rates/Levels for Layers & Broilers
Where to buy ingredients

Farmers who need raw materials for feed making including feed additives (pre-mixes and amino acids) can order them from a reputable feedmill nearest to them.

Important tips on feed preparation

When making feed rations yourself, it is important to do experimental trials, by isolating a number of chickens, feeding them and observing their performance. If the feed rations are right, the broilers will grow fast and layers will increase egg production (at least 1 egg after every 27 hours).
Buy quality fishmeal from reputable companies. If fishmeal is used, the farmers must be sure of its quality; most of the fishmeal in the markets is contaminated. Farmers are advised to go for soya meal if they cannot get good quality fishmeal.
Always mix the micronutrients first before mixing them with the rest of the feed.
For mixing, farmers are advised to use a drum mixer. Using a shovel to mix feed is not recommended because the ingredients will be unevenly distributed.
Formulating your own feeds is very important as a poultry farmer.

THESE ARE DISEASES THAT RAMPANT IN COLD OR WET SEASON IN POULTRY BIRD

Some diseases in poultry has their season, I mean those diseases do rampant in a certain season.
Poultry birds and poultry production are generally affected by seasonal climatic or weather changes. For instance, in the wet or cold season, chickens eat more feed, drink less water and huddle together to generate heat and keep themselves warm. On the other hand, chickens and other livestock birds consume less feed and drink more water in the hot season or weather in order to cool their body. Don’t be surprised that these changes affect the production of birds, most especially laying birds, as the egg production is reduced in extremely cold or hot weather.
This reduction in egg production occurs because when there are extreme cold or hot conditions, these birds are stressed, and their ability to withstand diseases or immune system is seriously affected. Some certain poultry diseases are rampant in the wet, rainy or cold seasons. That is, the onset of rain favors the propagation and spread of the causative organisms of these diseases and parasites. Hence, most poultry farmers experience high morbidity and mortality rate during this period. We’re going to discuss some of the poultry diseases that are highly prevalent or rampant in the wet, cold or rainy season.

1. Gumboro Disease or Infectious Bursal Disease (IBD)
Gumboro disease is a virulent disease that affects chicks and young birds of between 3-18 weeks of age. The causative virus attacks the bursal of a bird thereby suppressing or weakening the immune system and predisposing the birds to secondary infections. Signs of Gumboro diseases or IBD
1. Severe prostration
2. Watery diarrhoea
3. Incoordination
4. Inflammation of the cloaca
5. Soiled vent feathers
6. Vent picking

Treatment, Prevention and Control for Gumboro
Gumboro disease is highly contagious and a flock owner should expect as high as 100% morbidity rate and 20% mortality rate. This disease has no cure or treatment but it can be prevented through vaccination of birds before an outbreak occur. In a situation where the disease has already occurred within a flock, the flock should be culled and the pens should be disinfected. Gumboro Infectious bursal disease vaccine (IBDV) should be administered to chickens at their 2nd week and 4th week of age

. 2. Fowl Pox

Fowl pox is a highly contagious disease that affects poultry birds at any age. It is caused by pox virus transmitted by mostly mosquitoes and other blood sucking insects. The reason why fowl pox is prevalent during the wet season is that mosquitoes, being the vector, breed well in this season due to the abundance of stagnant water. Signs of Fowl pox The disease affects the skin, respiratory tract and upper alimentary tract, leading to the formation of wounds which later develop to thick scabs. Loss of appetite Weakness and emaciation of the body Difficulty in breathing and swallowing Stringy discharge from the nostrils Pox lesions on comb, wattles and legs Swollen eyelids Soiled feathers Treatment, Prevention and Control Fowl pox cannot be treated but the infected birds can be given antibiotics and water. The mash or feed can be mixed with water to make swallowing quite comfortable. Healthy birds must be vaccinated around their 9th week of age to provide them lifetime immunity. Isolate or cull infected birds from the flock. Also, Get rid of stagnant water or bush around the farm to control the vectors like mosquitoes. Read more information about fowl pox

3. Fowl Cholera

Fowl Cholera is a bacterial disease that affects birds of age 6 week old and above. The bacterium responsible for this is Pasteurella multocida. It is highly contagious and mortality in acute cases is high. Signs of Fowl Cholera In acute cases, birds that appear healthy die suddenly while in chronic cases the affected birds show the following: Yellow, green or grey diarrhoea Loss of appetite Laboured breathing Drooped wings and tail feathers Ruffled feathers Swelling of the leg joints, sinuses, wattle and foot pad Twisting of the neck (torticolis) Discharge from the nostril or beak Note: The above signs are also similar to those of fowl typhoid. Treatment, Prevention and Control Fowl cholera can be treated using sulfa drugs, tetracycline and erythromycin. Poultry birds can vaccinated against Fowl cholera by administering a fowl cholera vaccine. Maintain proper hygiene and sanitation. Practice a high level of biosecurity and prevent rodents, wild birds and other animals.

4. Salmonellosis, Escherichia coli, Pullorum Disease (Bacillary White Diarrhoea) These bacterial diseases affect birds of all ages. They are endemic in farms or pens with poor sanitation. They affect the digestive system of the infected birds. Signs of Salmonellosis, Escherichia coli, Pullorum Severe diarrhoea Loss of appetite Depression and emaciation Chicks suffer omphalitis White pasty diarrhoea in pullorum disease Huddle together and laboured breathing Treatment, Prevention and Control Salmonellosis, E. coli and Pullorum diseases can be treated by administering a broad-spectrum antibiotic to the infected bed and all the flock. High-level farm/pen hygiene and sanitation must be maintained. Biosecurity measures should be in place. Avoid feeding birds with contaminated feeds.

5. Aspergillosis

Aspergillosis is the general name given to diseases caused by Aspergillus. Due to the high humidity during the cold season, feeds or litter dampens, thus creating a favourable environment for fungus to grow and thrive. The birds also inhale aspergillus spores and these spores develop into lesions filling the lungs causing respiratory problems or discomforts. Birds under intensive management systems would experience high disease spread if the stocking density is high and ventilation is inadequate or poor. How to Manage Poultry Birds Optimally in the Cold or Rainy Season To manage poultry such as chickens, turkeys, quails, duck and pheasants during cold or rainy periods, poultry farmers have to do the following: Add oil or fat to the diet of the birds or reduce the level of nutrients that are not required by the birds to generate heat. This is necessary to avoid wastage and reduce feed production costs, since birds consume more feed to generate heat. Install electric bulbs or heater in the pen to serve as a secondary source of heat for the birds. This would help the birds drink enough water and stay warm without getting the reserved energy used up in the process. Though very rare in an intensive system but rampant in a free-range system, birds drink from the stagnant water around, thus pick up eggs of parasitic organisms such as intestinal worms. That is why it is important to deworm poultry birdseye bi-monthly with effective dewormers such as piperazine. A broad-spectrum antibiotic like oxytetracycline should be administered to the birds every month. Construct a generous roof overhang over the entrance and sides of pens to prevent rainwater from getting into the pen whenever it rains. Construct a foot dip at the entrances of the pens and a strong disinfectant solution should be in the foot dip always. If you followed all the above explanation , you can tackle and takecare of your birds during wet season. Thanks

WAYS AND HOW TO VACCINATE POULTRY BIRDS

In getting your birds strong and healthy, vaccination is one of the best way to be a good poultry farmer.
Vaccines have contributed immensely to the prevention and control of major diseases of poultry, which were previously incurable or difficult to cure. Most commercial poultry farmers, therefore, follow a vaccination program aimed at controlling these diseases. However, inexperienced poultry farmers do not know how to vaccinate their birds. Vaccines can be administered through various routes such as through:

1. Eye
2. Nostril
3. Oral route
4. Wing web
5. Vent
6. Subcutaneous
7. Intramuscular
Methods of Administering Vaccines
As the flock strength increased and commercialization of poultry keeping became the order of the day, vaccination by these conventional methods became tedious, time-consuming, labour intensive and a source of undesirable stress on the birds of the flock. Alternative routes of mass administration of vaccines were therefore explored. Some of the important points in this regard are:

Generally, mass vaccination methods result in reduced labour costs, time and stress.
A spray vaccination is more invasive and may give better results than an oral vaccination.
A fine spray is more immunogenic than a coarse spray, as it allows the vaccine to penetrate more deeply into the respiratory tract. However, a strong vaccination may be observed.

1. Drinking Water Method
It is becoming more popular these days. Vaccination against Newcastle disease, Infectious bronchitis, Avian encephalomyelitis etc. is carried out by this method. The vaccine to be used by this method is first reconstituted in distilled water in a small volume. It is then added to the water troughs or drinkers kept in the pen. The birds consume the vaccine mixed water and gain immunity. The birds have to be deprived of normal water supply for 1-2 hours, so that they are eager and quick to consume the water fortified with the vaccine.
When using this method, it must be ensured that the water consumption of the birds is adequate. It also can be ensured that only such quantity of water should be in the drinker, which would be fully consumed by the birds within 30-60 minutes.

The water meant to be used should be cool and not warm because warm water inactivates the vaccine. The water must not contain any amount of chlorine or other chemicals. The addition of skim milk to water at the rate of 500 ml of skim milk to 10 litres of water is recommended. The addition of skim milk to vaccine water is purposely for improving the viability of the vaccine by neutralizing the chlorine or any other chemical present in the water.

2. Subcutaneous and/or intramuscular route
In these methods, the vaccine is pushed into the body tissues either under the skin or into the muscle with the help of needle and syringe. These methods are still used till today. When a vaccine is used subcutaneously or intramuscularly, care has to be taken to make sure that the quantity of vaccine is kept as small as may be feasible. The ideal quantity is 0.1 ml to 0.2 ml. The maximum permissible amount is 0.5 ml. If it exceeds 0.5 ml, it will results in tissue damage at the site of vaccination and also causes unnecessary stress.

3. Scarification method
This is also an old method of vaccination into the tissues of the skin by causing superficial scarification of the epidermis. This method was originally used for carrying out vaccination against fowl pox, but this route has also been used now for protecting birds against infectious laryngotracheitis.

4. Intraocular method
In this method, the vaccine is reconstituted in a small amount and used for dropping in the eyes of birds. An ink dropper is used to apply this in drops. Once the vaccine drops into the eyes, it is absorbed and starts the immune response protecting them against the particular disease.

5. Intranasal method
In this method, the reconstituted vaccine is deposited at the two nasal openings of the birds while the birds inhale the vaccine. It is absorbed through the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract and immunizes the birds.
These are all vaccination system you can use as a poultry birds keeper.