Poultry Farming and Egg Production
Basic norms
- Incubation: chicken 21 days, duck 28, turkey 28, quail 17–18.
- Terms: chick, pullet (young female before laying), cockerel, hen, cock. Brooding is care of chicks for the first 4 weeks.
- Feed: layer 16–18% CP with 3.5–4% calcium; broiler starter 22–23% CP and finisher 19–20% CP.
- Lighting 14–16 h for layers; debeaking at 7–10 days; deep litter 5–7 cm and dry, about 1 sq ft per bird; eggs collected 3–4 times daily.
Health programme
Marek's at day-old in the hatchery, Ranikhet (ND) F1/B1 at 5–7 days, LaSota at 4–6 weeks, IBD (Gumboro) around 14 and 21 days, fowl pox at 6–8 weeks. Cull non-layers using vent and comb signs. Egg composition is roughly 58% albumen, 31% yolk and 11% shell.
Worked example
A broiler flock of 500 birds eats 1,600 kg feed and gains 1,000 kg live weight: FCR = 1600/1000 = 1.6. Separately, 200 layers giving 160 eggs in a day = 160/200 = 80% hen-day production. Write the formula and the units - both carry marks.
Traps
Hen-day and hen-housed production differ (the second is calculated on birds placed); layer and broiler protein/calcium levels are frequently interchanged; 21 days is the safe incubation answer for chicken; Marek's is given at day-old, not at 6 weeks.