Guides on how to successively raised broilers that meets market demand in Nigeria

What is broiler? In a simple definition broiler are chickens raised mainly for meat production within a very short period of time.  Broilers are the hybrid of the egg laying chicken, both being a subspecies of the red jungle fowl called Gallus gallus. 

Typical broilers have white feathers and yellowish skin. Most commercial broilers reach consumable weight between five and seven weeks of age, moreover the slower growing type reaches consumable weight at about 14 weeks of age. 

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Because of the meat, broilers at this young age of slaughter, their behavior and physiology are that of immature birds. Broiler production, ie raising broiler chickens has become more popular in Nigeria, even throughout the world, as people try to find extra income aiming to overcome the economic challenges and high unemployment rate in the country. 

Many have lost hopes of ever getting jobs in the formal sector (public sector) and have started different means of income generating projects.

In addition, before you begin broilers production business, you have to decide on the number chickens you want to keep, where you are to keep them (location), and  where to dispose them when the rich  (your target market). The number of birds you keep will depend on

1.  The size of land 

2. The size of your target market

3. The amount of money in your pocket (capital)

You should also carry out what is call feasibility study, market research and write a business plan before you venture into the broiler production business. 

Do not make the mistake of starting a broiler business just because someone is doing it and he/she says it’s profitable and you want to do it, it might not work for you. Now let start, the steps are:

Broiler production requires where to keep them (land, housing and equipment)

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The brooder house should be cleaned and disinfected well in advance of chick delivery. A minimum of 3 weeks down-time between flocks should be scheduled for house preparation. 

Before cleaning and disinfection, all manure and feed should be removed and rodent control program should be carried out. Every other material to be used should be clean and disinfectant as well.

Additionally, in broiler production, fumigating the house within 5 days of chick delivery will help ensure sanitary conditions. The effectiveness of the cleaning, disinfection and fumigation should be checked by environmental testing of the house surfaces for coliform and Salmonella bacteria. 

If the birds are placed in naturally ventilated houses, it is better to start with 10% fewer chicks for a given space than during normal temperature conditions. 

This will give the chicks more floor space and better ventilation between the chicks as well as more water and feed space. 

Increased density of hens in cage or on floor increases effects of heat stress, i.e. reduced egg production due to reduced feed intake, increased feed requirement due to heat stress and increased mortality.  

Increasing space from 310 to 378 cm² per bird resulted in 16.6 more eggs per bird for the cost of 1.9 g feed/hen/day. Increasing space from 387 to 516 cm² resulted in 7.8 more eggs/hen housed, 4.3 g per hen/day higher feed consumption and 2.8% lower mortality. 

It is absolutely essential that the chicks reach their normal body temperature of 40-41°C as fast as possible after housing. Ideally, this should be checked with an ear thermometer a couple of hours after placement. 

If the body temperature is below 40°C, the house temperature has to be increased by all means. Make sure that the air humidity does not drop below 70% as a result of heating. The effect of ambient temperature on feed intake of laying hens.

In broiler production what they will eat (feeding) is very important

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The outcome of the broiler production depends largely on the mortality rates and optimizing the target weight of the birds at the appropriate time. 

Broiler feeds are formulated to provide the protein, energy, vitamins and other nutrients essential for health and efficient body weight production.  

So the type of feeds you choose will determine the success of your business at the end. On average, by the time a bird reaches 6 weeks, it should have consumed a total of 4kg of broiler feeds or starter feeds as the case maybe.  

At Six weeks of age, most broilers are sold, and they will be having an average live weight of about 2.2 kg and 2.4 kg, depending on management, breed, age and uniformity. About 70% of your expenses will go towards poultry feeding.

Vaccinations is compulsory in broiler production

Water vaccinations are among the most practiced method of delivering vaccines to birds in general. This method is also the most abused method of vaccinating our birds. 

What should be a quick and easy method of vaccine administration is often poorly executed resulting in low disease protection and/or low titers. 

All birds in the house must get a drink of the vaccine within two hours of vaccine dilution. The secret to successful water vaccination is getting all the birds to drink the vaccine.  

To achieve this  deprive the birds  of water  afternoon before the following morning of the vaccination. Vaccine is very important in their lives, since some diseases can’t be control if they show up, so you need to do something to prevent their occurrence.

Antibiotic may alter the effectiveness of any vaccine, therefore it is advisable to stop antibiotic for 4 to 5-day before you administer any vaccine. Apart from this, you must have been seen some feathers coming up from them, so they are welcoming the nature to their live. 

Keep watching the intensity of the light so as to control the temperature of the brooding room. I am not saying you should remove heat from them, please, heat up the room, but watch out for high temperature. 

Once again, hygiene is the best way to make drugs administered more effective, if the room is dirty, you may likely to see some symptom of diseases, so to avoid this, keep your brooding room clean always.

Management and labour are important in broiler production

The number of staff you need to employed depends on the size of your poultry project.  If you are keeping 50 birds at the back of your house you may not need an employee as you and your family will take care of the birds. 

On the other hand, if you have a poultry farm you will need dedicated staff to look after the birds, and to manage the business. 

You need good management skills and technical knowledge of broiler rearing techniques if you want to be profitable. Do your research, and train those who are working for you.

Market or sales in broiler production

With so many people eating chicken on daily basis and the country importing hundreds of millions dollars worth of chicken every year, you do not have to be a graduate to figure out that there is a huge demand for chickens in Nigeria. 

Before you start the broiler chicken farm or business, you should define your targeting market. For small scale broiler production, you can sell to those in your neighborhood, by simply putting a Chicken for sale sign at your gate, or put a writing note on board in your environs. 

The market price for live chicken in Nigeria is between N 3000 and N 4000. For medium to large scale broiler chicken production, you can target households, butchers, schools, restaurants, companies, events, abattoirs etc. 

You can also advertise your chickens business in the media or online.  If you have good networking skills it will be very easy for you to market your chicken. 

If you are producing more than 1000 birds, you can always sell your birds to abattoirs and companies which sell the packed chicken meat you buy from supermarkets.

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