Cover Image
close this bookBetter Farming Series 13 - Keeping Chickens (FAO - INADES, 1977, 48 p.)
View the document(introduction...)
View the documentPreface
close this folderSmall livestock farming in the villages
View the document(introduction...)
View the documentLittle work but yields little
View the documentChicken farming must be improved
View the documentThe animal husbandry services help
close this folderHow to choose poultry
View the documentTraditional types of poultry
close this folderTo improve poultry
View the documentGood cocks must be selected
View the documentGood hens must be selected
View the documentGood chicks must be selected
View the documentImproved breeds
close this folderHow to feed poultry
View the documentTo feed poultry well is important and difficult
View the documentPoultry need good feed
close this folderHow poultry make use of food and water
View the document(introduction...)
View the documentEnergy feeds
View the documentBody- building feeds: proteins
View the documentMineral salts
View the documentVitamins
View the documentClean water
View the documentSpecial needs of chicks, laying hens, and table poultry
close this folderHow to protect poultry against disease
View the documentPreventing poultry from getting ill
View the documentVaccination
View the documentMain diseases of poultry
close this folderHow to house poultry
View the document(introduction...)
View the documentHow to build a poultry house
View the documentNests
View the documentFeeding troughs
View the documentDrinking troughs and fountains
close this folderThe brooder
View the document(introduction...)
View the documentHow to choose and look after hens to produce chicks
View the documentHere is an example
View the documentSuggested question paper

Good chicks must be selected

31. You can buy either day- old chicks, or three- month- old pullets.

Day- old chicks Cost less than three- month- old pullets. But you have to know how to raise them. You have to be able to house them well, for they are very delicate and can die easily.

Three- month- old pullets Cost much more. But they require less looking after. They have been vaccinated and they are more resistant to diseases.

32. When you begin modern poultry keeping it is better to buy three- month- old pullets.

They are easier to raise than the day- old chicks. They need less looking after. They do not die so easily. They are vaccinated.

33. It Is no use selecting cocks, hens and chicks of a modem breed - unless you feed them well

The cocks, hens and chicks bought from the animal husbandry centres have been well fed.

You must go on feeding them well. If you do not, they will not get fat. They will catch diseases and they may die. In a well- run poultry farm with 100 laying birds, not more than 5 or 10 birds should die in the course of one year.

· unless they are vaccinated

All poultry should be vaccinated.

If the birds have not been vaccinated at the animal husbandry centre, you must vaccinate them at once.

· unless you look after them well

If you buy cocks and hens and then do not take good care of them, of their food, their housing and their health, you are wasting all your money.

Traditional poultry raising means little work, costs nothing, but yields little.

Modem poultry raising means work, costs a little money, but can yield a lot.