All About Poultry Housing, Equipments, Feeding, Watering & Diseases Control. Poultry Housing: • Select well raised land for poultry sheds. Land with hard rock or murram is more suitable. Avoid water logging and flooding near the sheds. • Ensure adequate facility for water, electricity, approach road, supply of chicks, feed, veterinary aid and nearness to market for sale of live birds and dressed chicken. • Obtain training/experience in broiler farming before starting a farm. You should be prepared to stay on the farm and have constant supervision. • Provide adequate floor space, feeding space and watering space per bird. BIS specifications for construction of poultry sheds are available. • Construct sheds in such a way that the end walls face East-West direction and the side walls face North-South direction, so that rain water will not enter the sheds. • Provide strong roof and hard flooring. Raise plinth of the shed at least one feet above the outside ground level. • Provide 3 to 4 feet overhang of the roof to avoid entry of rainwater inside the shed. • Provide at least 50 feet distance between two sheds. • Provide adequate light and ventilation and comfortable housing conditions during all seasons (cool in summer and warm in winter). • Construct sheds in such a way that predators (cats/dogs/snakes) will not enter the shed. Avoid entry of rats by constructing rat proof civil structures. • Keep the shed clean and free from flies/mosquitoes etc. • After disposal of every batch of birds the dirty litter material and manure should be removed, walls and floors should be cleaned, white washed with lime and disinfected with 0.5% malathion or DDT insecticide spray. • If deep litter system is followed, always use dry and clean litter material (sawdust, paddy husk, etc.). Spread 4″ layer of litter on the floor, keep clean/disinfect brooding, feeding and watering equipment and then introduce chicks in the house. • The litter material should be always kept loose and dry. Stir the litter twice a week. Any wet litter/droppings etc. should be removed and replaced with fresh/clean dry litter. Poultry Equipment : • Use scientifically designed cages and equipment for brooding, feeding and watering purposes. BIS specifications for equipment are available. A good design can be shown and manufactured locally, so that cost can be reduced. Chicks : • Purchase of improved strain of one day old healthy broiler type chicks from a reputed hatchery. Usually 2-5% extra chicks are supplied. • Clean, wash and disinfect all equipments with 0.5% malathion spray after every batch of birds is disposed off. Feeding : • Use high quality balanced feeds. With proper knowledge/experience, good quality feed can be purchased locally. • Store the feed in clean, dry, well ventilated room. A wet feed may bring fungus infection. • Use properly designed feeders and control the rats to avoid feed wastage. • Keep proper records on feed consumption per bird for each batch. Compare with the standard feed consumption pattern. Too high feed consumption may be due to disease condition, low quality/unpalatability of feed or high temperature in poultry shed. Watering of Birds : • Always give fresh and clean drinking water. Water should be always available at birds. • Use properly designed watering equipment. Provide adequate watering space per bird • Always keep water-pots clean. Avoid birds entering inside pots. • Provide cool water during summer. Store the water in tanks that are not exposed to hot sun in summer. Disease Prevention/Control : • Clean sanitary conditions of poultry sheds and equipment, balanced feed, fresh clean water, healthy chicks are essential to prevent diseases. • Avoid entry of visitors to farm, especially inside the sheds. If visitors come, ask them to dip their feet in a disinfectant solution, wash and clean hands and to wear apron/boots provided by the farm. • Use proper vaccination schedule • Use high quality vaccines purchased from reputed manufacturers. Keep vaccines in cool, dry conditions away from sunlight. • Any left-over vaccine should be properly disposed off. Vaccines should not be used after their expiry date is over. • Any dead bird should be immediately removed from the shed and sent to laboratory for post-mortem or buried/burnt suitably away from the poultry sheds. • The waste of farm should be suitably disposed off. • Any bird showing advanced signs of a disease, should be removed from the shed and culled. It can be sent to laboratory for diagnosis. • Birds showing advanced signs of a disease should be shown to a qualified veterinarian and suitable medication/treatment be given as per his/drug manufacturers recommendations. • Poultry manure, if infected, can spread disease, from one batch to another. Keep the litter dry, remove it after flock is sold and dispose the manure properly and quickly. • Keep proper records on mortality and its causes and the treatment given to birds. Dates of vaccination for each flock should be properly recorded. • Rats are important carriers of poultry disease. Avoid rats. Use suitable rat poisons/rat traps. • Many poultry medicines can be given in drinking water. When medication is to be given, remove the waterer in poultry sheds on the previous evening. Next morning give medicine in measured quantity of water, so that entire medicine will be quickly consumed and there will be no wastage of medicines. • Mild infection of disease may not cause mortality but it will reduce growth. Keep sample record of body weight and mortality rate. Study the possible causes, if weight is low take steps to improve the management of the subsequent batches. A Constant vigil and analysis of records/results is necessary to keep up the efficiency in farming. Processing/Marketing : • Ensure the constant and steady demand for broiler meat is available and the market is nearer to the farm. • Study the market demand for particular live weight of the birds. • Birds should not be kept on the farm beyond 6-7 weeks of age, as their feed efficiency will go down considerably. • If birds are sold after dressing (processing) use clean dressing hall and processing equipment. Dressed birds should be chilled in the ice-cold water for 3-4 hours and excess water removed. Birds should then be packed in clean plastic bags and the mouth of bag sealed. • Processed birds should be marketed as early as possible. If they have to be preserved, deep freezing equipment (-10 to -200C) be used. Refrigerated vans may be required for long distance transportation. growelagrovet
Posted on: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 17:28:53 +0000