If you are running a successful poultry farm you need to keep in mind that apart from offering the correct poultry feed, there are various other things that need your attention. Here, in this article, we have made a mere effort of jotting down a few points that help you in every possible way. Let’s look at the factors below:
1. Choose the right chickens and manage their feeds –
The first step towards successful poultry farming is that you decide which one to choose – layer or broiler, once you are choosing the layer (egg- laying birds) or broiler (birds raised for meat), the nutritional requirement changes. Also, note that the chickens need a different level of nutrition and ingredients depending on their age. Therefore, it is necessary to make a clear study of what exactly you want to highlight or go forward with becomes an inevitable part of poultry farming.
2. Supply of Clean Water in Right Containers –
Water containers of chickens are available in the local markets and are quite cheap. You can also use a large flat bowl or container. Make sure that there are some rocks and pebbles so that the young chicks don’t get drowned in the water containers. It is highly important to change the water every day since the poultry is susceptible to diseases that are carried by dirty water.
3. Ensure a safe closure –
The chickens prefer to wander about the farmyard during the daytime, but they need an enclosed and safe place to sleep at night. It is easy to make a chicken hutch out of the wooden poles and wires with the help of corrugated iron and a thatched roof! You need to make a sloping ground and dig a drain around the same. The reason for digging the drain is that the enclosed space does not get flooded when it rains. There is a requirement of branches or perches inside so that the chickens to roost on since they might fall sick if forced to sleep on the ground.
Providing perches as well as clearing away bushes and long grass around that hutch also help you protect the poultry from the invasion of rats or snakes. While letting them in and out twice a day you can check the health of the chickens.
4. A regular source of food is a necessity
Providing the chicken, a regular source of food becomes important especially while raising backyard chickens; these are an integral part of mixed farming systems. Chicken generally survives on the feed spilled onto the ground by that of cows, horses, and pigs. Fly larvae is one of the important poultry feeds. Vegetables and table leftovers except that of raw meat can also be thrown at the poultry.
Apart from these, consider buying layer rations or chicken feeds for the layer hens and chicks. The extra source of food is required for nutritional value. For farmyard chickens, it is important to provide some green food. Lack of minerals should be addressed since that might cause joint and bone abnormalities or the eggs laid might have soft-shelled eggs.
5. Hygienic surrounding –
Chicken manure needs regular cleaning since it can be a reason for disease and death amongst poultry. Flies generally breed easily where the chickens’ roost therefore keeping the area clean is another reason that helps to keep the bird healthy. It is important to bury the dead birds. Breeding and hatching also call for a clean environment. One rooster is needed for five or six hens. It is important to remove the male birds or slaughter them in order to avoid unnecessary noise and fighting.