Category Archives: poultry

Poultry Feed Dilema – Mix My Own or Outsource?

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The major factor affecting poultry egg production and therefore revenue & profitability is the feed. Its not enough to just provide feed, but rather a consistent product, with little variability in composition, quality and texture.
Birds are usually kept in high concentrations, so any change in the feed will quickly have a ripple effect on the productivity measured in days, with return to regular production taking longer usually weeks. The cause is that egg laying, a.k.a reproduction is not critical to a bird’s well being, so is reduced in any shocks to nutrition.
Given how critical this is, should I mix my own feed so that I have full control of the process, and outputs. That is a loaded question, my answer and advice being that it varies depending on your (the farmer) strengths and your business model.
Considerations for mixing your own feed:
  • Cash flow – as most of the ingredients are to be paid for in cash
  • Supply chain – you need to develop relationships with the providers of the ingredients to cater for times of shortages as most of them are agricultural based
  • Storage – you need to maintain your own stores and manage moisture contents along with other contamination sources. This will also include bio-security controls for the traffic within the farm related to ingredients
  • Mixing Space- you will have to mix feed regularly which period reduces with the size of operation you are running. In Uganda, you also need to manage electricity supply, repairs and operations of the motors, human resources (the mixers) along with pillage (some ingredients like premix are prone to this due to their high unit cost)
  • Dust from mixing operations – if you have a large area then this will not affect you much as this areas can be separated from the rest of the farm and living quarters
  • Consistency – can you keep doing this regularly, consistently for ever?
  • Cost – does the capex & opex for mixing your own feed add up to savings?
  • Feed formulation – do you have the necessary expertise to formulate, adjust formulae for the birds as conditions change?
Considerations for outsourcing your feed mixing:
  • Operational Capability – what capacity does your supplier have to stock up on key ingredients, ensure a consistent supply from the market even when they are shortages, and to maintain a consistent predictable feed mix. Do they have the right machinery and personnel in place, as well as capability to formulate, refine and advise on feed formulations.
  • Consistency – how consistent is the output of the feed mixing
  • Checks and balances – how is the quality of the feed maintained, and controlled, do you have to be there when the feed is being mixed all the time. Do you trust the quality of the product that you are receiving?
  • Turn around time – what is the turn around time from ordering to receiving your feed
  • Scale – will your supplier be able to scale with you as the numbers grow?
  • Feed formulation – does your supplier have the necessary expertise to formulate, and adjust formulae for the birds as conditions change?
Essentially the two camps are evenly matched with the choice depending on your particular conditions, with the ability to mix and match options as your farm grows and scales.
What choice did you take? I took the choice of outsourcing feed mixing, with the major drivers being:
  • We do not have experience with agricultural ingredient selection and quality management
  • The space we are working with is too small to allow mixing
  • The supplier we have is currently is working out for us, and we have been able to develop an efficient operation to ensure un-fettered just-in-time feed supply to the farm
  • The largest customer that our supplier services has 30,000 birds there is scaling capability there
  • There are no major cost savings given the local cost of capital & operations, so we are focusing our energies on ensuring higher revenue for our products.
  • The feed supplier is well versed with feed formulation, as well as other aspects of poultry layer management which provides additional value

Why did you make the choice you did, how is that working out for you, if you had to do it again what would you do?

Q and A: Newcastle Vaccines – Thermal Stable or Cold Version

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Question: I have been using the “cold” Newcastle vaccine for my birds, however I am thinking of moving to the thermal stable version. Being paranoid knowing that it is important to stay consistent for a flock – does it make sense for me to move at this time to the thermal stable version

Answer by Dr. David Omoding of Quality Chemicals (U) Ltd

Your fears and apprehension are understandable. However, be assured that moving to the thermal stable version would be the right move for the reasons below:

  1. Vaccine failure is a major issue for any “cold” (thermolabile) vaccine from point of manufacture, thru transit, to storage at the pharmacy premises, transportation to your premises etc. Wipe that uncertainty away by using a thermostable vaccine.
  2. The Thermostable strain is called I2 and it offers quicker, stronger, longer lasting immunity to poultry as compared to the cold La Sota, Clone, R2 strains. It might be bit more expensive but surely worth every penny. More can be found from http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/ac802e/ac802e04.htm.

In extensive systems (free range), one application is sufficient for the life of the bird including local birds while In intensive systems we advise one application every 3 months.

Q & A: How can I manage Biosecurity on a Poultry Farm

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Question: I hear practitioners talking about bio-security being a requirement on a poultry farm, why do I need it, how do I do it?

Answer: Biosecurity is a practice designed to prevent the spread of disease onto your farm. It is accomplished by maintaining the facility in such a way that there is minimal traffic of biological organisms (viruses, bacteria, rodents, etc.) across its borders. Biosecurity is the cheapest, most effective means of disease control available. No disease prevention program will work without it.

Best Practices:

Contributions by: Mugisha James Frank of Jade Commodities Ltd, Ssekatawa Charles – Veterinary Consultant with Surebreed Farming Operations, Peter Ssenkungu of NutriNova Limited, Dr. Sewagudde Samuel – Genesis East Africa Ltd and Nakato Winnie Fernandes of Vic and Val Ltd.

Our understanding of biosecurity is mitigation of risk in case of disease occurrence or outbreak….Measures taken so far are;

  1. Controlled access into the farm through fencing. Farm divided into two zones, buffer zone fenced off with barbed wire and clean zone with chain link. General movement is from buffer to clean zone. Poultry coops are within the “clean area”
  2. Restricted access to the farm by visitors. Any visitors who come in have their shoes sprayed with a disinfectants or common bleach.
  3. Professionals in the poultry industry are considered as the highest risk and require special permission to access the farm because they have accessed other farms so are more prone to carry bio-hazards.
  4. Manned access points were we do spray both individuals n vehicles using disinfectants like biosafe or common bleach like JIK
  5. Records kept on a daily basis on the accessibility of the farm.
  6. All staff have protective gear in terms of uniforms, dust masks n boots.
  7. Water filters fitted to each tank in the water distribution network to reduce the incidence of Ecoli
  8. Isolation of coops for flocks from each other
    • Poultry coops spaced from each reduce air-borne contamination. The minimum distance is 20m, with 50m being the international recommendation. The open nature of the poultry coops requires breaking the effect of direct flow of air from one house to another. Beyond 15m, the air flowing from one coop gets diluted with fresher air outside the coop reducing the contamination of air entering the next coop.
    • Each poultry unit is strictly manned by one person.
    • All poultry units have footbaths whose disinfectant is changed on a daily basis.
    • Feeders n drinkers washed on a daily basis, with those of a coop washed separately from others.
    • No sharing of equipment between poultry coops.
    • Each poultry coop has a separate sick bay and isolation ward.
    • Feeds for each coop stored separately so that there is reduced contact during feed distribution
  9. All mortalities recorded and inspected before disposal.
  10. Periodical water and feed tests say every 3 months to monitor their quality.
  11. Housing is provided 4 all poultry attendants, so there is reduced contact with the outside world.
  12. Posters placed all round the farm, reminding staff of the importance of maintaining set biosecurity standards.
  13. After offlaying a flock from a coop, thorough cleaning, of the poultry house is done along with the equipment that has been in use in the coop. This is done multiple times, and a time period of at least 3 weeks to increase the effectiveness of the process.
  14. Vermin control by keeping grass within the farm short and clearing bushes.
  15. Placement of rubbish bins for easy disposal of garbage n vaccine / viral bottles
  16. Periodic burning of garbage

Additional comments and inputs are welcome…

Q and A: Management of Newcastle & Viral Diseases

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Question: A friend’s birds started laying and have reached 50%. She was advised not to vaccinate Newcastle till they peak. Now she has noticed 2 that developed twisted necks. What should she do?

Dr. David Omoding – Quality Chemicals: The long-term health of the birds cannot be compromised for production performance. If vaccination is due, it should be done regardless of production level

Dr. Sewagudde Samuel – Genesis East Africa Ltd: Some birds can react post vaccination, 10- 14 days later, and show signs of disease, but with use of antibiotics, you can help them fend off the associated infections

Background to Answers:
Viral diseases like NewCastle and Gumboro normally destroy or weaken the immune system, just like the Humman Immuno-Deficency Virus (HIV) for humans. This then allows bacteria to take advantage of the reduced of immunity to cause further havoc through secondary intestinal, respiratory and other infections which further reduce productivity and potentially cause mortality.

Therefore treat such situations with antibiotics and vitamins to kill the bacterial and boast the immunity. Common antibiotics trade names include Keprocoeryl, Tetracycline 20% or 25%, Enrosol, etc. The vitamins combos include Amino vital, Aminovit, Cholivit, Vitalyte, etc

Quality Chemicals Uganda Limited also has vaccines of all kinds for poultry and larger animals. The latest on their list is the thermal stable Newcastle vaccine which does not need to be maintained under cold conditions, and soon the injectable Newcastle given prior to laying reducing the need for continous boosting during laying.

2015 – A Look Ahead

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It has been a long time since the last update, however a lot has been going on in the background which is defining how the project is progressing. 

The highlights are: 

  1. Expansion – the ground work is being laid in 2015, however looking to at least triple the current flock numbers
  2. Experiments – New Breeds – we shall be looking to try out different breeds of birds to assess productivity potential 
  3. Experiments – Health Management Regime – taking all the learnings we will be reviewing our vaccination regime (for chicks) and health management for flocks during laying to extend the productive lifespan of the birds through proactive health management
  4. Experiments – Feed Automation – in our current facility which was not built for automation, the only change in the new flock will be feeders that are filled daily reducing the need for workers to keep entering the house
  5. Experiments – Water Supply Automation – in the new expanded facility the plan is to have full automated water supply a move which will reduce the costs of scaling 
  6. Experiments – Cage systems – this is for later in 2016, once the economics have been fully worked out, however this looks to provide the potential for increasing the density of the flocks within an area while reducing the labor intensive activities. 

All in all 2015 is looking exciting with new prospects and opportunities abound

Farm Record Management

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Currently the model I am using is as follows (all pen and paper)

1. Expenses Book – here I track all expense on the farm whether operational or capital expenditure.

2. Sales book – sales of eggs to clients which is balanced every Sunday to track Profit and Loss todate

3. Farm journal – for each flock track the water usage, feed given, medication given and any other occurences on the farm. Also for laying birds how many eggs are picked at each point in time. This enables the tracking of laying trends

4. Daily Production Log: total of eggs laid for each flock for each day

The plan is to move this records into Quick books to build a proper P&L but for now this works for us

What do you use, and what works for you? 

Laying Boxes

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This time around we have taken an early approach and invested in building laying boxes, experience is the best teacher right?

Why laying boxes? What have we learnt? In the first flock, we were unable to get the laying boxes built in time which meant:

  • Alot of the laying was done in corners and odd places that the chickens felt comfortable. So we had to continuously monitor and improve the quality of these adhoc laying spaces (corners) to reduce damage to eggs
  • Higher operational costs as eggs have to be collected more frequently, 5 times a day to reduce damage
  • Aggressive monitoring for cannibalism and egg eating 

What do the laying boxes look like this time? The design has the following elements:

  • Raised 1 foot (30cm) off the ground
  • Each unit is 10’ (3m) long so that they can be moved around as needed
  • 10 laying rooms each 1’ (30 cm) 
  • Tapering top so that no laying is done at the top, and also to reduce crowding in the rooms
  • At the front and back, there is a 4” (10cm) board to stop the eggs from rolling out of the box to the ground. In one of the houses with a skirting, there will be no back support since the laying box is flush with the wall.
  • Instead of using expensive wood pieces at the back, these have been replaced by hard brown paper.

The proceeding photos show the stages of design for the laying boxes

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