Poultry Production
Enterprise types
Know the difference between layers (table eggs), broilers (meat), breeders (hatching eggs), and dual-purpose or indigenous flocks. Each has different housing, feeding and management targets. Poultry production is measured by hen-housed egg production, feed conversion ratio (FCR), mortality and livability.
Incubation and brooding
Natural incubation uses a broody hen; artificial incubation uses a setter and hatcher. Key parameters: temperature about 37.5 °C, relative humidity around 55–60% during setting and higher at hatching, turning eggs several times daily, and candling to remove infertile or dead embryos. Hatchability is fertile eggs hatched as a percentage of eggs set. Brooding provides heat, usually 33–35 °C in week one, reduced by roughly 3 °C weekly.
Housing and management
Deep litter, slatted floor, battery cage and free range. Ventilation, stocking density, feeder and drinker space, and litter quality drive performance and disease. Lighting programmes control sexual maturity in layers. Beak trimming and molting are welfare-sensitive practices governed by codes.
Traps
- Confusing fertility (fertile eggs as a percentage of eggs set) with hatchability.
- Assuming more heat is always better in brooding; chicks pant and move away when too hot.
- Forgetting that FCR is feed consumed divided by weight gain, so a lower figure is better.
- Mixing layer and broiler nutrient specifications.
Worked rule of thumb
If 500 eggs are set and 400 chicks hatch, hatchability is 80%. If 450 were fertile, fertility is 90% and hatchability of fertile eggs is about 89% - always state which denominator you used.
Records
Track eggs set, fertility, hatchability, chick quality, feed per bird, mortality and egg size or weight gain.