Zambia Agribusiness Society - ZAS

Developing a Free-Range Poultry Enterprise – ZAS

Small-Scale Poultry Keeping – Brooding and Rearing Chickens – NSW DPI

The period from hatching until the chickens no longer require supplementary heat is called the ‘brooding period’ and usually lasts for 3–6 weeks, depending on seasonal temperatures and the type of housing.

Chickens need supplementary heat when they hatch, because they are unable to maintain their body temperatures. The heat can be supplied by a broody hen or, more usually, by brooders fuelled by electricity, gas or oil.

As the chicken grows, its downy coat is replaced by feathers, and the brooding temperature can be gradually reduced, until supplementary heat is discontinued at about 3–4 weeks.

During the brooding period, the chickens need warmth, shelter, fresh air, proper food and clean water.

Business Plan for Poultry (Broiler) – Thuthukani Broiler Project

The Most Promising Option (MoPO) for the Thuthukani broiler project is broiler production and will entail production, processing and marketing broilers that have been dressed, graded according to weight ( 1.2kg – 2kg), packaged, labeled and sold in large quantities (20kg+) as chicken cuts or whole to supermarkets, hotels, and restaurants in Bulawayo. Broiler production has not been practiced before, meaning that broiler production will start from a zero base.

Business Plan for Poultry (Broiler) Rearing Project – Sweet Chicken Pieces Ltd

Chicken Breed Chart to Help Choose Your Chicken

Approximately 40 breeds of chicken discussed in this chart including: 

• Ameraucana
• Ancona
• Andalusian
• Appenzeller
• Araucana
• Aseel
• Australorp or Black Australorp

Homemade Egg Incubator/Hatcher – Calvin E. Roberts

This document includes step-by-step instructions on how to build an incubator for hatching eggs. 

Making Own Poultry Feeds Formulae, Rations and Ingredients

Poultry feed is food for farm poultry, including chickens, ducks, geese and other domestic birds.

Before the twentieth century, poultry were mostly kept on general farms, and foraged for much of their feed, eating insects, grain spilled by cattle and horses, and plants around the farm. This was often supplemented by grain, household scraps, calcium supplements such as oystershel, and garden waste.

As farming became more specialized, many farms kept flocks too large to be fed in this way, and nutritionally complete poultry feed was developed. Modern feeds for poultry consists largely of grain, protein supplements such as soybean oil meal, mineral supplements, and vitamin supplements. The quantity of feed, and the nutritional requirements of the feed, depend on the weight and age of the poultry, their rate of growth, their rate of egg production, the weather (cold or wet weather causes higher energy expenditure), and the amount of nutrition the poultry obtain from foraging. This results in a wide variety of feed formulations. The substitution of less expensive local ingredients introduces additional variations.

How to Make a Homemade Incubator – A. Rapids

This document includes step-by-step instructions on how to build an incubator for hatching eggs. 

Chicken Feed Formulation – John Chiseba Mwamba

To formulate feeds, farmers have to use the Pearson Square method. In this method, the digestible crude protein (DCP) is the basic nutritional requirement for any feed preparation for all animals and birds.

Now, assuming that a farmer wants to make feed for their chicken using this method, they have to know the crude protein content of each of the ingredients they want to use to make their feed.

Stock Feed Making and Feed Formulation – Presentation – ZONFA

Workshop objectives:

• Train participants on how to make their own stock feed
• Understand the benefits of making pelleted feeds over mash or crumbs
• Participants should be able to significantly reduce the stock feed expense