Showing posts with label Poultry Farming. Show all posts
GMO Feed to Chicken (Picture)
Posted by Unknown in Chicken, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO), Pictures, Poultry Farming on Tuesday, 29 January 2013
Pre-Placement Checklist for New Chicks
Posted by Unknown in Chicken, Poultry Farming
Equipment Check:
- After confirming that the equipment capabilities meet the number of chicks to be placed,
- install the necessary brooding equipment and check that all equipment is functional. Ensure
- that all water, feed, heat and ventilation systems are properly adjusted.
Heater Checks:
- Verify that all heaters are installed at the recommended height and are operating at maximum output.
- Heaters should be checked and serviced an adequate time BEFORE pre-heating commences
Thermostats or Probes Check:
- Placed at bird height and in the center of the brooding area.
- Minimum and maximum thermometers should be placed adjacent to thermostat.
- Temperature ranges should be recorded daily and not deviate by more than 2 °C (4 °F) over a 24 hour period.
- These should be calibrated at least annually or sooner if doubt exists about accuracy.
Floor temperature Check:
- Houses should be preheated so that both the temperature (floor & ambient) and
- humidity are stabilized 24 hours before placement.
- To achieve the above target, pre-heating needs to commence at least 48 hours before
- chick placement.
- Pre-heating time is dependant on climate conditions, house insulation and heating
- capacity and will vary from farm to farm.
- Chicks do not have the ability to regulate body temperature for the first 5 days and thermo regulation is not fully developed until 14 days of age. The chick is highly dependent upon the manager to provide the correct litter temperature. If the litter and air temperatures are too cold, internal body temperature will decrease, leading to increased huddling, reduced feed and water intake, stunted growth and susceptibility to disease.
- At placement, floor temperatures should be at least 32 °C (90 °F) with forced air heating.
- If radiant heaters / brooder stoves are used, floor temperatures should be 40.5 °C (105 °F) under the heat source.
Minimum Ventilation Check:
- Minimum ventilation should be activated as soon as the preheating begins to remove waste gasses and any excess moisture.
- Seal air leaks to eliminate drafts on chicks.
- 14-16 drinkers/1,000 chicks (includes supplemental) should be provided within the brooding area of which 8-10 can be bell type drinkers.
- All drinkers should be flushed to remove any residual sanitizer.
- Adjust pressure to produce a droplet of water visible on each nipple without dripping.
- Check for water leaks and air locks.
- Ensure that nipple drinkers are at the chicks’ eye level.
- Water must be clean and fresh.
- Supplemental drinkers should be placed in such a way that the chicks will make the association between supplemental drinkers and the main system
Feeder Check:
- Remove all water remaining from clean-out prior to filling.
- Supplemental feeders should be provided for the first 7-10 days in the form of paper, trays or lids.
- Trays should be provided at a rate of one per 50 chicks.
- Supplemental feeders should be placed between the main feed and drinker lines and adjacent to the brooders.
- It is of utmost importance that the supplementary feeding system does not run empty as this will place great stress on the chick and reduce yolk sac absorption.
- The base of the supplementary feeders should never be exposed - keep full at all times!
- Supplemental feeders should be refreshed three times daily until all the chicks are able to gain access to the main feeding system. This generally occurs at the end of the first week.
- Feed should be provided as a good quality crumble.
- Do not place feed or water directly under the heat source as this may reduce feed and water intake.
- The automatic system should be placed on the floor to make access easier for the chick. Where possible, flood automatic feeding systems with feed.
- If using paper, the feed area should be a minimum of 50% of the brooding area. 50-65 grams of feed per chick on the paper is recommended. The paper should be placed near the automatic drinking system so the chick can have easy access to both feed and water
Modernization of Poultary Farming
Posted by Unknown in Pakistan, Poultry Farming on Friday, 25 January 2013
Every
community in the world is responsible to provide its residents adequate
food and guarantee them freedom from hunger and malnutrition.
It
becomes especially important when about 15-20 per cent of the world
population is still unable to obtain sufficient food to meet minimum
nutritional requirements for a healthy and productive life.
The
current poor nutritional status is due to lack of sufficient energy and
protein in the food. A balanced diet is essential for good health,
vigour and productive capacity of the people. Protein plays an important
role in the formation of balanced human diet. There are mainly two
origins of proteins, animal and plant.
The
human diet in Pakistan is deficient with respect to proteins of animal
origin. At present 66 per cent of the people are deficient in protein.
The requirement of protein is 102.7 gram per head per day while the
available protein is 69.61 gram per head per day. The gap in requirement
of protein is 33.09 gram. The main source of animal protein is beef,
mutton, milk, poultry meat and eggs.
In
developing countries like Pakistan where the population is growing at a
faster rate, the gap in production of food especially of animal origin
is widening year after year.
The
animal protein shortage seems still more grave especially when it is
compared with the protein intake of various developed countries like
U.S.A., Canada, Germany, France, Japan and U.K., where consumption of
protein is 79-95 gram per capita per day of which 46-65 gram is protein
of vegetable origin.
The
nutrition dilemma demands a special focus to overcome the existing
deficiencies with particular reference to protein deficiency and
availability from animal source.
To
overcome the animal protein gap, poultry meat seems to offer much
better prospects. It is capable of providing protein in terms of quality
and can narrow the animal protein supply gap in minimum possible time
as compared to other sources of animal protein.
Until
1964, poultry production was a cottage industry in Pakistan. The
management and production on modern scientific lines was not known and
disease control measures were also not sufficient.
In
1964, PIA shaver laid the foundation of commercial poultry production
by introducing new and improved breeds of layers and broilers and by
Lever Brothers with production of poultry feed on modern lines.
Government
on her part, exempted this industry from income tax and sales tax,
allowed export of table eggs, day old chicks and broiler on subsidized
rates. Poultry production now has emerged as a good substitute of beef
and mutton.
This
table shows that poultry is developing in our country in spite of
problems this industry is facing. However, along with this expansion,
the poultry raisers lament the low economic returns on their products
and consumers in street protest against high cost of poultry which is
due to high marketing margin.
The
poultry industry faces problems like the incidence of diseases,
substandard and costly feed and inefficient marketing system. In all
stages of development, there is a need for improving the efficiency and
lowering the cost of distribution.
An
economical marketing system can help the producers sell their products
at reasonable prices and the consumers to buy their needs at minimum
cost. If we want to survive in post-WTO scenario, we should give
emphasis on quality and price. In a competitive environment only those
products will be accepted by consumers which are of good quality and are
also available at reasonable price.
Losses
occur in case of death of birds due to diseases and poor handling.
Grading is largely ignored in egg trade because of extra cost required
for grading. Transportation is the most important component of marketing
system. In economic sense, transportation means the moving of goods
from surplus production areas to deficient areas.
For
marketing of eggs and birds, the commission agents and retailers use
various means of transportation to take produce to the market. Bicycle,
motorcycle, wagons and donkey carts are being used for transportation.
The
higher losses during transportation are due to longer distance, bumpy
roads and lack of modern packing techniques. Poultry farmers don't get
fair returns. They put a lot of effort in increasing and developing
their business but the commission agents usually get the produce from
them at low prices and earn a lot of profit by selling at a higher
price.
Poultry
farmers should do their job both as producer as well as commission
agents. So, they can earn more profit out of their business. To improve
the present marketing system of poultry, following suggestions may be
helpful:
• To curtail breakage losses, packing and distribution system should be modernized
• Government should take immediate steps to improve the roads, for timely and quickly delivery of produce.
•
To enhance economic viability of the poultry industry, the prices of
feed and medicines should be kept within reasonable limits.
•
Poultry coordination boards should be established at federal as well as
provincial level to stabilize and maintain quality prices.
•
Lack of grading at farm level dos not promote the quality of eggs at a
price premium. So practice of grading at producer's level would be
encouraged and price information on the basis of grades and standards
should be regularly collected and disseminated.
•
Inadequate health facilities are one of the major constraints in
poultry production. It is due to viral, bacterial infection and
parasitic infestation. For this, a long run vaccination and de-worming
campaign policy should be started at national level.
•
Government should construct veterinary laboratory for drug residue
testing in the poultry products. This will ensure quality in exported
products.
• Steps should be taken to improve sanitary and hygienic conditions of birds casing processing units.
The Dawn
EU confirms virulent H5N1 bird flu found at British poultry farm
Posted by Unknown in Bird Flu, Europe, News, Poultry Farming on Monday, 10 September 2012
The European Commission confirmed on Saturday that the bird flu virus detected at a turkey farm in eastern England was the virulent H5N1 strain, which can be transmitted to humans.
"Samples from the infected establishment were immediately sent to the Community Reference Laboratory in Weybridge, which has this morning swiftly confirmed the disease to be the H5N1 strain of avian influenza," it said in a statement.
"Further tests to characterise the virus are underway, in order to ascertain whether or not it is the Asian strain."
The virus was found at a factory farm run by one of Britain's biggest poultry producers, Bernard Matthews, in Holton, Suffolk.
It is the first time the H5N1 strain has been found at a poultry farm in Britain.
The Bernard Matthews farm is in the heart of the country's chicken and turkey farming region and faces having to slaughter as many as 160,000 of its birds as a precautionary measure.
A three-kilometre (1.8-mile) protection zone and 10-kilometre surveillance zone have been set up around the farm, while strict movement controls are in place and farmers are being told to keep poultry indoors.
Britain's environment ministry said it was set to impose further restrictions, adding it was banning bird shows and pigeon racing nationwide following the outbreak.
In a statement, Bernard Matthews stressed that consumers should not be alarmed and said it had strong biosecurity measures in place.
"While Bernard Matthews can confirm that there has been a case of H5N1 avian influenza at its Holton site, it is important to stress that none of the affected birds have entered the food chain and there is no risk to consumers," it said.
And Peter Kendall, president of the National Farmers' Union, told BBC television that consumers should not stop buying poultry because of the scare.
"There's enormous concern, both for the whole farming community, the producers of poultry in the United Kingdom, and making sure we get the message about how well this will be managed and controlled," he said.
"We're encouraging all farmers to be incredibly viglant, look at their flocks carefully.
"We do need to reassure consumers, however, that this is not an issue about safety of poultry. It's completely safe to eat."
Officials announced on Friday that they had detected the H5 strain of the virus at the farm, though it was not confirmed as H5N1 until Saturday.
Government vets were called to the farm earlier this week after the death of more than 2,000 turkeys before H5N1 was confirmed.
It is still not clear how the virus was transmitted to the farm, where animals are housed in warehouses.
Professor John Oxford, a virologist at London's Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry, told the BBC that the "most likely" explanation was that a small bird had come in through a ventilation shaft.
Adding he was confident that the outbreak could be contained, he said: "I don't think it has made any difference as a threat to the human population...
"One good thing about this virus is that it's easily destroyed. You can kill it with a bit of detergent."
In March 2006, a wild swan found in Cellardyke, on the east Scotland coast, was found to have the H5N1 variant of the virus.
The H5N1 strain can be transmitted to humans and has killed more than 160 people worldwide since 2003, most of them in Asia. - AFP/
Tips for Disease Prevention in Poultry Farming
Posted by Unknown in Advise and Tips, Poultry Farming, Urdu, Z Original
The volatile nature of the poultry business warrants quick preventive measure according to the situation in order to fend off the future losses and to tap out the full potential.
Poultry experts stresses on the safety and preventive action in order to ensure the delivery of healthy meat and egg to the customers.
Here are the few tips to make a poultry farm safe from disease.
Here are the few tips to make a poultry farm safe from disease.
- House keeping is the foremost important aspect of the poultry operation. Cleaning of shed and the vicinity is the key to healthy chicken.
- Spray the farm with recommended germicide after cleaning and removing of chicken flock.
- Disinfect the vicinity with calcium carbonate solution (choona)
- The ambient temperature of the shed should be maintained at 75 ~ 80 degree Fahrenheit.
- In winter don't use plastic curtains to cover the poultry shed. These curtains can increase the humidity which results in difficulties in breathing for the chicken especially the younger ones. So only use curtains made up of cloths preferably jeans.
- Ventilation is very critical aspect of poultry shed operation. Proper ventilation reduces the risk of diseases related with breathing. Even when the sheds are closed during night with curtains there should be some room for ventilation in order to maintain proper environment in the shed.
- One can use heaters in order to maintain temperature of the shed during winter. But proper care should be taken by not allowing any smoke to remain in the shed. Smoke is dangerous for the lungs of the chicken.
- Use rice husk as floor and once it is soaked wet, change it.
- Give vitamin E to the birds in winter
- Isolate / quarantine / cull the unhealthy and sick birds once they are spotted.
- Incinerate or compost the dead birds. Don't throw them in normal waste disposal.
- Vaccinate all birds according to the schedule and when the local vet / authorities suggests.
- Observe bio security measures in poultry shed. Clean the cloths, hands shoes before and after working in the sheds.
- Stay in touch with the local vet, agriculture extension service for any further information and help.
Poultry : Weighing and Body Weight Control
Posted by Unknown in Layer Poultry, Poultry Farming
The objective of body weight control is to rear all of the birds to the target weight for age with good uniformity. Body weight targets are achieved by controlling feed allowances.
Feed amounts during rearing are based on body weight and maintenance, whereas in lay they are based on these two factors plus egg production and egg weight.
Feed amounts during rearing are based on body weight and maintenance, whereas in lay they are based on these two factors plus egg production and egg weight.
Feed amounts can only be determined if the body weight is measured accurately every week.
To measure body weight, weigh between 60 - 100 birds per pen each week or 1%-2% of the population.
At 7 and 14 days weigh a bulk sample of birds or 10 birds weighed together in a bucket. Thereafter, weigh birds individually at the same time on the same day of every week. Be sure the bird weights are taken on an “off day” or before feeding if everyday feeding is used.
Follow these simple procedures to ensure accuracy:
- The scales used to measure body weight must have a capacity of 5 kg (11.02 lbs.) and be accurate to +/- 20 g (.04 lbs.).
- Check regularly that the scales are properly calibrated. It is an advantage to have electronic balances with a printout facility.
- Gather approximately 100 birds in a catching pen.
- Weigh every bird in the catching pen, including small birds (cull sexing errors during this operation.)
- Record body weight using the chart.
- Calculate the average weight of all birds weighed.
- Plot the average body weight on the appropriate chart.
- Decide on the feed amount for the following days.
- During rearing, feed amounts should be maintained or increased. Never decrease the feed amount.
- After peak egg production feed amounts are normally reduced to control mature body weight and ensure persistence of egg production and fertility. The precise method of feed reduction could vary from flock to flock, and should be discussed with your Technical Service representative.
Disease Prevention and Control in Broiler Poultry Farm
Posted by Unknown in Animal Health, Diseases, Poultry Farming
Remember following points to prevent diseases in broilers.
Hygiene
A hygiene program is fundamental to successful broiler production. Following control and preventive measure should be taken for healthy broiler production.
- Start with disease-free chicks.
- Vaccine chicks against Ranikhet and Marek’s disease at the hatchery.
- Use effective drugs in the feed, or a vaccination program to prevent coccidiosi.
- Keep feed free from aflatoxin.
- Do not allow visitors or attendants inside the broiler house unless they wear disinfected boots and clean clothing.
- When there are several age groups on the farm, always care for the youngest birds first while performing daily routine works.
- Rework built-up litter. When built-up litter is used, all caked and wet litter should be removed and replaced with fresh, clean litter before chicks arrive.
- Cover floor with clean litter at least 3 in. deep after each clean out, Wood shavings, rice hulls, straws cut into small pieces are suitable litter materials.
For keeping good hygienic condition in broiler housing following managemantal practices are followed
Poultry house temperature
On the first week 95o F is quite comfortable. This may be reduced at the rate of 5o F weekly until 7 o F is reached on the sixth week. When chicks circle, wide, it is too hot. If they tend to crowd, under the hover it is too cool. In either case, adjustment is needed immediately.
Ventilation of Broiler house
The main functions of ventilation are to maintain Oxygen, keep CO2 at low level, remove dust or moisture and ammonia from the house and maintain required temperature. Air movement requirements are best determined by observing bird comfort, litter condition, and odour build up. If necessary exhaust fan may be used.
Lighting for Broilers
Use of night lights, about 15 watts to each 200 square feet of floor area during early growing period. Growing chicks in semi-darkness by using red bulb keeps the chicks quiet, prevents cannibalism, and may have a slight effect on feed efficiency. Most broiler growers provide light in the brooder 24 hours a day throughout the entire growing period. One 60 watt bulb for each 200 square feet of floor space.
Floor space requirement
Broilers will require from 0.8 to 1.0 square of floor space per bird.
Debeaking
In addition to preventing cannibalism, debeaking usually lessens mash feed wastage. Electric debeakers are now available and chicks are debeakers when only one day old.
Poultry farming in Pakistan
Posted by Unknown in Eggs, Layer Poultry, Meat, Pakistan, Poultry Farming on Sunday, 9 September 2012
Poultry farming in Pakistan has developed as an important sub-sector of livestock
The poultry farming has now become one of the most dynamic associated parts of agriculture throughout the world. Poultry culture in South Asian countries is expanding rapidly and the rate of growth of commercial layer and broiler (meat producing) farms is phenomenal to meet the ever increasing demand for proteins through poultry meet and eggs. In Pakistan, poultry industry had made considerable contribution to food production and plays a vital role in the economy of the country. Raising of poultry in Pakistan has virtually proven a profitable enterprise as it is the best source of cheap, palatable and nutritious food protein. The poultry production commenced in Pakistan in 1963. Hen birds were mostly maintained in the backyard of the houses in villages on a small scale, with very little investment by the villagers in terms of money and material. The return on those birds was too little, and there was hardly any attraction for investments to operate the same on large scales. Poultry as on a commercial scale in the private sector started due to pioneering effect made by PIA in 1965, when the first modern hatchery unit in Karachi was established. Later on, the investments have taken keen interest in this sector, as was result of which substantial development has taken place towards expansion of this industry. The commercial poultry farming emerged through the combined efforts and foresight of the government and the private enterprises. Now commercial poultry production is concentrated around the large urban centers in the provinces of Sindh and Punjab and initially at Karachi, Lahore with the passage of time, it is now fairly well spread all over the country. In the provinces of Sindh, there are farms in Mirpurkhas, Sukhar, Nawabshah as well as in small cities. Similarly, in the province of the Punjab, poultry farms have been well established in the areas of Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan, Lahore, Bhawalpur, Rahimyar Khan, Mianwali. Poultry produced in Pakistan is being developed through two management systems i.e commercial farming and rural poultry farming. The commercial poultry farming sector is a classic example of private ector enterprise with a phenomenal growth of 20 to 25 % per annum. The achievement of this rapid growth was made to the incentives granted by the government from time to time, like liberal financing and credit, income tax exemption, duty free import of grand parent and parent flocks, machinery and poultry farm equipments, such as hatcheries, cages, brooders, feed ingredients such as soybean, meal, maize, and sorghum for use in poultry feeds, in addition to liberal and easy facility to obtain loans from commercial banks and financial institutions. Now the large scale investment and proper incentives have resulted in the establishment of infrastructure comprising of 252 hatcheries with capacity to produce 346 million day- old chicks per annum, 141 feed mills with the capacity to produce 2540 thousand tons of compounds feed per annum and 13154 poultry farms with the capacity to produce 98 million broilers. The present total poultry population is estimated to be 319 million, out of which 137 million is rural (44%), 160 million broilers (50%), 17 million layers (5%) and 5 million breeding (2%) stock annually. These figures speak of the potential that has been established in the country to increase production of eggs and poultry meat thereby reducing further the gap of availability of animal protein foods. Modern poultry farming has a special importance for countries such as Pakistan. Because it is being an easy and relatively cheap method of raising dietary standard of the people. The shortages of animal protein in Pakistan is estimated at 0.93 million tonnes on the basis of human population of 140 million. The average consumption of animal protein is a meager 17g as against the recommended daily requirement of 28g. This shortage of protein can well be managed with increase in the production of poultry meat at a reasonable cost.
Some of the important breeds of the world such as buff rock, leghorn, light Sussex, Rhodes Island red are also hatched successfully in the country at desired traits. A laying bird produces an average of 250 eggs per year and the average live weight of the broiler is recommended as 1200 grams ( or 1.2 kg), at 8 weeks of age. Pakistan produces 6.5 thousand million eggs and 340 thousand tonnes poultry meat. The consumption of poultry feed increased with their ages. It reached its peak (135g/bird/ day) at 25 weeks age. Then it declined slightly reaching 124g / bird/ day at 33 weeks of age. There are also some local breeds, which are highly productive and are more adaptive to the local conditions. These important poultry breeds of fowls are cross bred with each other to produce. The product is concentrated around the large urban centers in the provinces of Sindh, Punjab and NWFP. The majority of such farmers are generally in and around the cities like Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, and Faisalabad. The capacity of the layers farm varies from 2000 to 20000 birds and that of the broilers farms from 103 to 403 birds per annum. The higher cost of poultry feed is mainly due to the increase in the price of the various ingredients particularly fishmeal in their poultry feed. In these days prices of poultry are very high due to the cost of ingredients needed for the manufacturer of the feed meal.
Approaches to increase production.
In order to increase the production of poultry the following approaches are considered necessary for implementation. Commercial poultry sectors be continued to boost up substantial marine in the productivity.
i) Rural poultry sector be enhanced.
ii) Rearing of traits be introduced on large scale commercial production ducks, partridges and pigeons rearing be introduced. Encourage establishment of poultry farms in private sectors engaged in the production of birds for rural development to improve food availability. Coarse grain production must be increased under target oriented programme like major crops. Price support must be granted. Oil cakes/ meat production can be increased through increasing oilseed crops. To check out easy formula to evolve cheap poultry ratio formulas ratio formula using agriculture and industrial by-products.
To improve poultry health and extension services vaccination against contagious disease must be carried to several 60% of rural poultry production as against existing 25% to establish locally disease reference laboratory.
To establish small poultry units of varying sizes in the villages to increase production of village level. Private sectors be encouraged to establish disease diagnostic laboratory and vaccine production unit to improve poultry marketing. To establish poultry processing plants and cold stores to provide ready market for broilers. To establish poultry marketing center at different places in cities and towns. Price support and broilers may be grounded. This can be implemented through processing plants. To work out cost of production of eggs and to announce whole sale rates of eggs on quarterly basis. To maintain check on the price of day old chicks and poultry feeds to take measure to maintain stability of price and quality. Poultry production during the last 35 years has played a commendable role in shortening the gap of availability of animal protein foods. In order to shorter the gap further within shortest possible time, it has became necessary that poultry, mutton, beef etc are also introduced on small and large scale both in public and private sectors. The possible feasible sources are rear of quails, ducks, pheasant, partridges, pigeons etc. All these sources are quite producing with short duration. It is observed that with the introduction of these techniques, the gap of animal protein food will be minimised within a short period.
Poultry feed and prices: Poultry feed gained importance with the emergence of poultry farming on a wide scale in the country. At present, poultry feed is produced by commercial feed mills as well as by home mixture. There are several feed mills located in the different parts of main cities of Pakistan. The different ingredients required for making poultry feed are broken or coarse grains (wheat, rice, maize, millet, sorghum barley, dried sea food, dried blood of animals, broken pulses and different vitamins). The poultry feed by its quality and price is the major factor in determining the cost of poultry products i.e. eggs and broilers and profitability of the poultry farm. The prices of feed have been constantly increasing. Due to recent global changes in the price structure of the cereal grains and other feed stuffs, the poultry industry at present is handicapped on account of high feed cost which have gone over to more than 60% of the total cost of production.
Advantages: The poultry meat and egg production over many decades have shown positive growth in the overall performances of the livestock sector and it has now reached a stage where its impact is obvious on the national economy of the country. The supply of eggs and poultry methods based on two distinct methods of production small scale village production and modern commercial methods in and around big cities. Poultry keeping business is one of the most promising source of additional income. Besides, this poultry farming has a number of advantages. It produces much needed protein, food, it serves as a source of income and employment to many and it has good returns. Poultry keeping is becoming more and more capital intensive, and it is very profitable. The income from poultry business begins to emerge within 8 to 9 weeks for broiler or 20 to 22 weeks for layers. A broiler is a young male or female bird under the age of 10 weeks. These are generally fast growing breeds reared and marketed for meat. Depending on feed and management broiler mature in 8 weeks weighing nearing 2-2.5 kg and the broiler consume about 4 kg of feed in the period of 6 to 8 weeks is the usual age for marketing. Most breeders rear broilers to be ready for sale during festivals when demand of profit is high. A layer of mature age generally lays 250 -300 eggs. These eggs provide high quality protein to the house hold. In addition to eggs and meat poultry provide manure that is of great value on the farm. It has been observed that nearly 40 hens or deep litter yields about 1000 kg of manure per year. The income from layers (hens) begins to appear within 8 to 10 weeks, for broilers or 18 to 20 weeks for layers. According to the economic survey (94-95), 2.35 kg / capita per year eggs were available in Pakistan during this period.
Disadvantages: It is a well known fact that poultry farming is a profitable business but it has also some disadvantages some disease such as Newcastale disease, Marek's disease, infectious bronchitis, gum-boro disease, fowl pox, myco-plasmosis, coccidiosis, lymphoid, adino virus hydro-pericardium etc. are very common in the poultry chicken. These diseases affect very quickly and have a tremendous effects on the growth of the birds. The excess uses of meat also has ill-effects on the health of their users, because the feed they eat contains lots of unhygenic ingredients. Therefor the chickens should be vaccinated regularly and properly.
Conclusion: It has been observed during the last thirty five years that poultry farming in Pakistan has developed as an important sub-sector of livestock This expansion continues to fill the genuine gaps of the animal protein and should be fully encouraged in order to promote the welfare and prosperity of the people by providing them with a nutritious balanced diet.
By Dr. S. M. Alam and M. A. Khan
Nuclear Institute of Agriculture
Tando Jam, Pakistan
