Z-Mart Poultry Consultants

Chicken Vices:

a) Egg Eating:- Is caused by poor nutrition due to poor quality feeds or under feeding the chicken based on the breed requirement.

Other factors include:
If laying nests are not dark enough,
Inadequate nesting material
Broken eggs due to pilling up

NB: When a hen tastes an egg it will want more.

To all, Winnie's Farm Produce Ltd in Embu, has 200 indigenous (Kienyeji) c***s retailing at Ksh. 800 a piece. They can be used as breeding c***s and also for meat purposes. All who are interested please call 0720-10-88-51.Hurry while stocks last.

Factors affecting growth of indigenous chicken
1. Nutritional factors
The nutritional requirements of the feed depend on the weight and the age of the poultry as well as the season.
Healthy Chicken requires:
i. Sufficient amount of feeds with the necessary dietary minerals
ii. Balanced diet
iii. Adequate supply of water.
iv. Certain diets also require the use of grit in the feed which aids in digestion by grinding food as it passes through the gizzard.
NB. Grit is not needed if commercial feed is used.
v. Clean and dry feeds as damp feed encourages fungal growth
2. S*x of birds
3. Breed
4. Diseases
• Diseases reduce the vigor of the birds and feed efficiency and eventual the growth rates.
5. Growth potential
• The smaller the chick at birth the smaller it is likely to be in subsequent years and the vice versa
6. Genetics
• The chick size is directly related to the size of the parents. The genes inherited from parent contribute to the growth rate of a chick.
7. Medication
• Exposure to certain medications can inhibit chicken growth patterns and result in chicks growing more slowly or never reaching their full size.

There are three key pillars that one has to put in mind or familiarize with when venturing into the poultry business:
1. Proper Housing Management
2. Proper Feeding Management
3. Proper disease control and prevention strategies.

This will be elaborated soon...watch this space!!!!

A Little Egg Knowledge:
Where eggs are concerned, bigger isn’t better, at least according the egg guru Moses Wolfe of Petaluma Farms in Petaluma, California. If you’re looking for eggs with the best taste and the lightest texture, those would be pullet eggs, laid by hens less than 1 year old.

The very best qualities are those laid before the young chick reaches the ripe old age of 31 weeks. Because the bird is young, the eggs are smaller than those laid by the 1-2 year-olds. They may be p*e wee, small, medium, or large eggs, but not extra-large or jumbo. These eggs not only taste great but make soufflés rise higher and omelets come out fluffier. Jumbo eggs are from older hens. These eggs, Wolfe explains, “age more quickly, losing quality, taste, nutritional value and recipe performance." By the time the bird is 2 years old, it’s considered “over-the-hill” as far as laying good-quality eggs is concerned.

Whether the hen is caged (and therefore celibate) or cage-free and sharing a rooster with about 9 other hens, the appearance and taste of her eggs is the same.

Did you know that we have over 29 million indigenous chicken in Kenya vs the 5-6 million broilers..according to the 2009 Census. But most of the kienyeji are kept in rural household where they are poorly taken care of and do not benefit the communities there...It is these farmers that Z-Mart Poultry Consultants wishes to help in educating, training them and mentoring them to be able to improve their production and improve their economic potential!!!

To learn more on poultry rearing, indigenous/kienyeji chicken farming and hatching/table egg management please call 0720-108851 or post your query for further advice. Have a kuku-filled evening!!!