Broiler Farming (Poultry) Detailed Guide:-
Introduction of Broiler chicken:- What is broiler? It’s a tender meat young chicken of male or female that grows from a hatch weight of 40 grams to a weight over approximately around 1.5 kg to 2 kg in about 6 weeks time period only. Broilers today has emerged as the one of the fastest growing poultry segment with the increased acceptance of broiler chicken meat in cities, towns, and villages, the demand and consumption of broiler chicken is increasing day by day in a fast pace. In India, during the last few years, poultry farming has taken a U- turn from a backyard venture into a fastest growing commercial sector. For achieving better profits from poultry industry, One should be aware and have good knowledge on its technicality viz: housing, breed, feed management, and over all maintenance.
Broilers breeds reared for meat purpose are: a) Commercial Broiler breeds b) Dual purpose Broiler breeds.
1. Commercial Broiler breeds in India.
- Caribro.
- Babcobb.
- Krishibro.
- Colour broiler.
- Hy-Bro.
- Vencobb.
2. Dual purpose Broiler breeds.
- Kuroiler Dual.
- Rhode Island.
- Red Vanaraja.
- Grama Priya.
Housing/Shed & Management in Broiler farming:- To achieve optimum chick growth and body weight gain in broiler farming, It is essential to provide comfortable and growth specific housing or shed area for birds.
One should consider the following factors or parameters for better Broiler housing and management.Housing/Shed design and site selection are major factors to be considered.
Selecting the Site for Broiler farming:-
- Should have sufficient land area.
- Should have good water supply and electricity.
- Preferably higher land should be considered to avoid water logging in rainy season.
- Better to have road connectivity and transport facility.
- Should be far from human activities and housing estates.
- Should have market access to procure any farm inputs and selling of farm produces.
Housing /Shed Design in Broiler farming:-
- Housing should have good ventilation and wind flow.
- In deep litter system, space requirement is 1 sq ft / bird.
- Should consider East-West as length-wise direction of the shed.
Housing or Shed System:- Try to make housing at low cost, so that saved amount can be used for bird purchase or feed or any other farm inputs. For building a low cost housing system, use locally available material like mud, bamboo, thatch roof/chitra etc. Management is the important part of the broiler farming to achieve desired meat production. Following are the vital parameters to be considered in Broiler management System.
1) Broiler breed selection: Day-old chicks with good quality should be selected.
2) Preparation housing before arrival of chicks:
- Remove the previously used litters and wash the house equipments properly.
- Should spray sanitizers on litter and entire poultry house.
- Should spray selected disinfectants.
- Should clean water pipelines.
- Should consider fumigation of poultry house with suitable agents.
3) Brooding:
- Should start brooder 1 day prior to arrival of chicks to the farm.
- Should adjust the hover temperature to 95 °F at first week and reduce by 5 °F every week until 70 °F.
- Should Place chick guard for first week.
4) Ventilation: The shed /house should be designed with cross ventilation for allowing fresh air to circulate inside the house by providing wire mesh net on two opposite sides of the shed.
5) Lighting: Continuous lighting should be provided from day old to till marketing of chicks.
6) Floor space requirement in the shed: 1 sq ft / bird.
7) Deep Litter Management in Broiler farming:
- Litter materials used in the shed should be either rice husk, saw dust, or chopped wheat straw etc depending upon availability of the material.
- Should remove old litter and use fresh litter for rearing pullets and new batches of
- To avoid caking of litter due to high moisture level in the shed, stirring litter should be carried out on regular basis and humidity of the shed should be maintained.
Poultry Feed Management:- As feed plays vital role in poultry farming and is the major cost of poultry production which seriously affects the production output of the birds. So the feed and feeding management is the major important consideration for efficient commercial poultry farming. Improper feeding causes several deficiency disease which results in poor production performance.
Also, make sure the feed have all the required nutrients (carbohydrates, fats, protein, minerals & vitamins) in right proportion for better growth of the birds. In addition to the regular nutrients, some additives are required to facilitate digestion and growth and is usually added in reputed commercial feed.
Types of Poultry Feed:-
Age of chicks
Feed Type
0 – 10 days
Pre-Starter
11 – 21 days
Starter
22 days – Till marketing
Finisher
Estimated Feed consumption of Broiler farming:-
Chicks age in days
Feed Weight in grams
Body Weight gain/day
1st day 2nd day 3rd day4th day
5th day
6th day
7th day
8th day
9th day
10th day
11th day
12th day
13th day
14th day
15th day
16th day
17th day
18th day
19th day
20th day
21st day
22nd day
23rd day
24th day
25th day
26th day
20gm/bird/day 22gm/bird/day 24gm/bird/day26gm/bird/day
28gm/bird/day
30gm/bird/day
32gm/bird/day
34gm/bird/day
36gm/bird/day
38gm/bird/day
40gm/bird/day
42gm/bird/day
44gm/bird/day
46gm/bird/day
48gm/bird/day
50gm/bird/day
52gm/bird/day
54gm/bird/day
54gm/bird/day
56gm/bird/day
58gm/bird/day
60gm/bird/day
62gm/bird/day
64gm/bird/day
66gm/bird/day
68gm/bird/day
45 – 55 gms 55 – 95 gms 95 – 135 gms135 – 175 gms
175 – 215 gms
215 – 255 gms
255 – 295 gms
295 – 335 gms
335 – 385 gms
385 – 425 gms
425 – 465 gms
465 – 505 gms
505 – 545 gms
545 – 585 gms
585 – 625 gms
625 – 665 gms
665 – 705 gms
705 – 745 gms
745 – 785 gms
785 – 825 gms
825 – 865 gms
865 – 905 gms
905 – 945 gms
945 – 985 gms
985 – 1,025 gms
1,025 – 1,045 gms
Application of Effective Micro-Organism Liquid (E.M.) in Broiler farming:
What is E.M? E.M. Is a brown colour concentrated liquid produced from the cultivation of 80 strains of beneficial microorganisms collected from natural environment of India.
What are the advantages of E.M. Technology in Livestock Production or in Broiler farming ?
- It reduces cost inputs more efficiently and improves gain in body weight.
- It maintains better health condition of chicks.
- It helps Clean shed, less flies, ticks and less disease incidence.
E.M. in Broiler feed on daily basis:-
Age of birds
E.M. Bokashi
01 – 07 days
30 gm/ kg feed
08 – 14 days
20 gm/ kg feed
15 days onwards…
10 gm/ kg feed
E.M. Solution as additive in drinking water on daily basis:-
Age of bird
E.M. Solution
01 – 14 days
1 ml/ liter of water
15 days onwards
0.5 ml/ liter of water
Caution Note: E.M.solution should not be mixed with anti-biotic, disinfectants / chlorinated water.
Diseases, Control and Vaccination schedule in Broiler farming:- CLICK HERE.
Bio-Security Measures in Broiler farming: Bio-security is a method of preventing the spread of disease onto your poultry farm.
Bio-security has 3 major components:
- Isolation.
- Traffic Control.
- Sanitation.
What are the Bio-security Measures in Broiler farming ?
- Should have fencing.
- Should keep visitors to a minimum.
- Should limit visitations to other poultry farms.
- Should keep all animals and wild birds out of poultry sheds.
- Should practice sound rodent and pest control programs.
- Must inspect bird flocks daily and recognize disease symptoms.
- Should have good ventilation and relatively dry litter.
- Should keep areas around sheds and feed bins clean.
- Never go for exchange of feed and equipments.
- Disinfection and sanitization of poultry sheds & equipment should be carried frequently.
- Dead birds must be disposed properly.
Marketing of Broiler Chicks:- Marketing should be planned in advance of starting a farm. A successful farming will depend on the good poultry market and the price offered. In India, consumption of chicken will be less on certain festival times.
Are you also interested to go for Sheep or Goat farming? Read Here.
