Commercial Broiler Production
Broiler chicken
Intensive poultry farming is usually divided into specialisedoperations, although some farmers may be interested in keeping poultry for both meat and eggs. For meat production, the chicks have been selected forrapid growth, breast meat and usually lean meat (low fat). They will not lay many eggs. An important rule-of-thumb is that the farmer is kind to his/her birds and looks after them like part of the family. They will thenrespond and serve the farmer well.
The approximate composition of a 1.8 kg broiler chicken is:
water64%1152gfat14%252 gprotein18%324 g bone ash4%72 g
The very high amount of water is associated with the lean meat (no fat) of which water is about 80% and protein 20%. The birds are brooded on a starter diet for about 2-3 weeks. They are then given a grower diet and sometimes a finisher diet for the final 7-10 days. As mentioned, as they age, their nutrient needsdecline. This means that olderchickens can handle poorerquality feeds better than youngerbirds. Mortality is normally 3-5% and most of this occurs during week 1. Poultry production targets in most developing countries will be lower than in temperate climates. Typical figures for growth and feed conversion ratio (FCR, kg feed per kg gain) in good commercial production are:
DaysWeightFeed Conversion Ration (FCR)0-21900 g1.4221-432.3 kg1.85
The implications are that there is a requirement for a very high-quality feed if maximum growth rate is to be achieved (this may not be possible or desirable in some countries due to high temperature or feed ingredients are very costly).
You will see that there is very high feed intake during the last2-3 weeks of production and growth then slows. The message is that keeping birds beyond normal slaughter age (7-8 weeks) is expensive and often the difference between a profit and aloss.
Chickens in a broiler house
In a survey of 37 small batches (50 – 200) of broilers grown around Lae in Papua New Guinea, birds reached 1.85 kg (range 1.68-2.18) in 53 days (range 44-67). Feed intake was 4.73 kg (range 3.5-6.7). Feed conversion ratio was 2.56 (range 1.91-3.49). Mortality was 7.1% (range 2.9-17.3). The wide variation is due to different levels of management, feeding and housing conditions. Good results will only come from well cared for flocks.
Chicks must get off to a good start and good management is very important especially during the first week of life.
Before the chicks arrive, their house must be clean and ready to receive them.
Shavings (5 cm thick), or other litter should be in place and old litter removed every second batch of chicks.
The brooder heat lamp or kerosene lamp must bechecked, adjusted and switched onThe circular (1.2 m diameter/100 chicks) brooder guard that surrounds the heating unit must be in placeWithin the brooder there should be two drinkers and two feeders adjusted to chick height and adjusted again each weekA commercial starter diet should be fed at least for the first two weeksFor the first few days, the feed should be placed on paperspread on the ground, or in scratch trays as well as in the feeders within the brooding area so that they can peck at the feedChicks should be encouraged todrink. If reluctantplace the beak in the water trough/trayCheck chicks several times during the day and again at nightOn day 4, make the brooding circle a little larger as chicks are growing fastChicks should be using thefeeders although a few may be still eating off the paperBrooder temperature should bereduced but chicks will indicate this by their behaviourAt 7-10 days remove brooder guard and remove heating unit at the same timeAt least 10 chickens/batch of 50 should be weighed (spring balance) at 4 weeks of age (700 g/bird) and again at 7 weeks (1600-1880 g) to gauge performanceCatch birds using a 1.2 m wire with a hook on the end [see diagram]Start selling off the heaviest broilers at about 7 weeks of age
Unit V. Trainer will demonstrate brooding, catching and weighing birds.
Marketing
There will be much information from the feasibility study on how broilers are sold. A small commercial broiler producer may have four options
Sell them alive on a bird or weight basis to a consumer- usually best optionSell them to a traderSell them oven ready – pluckedand eviscerated (without feathers, guts and organs) – labour intensive but usually the highest priceSell them live to an abattoir for processing.
It is possible to alter the colour of the skin of broiler chickens by adding a colouring agent to the feed or the feed ingredients (corn) which may contain xanthophylls, natural colouring agents. Consumers may be used to buying broilers with white or yellow skins others don’t care.
Manure
A single batch of 100 broilers will produce in 10 weeks about 100 kg of deep litter especially rich innitrogen. It should not be wasted and can be used as a fertiliser or to make compost when mixed with other organic matter (inedible kitchen waste, tops of vegetables, leaves etc) for your garden. The composition of the poultry litter varies but is about: 3% nitrogen, 2% phosphorus and 1% potassium. It has a commercial value and can be sold to vegetable growers.
Families should be encouraged to have a garden and add litter to grow fruit and vegetables
Record keeping
It is important to keep goodrecords of broiler performance. Asample of a record sheet covering a single batch of broilers is given for the full period (batch) at the end of this manual
record when you open a new batch of feed of known weightmark when a bird dies or is removed from the penrecord weight of birds when weighed at 4 and 7 weeksAt 4 weeks take a sample of say 10 birds in a batch of 50 and weigh themdivide total bird weight bynumber of birds weighed to get average broiler weightadd up all feed used (weight of bag x number of bags) thendivide by total weight of birds, then by the number of birdsFeed conversion ratio is feedconsumed divided by the totalweight of birdscalculate mortality rate = (Number of dead birds/total number of birds at the start) x 100
(A worked example is given at the end of this manual)
Mention has been made ofvaccination of birds at day old. Commercial broilers will arrivealready vaccinated but a vaccination program appropriate to a particular location will have to be worked out at a later date and if necessary a supply of the vaccines sourced.
Trainer will describe the current marketing of meat birds in his/her region or village and will go through a worked example of all calculations for weight gain and feed efficiency
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