As long as you meet all the requirements of your layers, it is possible for Nigerian farmers to push their hens to the limits and achieve a high level of egg production that will result in maximum profitability for the poultry farm.
Poultry farming is a highly capital-intensive business although it is possible for you to start small. But the bottom line is that you are going to need significant sums of money in order to run profitable farming operations in Nigeria at a large commercial scale. For example, you have to purchase your land or rent over the long term, put up efficient poultry farming structures, buy equipment, invest in medicine, labour costs, equipment etc. So it is a capital intensive business enterprise.
If you are going to run a profitable poultry farming business, especially when it comes to layer farming in Nigeria, you will need to manage various critical requirements in order for your poultry farm to be successful.
Housing your poultry
For most farmers in Nigeria, the typical poultry housing will involve building a corrugated iron house which does not have a lot of insulation or even a timber or mud house using locally available materials . While this is practical and affordable for most poultry farmers in Nigeria and indeed in Africa, it is not an ideal situation for rearing your poultry. Building a corrugated iron housed will mean your poultry flock is exposed to a very high temperature during the day and very cold temperatures at night or where there is seasonal changes, very high temperatures during the hot months and very low temperatures during the cold months.
This extreme temperature variation is a stressor that is going to affect your production. When the temperatures are high, the feed intake is going to go down and this will, in turn, precipitate a severe drop in poultry production. With low feed intake, the poultry will be put under stress and this will lower their immune systems thus exposing the chicken to various diseases. High temperatures also result in high water intake that will result in wet manure.
When the temperatures are low, there will be a rise in feed intake and this will in turn cause poor food conversion rates or FCR. Low temperatures may also make the chicken more susceptible to diseases such as Coryza especially if the farm is situated close to a dam or river.
There must be sufficient clean water in order to ensure the health of the chickens: Clean and fresh drinking water will be critical in maintaining high levels of production of the poultry farm. With a lack of water or shortage of water, the levels of production are going to fall down considerably and this will lead to high levels of mortality in the birds. Insufficient or dirty water leads to low levels of immunity and the birds are in turn exposed to various poultry diseases. When water is lacking from the production system, you are going to see a severe drop in production and it will take you a very long time to recover from that. As they say, no bird will be as forgiving once you remove the water.
Feeds, quality of feeds as well as feed wastage issues: To help you maximize on production and also maintain high production standards, the poultry must be fed very high quality and well formulated feed rations. Poor quality feeds or lack of proper feeding or both factors is going to have a negative impact on the efficiency of your production systems.
Hygiene, sanitation and general biosecurity: The poultry operation must be kept clean in order to have a positive impact on the production standards. A poultry operation that is not kept clean is likely to be impacted by various factors such as pests, rodents and diseases.
Another serious factor in production systems in feed wastage is rodents, and if not well controlled, will have a serious impact destroying the chicken feeds. The rodents generally impact major feed loss on your poultry farming operation by eating the feeds but they can also destroy your poultry equipment. Additionally, rodents are some of the leading carriers of some of the major poultry diseases. With feeds accounting for anywhere between 60-70% of the cost of production, the last thing you want is to be wasting your poultry feeds.
Proper vaccination: If you are keeping poultry, make sure you have the vaccination schedule pinned on the door or walls of your poultry house so that you never have to forget even a single vaccination. The vaccination program must be well-planned out and up to date. You can talk to the local veterinarian regarding the best vaccination program that you can undertake.
You must strictly follow the right vaccination program making sure you use high quality vaccines by trusted vets. The vaccines must also be administered well. While adhering to a vaccination program will not prevent all diseases such as the Newcastle Disease, it will significantly lower the risk of these diseases. This will also mean that you will not face a severe drop in the production whenever there is a disease outbreak. In case of a major disease outbreak, the mortality rate will also be lower in flock that has been well vaccinated based on the severity of the strain or disease.
Lighting: Lighting must be provided to your flock in order to ensure that the production levels are kept at optimal rates. Good lighting will allow you to get the bird’s genetic potential. It is not just sufficient to have light; Lux or brightness is also necessary. By providing that in a commercial egg laying operation, you are likely going to have low efficiencies and you will not be able to maximize on your production.
The Breed: The kind of breeds that you choose for your farm will also have an impact on the kind of success that you will have. There are various commercial layer and broiler breeds that you can choose. Take time to research the breed that you are planning to keep and learn as much information as possible about them. Various poultry breeds have certain features that will have an overall impact on the efficiency of your poultry framing operation.
The management as well as the administration: In order for you to realize all the above points, you must deploy an efficient and quality management operation on your farm. You will need professional management that is highly skilled and also knowledgeable.
Proper administration is also required and various aspects of the operations should be measured and also recorded. The level of production should be done to a high standard. For example, ensure that the body mass of the chickens as well as the egg mass are up to standard.
These kinds of metrics will give you an idea on whether you are running an efficient poultry farming operation. If you will be putting up a large commercial operation that is going to cost you a lot of money, it is also important to hire the services of a professional poultry consultant that can help you in running a cutting edge poultry farming operation.
A well managed and cutting edge operation will keep performing and yielding profits even in the most competitive markets.
World Poultry Consortium is an information resource for poultry farmers in emerging markets across Africa, Asia and South America. Check out our Nigerian poultry information portal for manuals and information guides for successful poultry farming in Nigeria.