Did you know that there is artificial insemination in chicken? Yes, it is here in Uganda, and done by SR Afro Chicks and Breeders Ltd as they service their parent stock to get well-fertilized eggs for hatching.
Kennedy Anguzu, a veterinary field officer with SR Afro Chicks and Breeders Ltd, explains that they are the only poultry company in Uganda that uses artificial insemination.
He says they deal in day-old broiler chicks, commercial broiler feeds, layer farm, breeders’ farm and hatchery, where they produce about 150,000 eggs per week, with about 95% fertility rate.
Sakka Waiswa, the hatchery manager, explains that they have a cage system where everything is automated. They have two farms and a slaughterhouse in Bombo.
Hatchery
The hatchery is located at Kakooge in Nakasongola district. Sakka explains that they have a farm for the parent stock, from which they get eggs for hatching.
“For now, we sell day-old chicks for only broilers. Our birds are kept at the highest standards so that we get sufficient eggs to hatch. The eggs are collected and kept according to dates, given the fact that we hatch eggs on the basis of first come, first go, and these must be kept at a room temperature of 16 degrees,” he explains.
After collecting eggs from the farm, they are sorted for fertility. According to Sakka, they sort out the broken, the double-yolked eggs, small -sized and the shapeless.
“We only hatch eggs that weigh between 75gms and 45gms,” he explains. They hatch every Monday and Thursday. The eggs are put on the setter trays that carry 90 eggs each. These are placed into the incubator for 18-and-a-half days.
Here, eggs are candled after 12 days, where the unfertilized are sorted out. “The condition in the incubators allows the chicks to develop in the eggs and, therefore, the unfertilised will be transparent. Later, they are taken to the hatchery for two-and-a-half days to make 21 days, just like the hen does,” he explains.
