BROILER REARING GUIDE

INTRODUCTION

Starting a poultry farming business is easy and involved with lots of regular work at the same
time. In this guide I will be sharing with you most important things you want to know about
Broiler rearing business.

Broiler poultry farming is a lucrative business. Generally highly meat productive birds or poultry
breeds are called broiler poultry. But broiler chicken is a special species of poultry, which is a
great secret.

Selecting Broiler for Business

There are many breeds of broiler. Before selecting broilers for business as a farmer you have to
maintain some process. Those important steps are described below.

 The broiler chick of one day should weigh between 36 to 40 grams.

 Select the good and high productive breeds for business.
 ensure high ratio of protein and calorie in broiler chicken food
 For the chicken of 0-6 weeks the food should contain 22.24% protein and 2900-3000
metabolic heat
 A little amount of disinfectant should mixed in broiler food and this will keep the chick
free from diseases
 Potassium, Iodine, Manganese sulphate and Zinc carbonate should mixed well
separately and feed the chicken
 In broiler food the ratio of fiber should not be more than 6 percent.
 Vitamin A, B2, D3, B12 and K is an extensive requirements to broiler food
 Among the amino acid, lycine and methionine is very essential and important in broiler
poultry food. Because this acids helps to enhance chicken health, and help to convert
food to meat.

Housing
  The broiler house should be placed east-west direction. Ventilation system must be well
accompanied. The regular distance from one house to another house will be 11-12
meters (35-40 feet).
 The house should be cleaned well before bringing the chick to the farm.
 The insects like lice, mosquito, and etuli should run off with blow lamp.
 Heating system of the space of baby chicken should be observed well 48 hours before
the chick reach the farm.
 The temperature of the house should 350°. 7 square inch of space per chick is required.
Always keep a moderate number of chicks; it will keep the chicken healthy.

Feed and Water

 Proper and high quality feed is the main thing to success in broiler poultry farming.
Broiler poultry consume feed and convert them to meat. So, to be success the farmer
should be conscious in feed management.
 Broiler poultry needs high ratio of protein in their feed to grow well. They should also
provide proper vitamin like A, B2, D3, B12 and K to meet their needs.

 Provide some disinfectant to keep them free from poultry diseases. Broiler poultry eats
feed and water whole day and night. So, make sure the supply of feed and water all
time. Along with feed, fresh and clean water is very important. Broiler poultry takes a lot
of water every day. Make the water available all time to their cage
 In winter season farmer should supply warm water. However, to be successful the
farmer must have to be more careful in feed and water management.

For the first few days you can serve feed in egg carton.
 2.5 cm space is required per chick until they reach 1 week.
 For the first time you can fill the feeder fully, but don’t do that when they grow enough.
It reduces the food waste.
 Provide the feed four times a day.
 Provide fresh and clean water all time.
 Water pot should keep as much as possible according to the number of chicken.
 You have to keep in mind that broiler takes more water than layer chicken. The broiler
chicken takes more water in summer season
Temperature

 Temperature is very important in broiler poultry farming.

 You should check the temperature of the broiler chicken house 48 hours before
bringing the chick to the farm.
 For the first week the temperature of the rood would be 350°c and it will reduce at the
rate 2.80°c per week, it mostly depend on the outside temperature.
 The litter of the chicken would between 5-6 inch depth. If possible keep some straw in
the chicken bed.
 The chicken bed should be cleaned twice a week with spade. If the condition of the bed
is very wet then you can use lime because it absorbs the ammonia gas.

Broiler start up light

 The process of rearing broilers can be a sensitive affair from the time you get them from
the distributors/hatchery when they are 1day old chicks until they reach maturity.

1. The Brooder
  Before you go and get your chicks, you should first ensure that you have adequately
prepared the brooder. A brooder is a farm structure specifically constructed for chicks
with special attention to temperature control and proper hygiene.

 Temperature control is important for day old chicks because they do not have the
‘mother hen’ to shelter them from the cold and they do not have feathers and instead
have a fur like covering. Without a source of heat for the chicks the mortality rate goes
up and one risks losing the entire lot.

Temperature control can be achieved through two main ways:

 Use of Mbaula (Braizer) – this involves using the traditional charcoal burning mbaula as
a source of heat for the chicks
 Use of mercury bulbs – which are special bulbs designed to produce heat. Please note
that care should be taken when adjusting how low the mercury bulb should hang. If it’s
too high then the chicks will hurdle together and the ones in the bottom will suffocate
and die. If it’s too low some chicks may die of heat stroke. A good indicator of how low
to hang the bulb is through observing how the chicks react to the heat, if they hurdle
together, lower the bulb a bit lower but if some move away to far corners then raise the
bulb because it’s too low. See a mercury bulb on the image below:

2. Transportation of the chicks

 Care should be taken when transporting day old chicks especially when using a car it is
important to make sure the vehicle is well ventilated and that the chicks are not stacked
up to the extent that some have no access to fresh air.
  With day old chicks it is advisable to start them off immediately on anti-stress vitamins
to help them cope with the sudden change in environment. Common anti-stress
vitamins in the market include: Aliseryl, Egocin and Agrar [if un-available agrovets can
always advise you on a good substitute]

 You can also mix the vitamin water with some glucose and glycerine. The glucose gives
the chicks energy and keeps them active increasing the speed of their metabolism so
that they can eat more and develop faster. The glycerine [in small portions] helps
‘smoothen’ the chicks’ intestines aiding them in excretion of their waste.

Broiler feeding

 For broilers, you have the starter meal and the finisher meal. The starter meal is a mash
made up of finely ground maize, fish, millet and sorghum mixed together. This meal is
specifically for day old chicks because it is easy on their delicate digestive systems and it
is advisable to keep the chicks on this meal for at least the first 2wks.

 After the first 2wks the chicks ought to have developed feathers and you can move
them from the brooder to the main chicken house and can change the meal to finishers
mash or pellets.

 The major difference between the finisher mash/pellets and the starter mash is that the
finisher mash is not as finely ground as the starters mash which is understandable
because at this time their digestive system is well developed and can handle the heavier
feeds.
 You can keep the broilers on the finishers meal [being fed 3times a day] for 4wks –
5wks before they reach maturity and can be sold

Vaccines & Vitamins

Below is a schedule of the vaccines needed to reduce mortality rate for broilers.

 After 1wk – Newcastle vaccine

 After 2wks – Infectious Bursal Disease (Gumboro)
 After 3wks – Newcastle vaccine
 After 4wks – Gumboro vaccine
The above vaccines are administered via the chicken’s drinking water. In order to ensure that
they take the vaccine it is advisable to deny the chicken water for about 2hrs to make sure they
are thirsty before giving them the vaccinated.

OTHER USEFUL TIPS

 Maintain a Monitoring & Evaluation worksheet – This will help comparing one lot to the
next and help identify areas that need improvement.
 Have a well-defined/regular feeding pattern – This will make sure the birds are not
‘stressed’ and weight progress is even
 Make sure the chicken house floor is always dry – This will reduce chances of bacterial
or viral infections.
 Disinfect the brooder 1-2 weeks before introducing the day old chicks. This is the same
for the main poultry house; disinfect it 1-2 weeks before bringing in the chicks from the
brooder.
 Make sure the brooder/poultry house is well light during the day and night. This
encourages the chicks/chicken to keep feeding and hence attain the required weight in
time.
 Ensure the structure is well aerated.

Equipment’s used

 Feeding troughs. There are several options, choose the best for you.
 Drinkers: either plastic or metalic drinkers. Plastics are easy to clean and can last long
 Enough lighting during the night. You may prefer having electric power available

 A brooder for the day old chicks. A brooder can be within the main poultry house by
simply curving out a place for the chicks and removing the guards as the chicks attain
2wks. For a professional brooder it would need to off the ground and separated from
the main house.

 A brazier or heat-generating electric bulbs within the brooder to maintain enough heat
within the brooder during the night or during cold day times