Zambia Agribusiness Society

Do you know the reason why some of your day old chicks die in their first week, and why you keep buying drugs unnecessarily? Is because you lack the skills needed in raising and brooding day old chicks. Is your poultry house protecting your chicks from cold, rain, wind and too much heat during brooding? Do you give your chicks enough space for their feeding, drinking and eating during brooding? If you really want to achieve zero or no mortality during brooding your chicks you need to put in a lot of work to give out the best housing to your chicks. Brooding can be classified into natural and artificial brooding. It is also a place of safety where baby chicks are kept warm, fed, watered and cared for until they are able to care for themselves. Equipment used for artificial brooding are called brooders. •       Electricity through brooder lamps. •       Charcoal through coal pots and brooder pots. •       Kerosene through kerosene lamps. •       Gas through gas brooders

How do you get the most eggs from your chickens? It may sound like a difficult question but if you have kept chickens before you already know the answer – you treat her like a queen! To get your chickens to lay lots of eggs, there are several things you need to do. Some of these things will be obvious to you, others perhaps a little more obscure, but they are all important to your flock. Below we share with you 9 natural ways to make chickens lay more eggs… 1. Access to clean water: They need clean, fresh water every day to support their bodily needs. I know, you see them drinking from muddy puddles and ditches but they really should have clean water. That murky water you see them drinking may contain parasites and bacteria that can make them sick. If hens become dehydrated they will not lay eggs and it will take them a few days to start laying again. 2. Reducing stress Chickens can get stressed by small and inconsequential things such as a change of feed, loud noises

Now, this is where the task begins. A chick surviving the chick phase partially signifies that the pullet and egg-laying stage will be an easy ride all things being equal. So, here is a guide that will enlighten you on how to care for your day-old chicks until they mature. For clarity, we have split this process into stages to help you know what to do at each given time. Days 1-2 Prevent the chicks from getting chilled by setting the pen temperature adequately. In other words, ensure they are warm enough. Ensure you check on the baby chicks several times in a day. At night, ensure all the chicks make it back under the brooder. Also, leave the lights on all night. This will provide illumination for the baby chicks to see to eat and drink. Keep your eye open for sick or dead birds. Ensure they are taken away from the environment to avoid scare and smell. However, keep in mind that high mortality of chicks occurs within the first 48 hours. But if the chicks make it out during this period,

The poultry sector is one of the fastest growing sectors. Poultry production plays a vital role in providing employment, income, animal protein for both urban and rural population apart from providing manure for crops. Although there is an increase in the supply of meat in the world, factors such as the handling, housing and rearing of birds in addition to disease control limit the progress of this industry still. In monsoon season rainfall can occur continuously for many days leading to an increase in relative humidity and a reduction in temperature; hence affecting both the quality and quantity of feeding, while wind speed also has an impact on the outbreak of diseases. These changes affect the production of birds, most especially laying birds, as the egg production is reduced in extremely cold or hot weather. This reduction in egg production occurs because when there are extreme cold or hot conditions, these birds are stressed, and their ability to withstand diseases or immune sys

Guinea fowls at a water hole Guinea fowl are birds that are completely endemic to the warm and tropical forests, savannas, scrublands, farmlands, and even semi-deserts of sub-Saharan Africa. Flocks of these birds will sometimes roam around urban areas as well. They have several adaptations to deal with the harsher African climate. There are 6 species of guinea fowls that are native to Africa. They inhabit jungles, forests, grasslands, shrublands, savannas and semi-deserts. Take a look below for 24 more fascinating and bizarre facts about guinea fowls. Guinea fowls are very adaptable birds. They’re able to live in the lowlands and on altitudes of 9,800 feet. Some species of guinea fowls, such as the helmeted guinea fowl, have been domesticated and can be found on farms all over the world. They have a bare head and neck, while the rest of their body is covered with dark grey or black feathers with small white dots. They can reach lengths between 16 and 28 inches. They usually weigh bet

Vaccination plays an important part in the health management of the poultry flock. There are numerous diseases that are prevented by vaccinating the birds against them. A vaccine helps to prevent a particular disease by triggering or boosting the bird’s immune system to produce antibodies that in turn fight the invading causal organisms. A natural invasion that actually causes the disease will have the same result as the bird will produce antibodies that fights the current invasion as well as to prevent future invasions by the same causal organisms. Unfortunately birds that become diseased usually become unthrifty, non-productive or even die. An infection caused by natural invasion will be uncontrolled and therefore has the possibility of causing severe damage, however vaccination provides a way of controlling the result with minimal harm to the birds. Vaccines are generally fragile products, some of which are live but in a state of suspended animation. Others are dead. All have

You have a healthy chicken if your chicken’s poop is brown or green with white caps. Regular chicken poop is usually a shade of brown with a fluffy white cap. The whitecap is uric acid which would be urine in humans, while the brown part is the faeces proper. The poop is usually moist, soft, and mushy. There might be variation in the poop of different chickens as factors like diet and season can affect the nature of chicken poop. However, healthy chicken poop would generally fit the description above. One usual exception in chicken poop is the cecal poop which is more moist, runny, and smelly. It is usually excreted twice a day and comes from the cecum, a part of the bird’s internal organs where digestion happens. Although this poop looks different from your regular chicken poop, it is no reason to be worried. It is, instead, a sign that your chicken’s digestive tract is working perfectly fine. What Can Chicken Poop Tell You About Chickens? A ton of information can be obtained ju