I have met farmers giving testimonies about the benefits of rearing kuroilers that the birds grow faster, produce more and bigger eggs.
Compared to hybrids, the egg-yolk is even more yellowish making it more nutritious, however, Anne Nduhuura of Mwije Haltow farm, Majigye along Gayaza road shares a few tips on what to consider if you are to earn from them.
The first thing a farmer must pay attention to is the source or the breed where the chicks are coming from.
And at day one, look keenly at the chicks so that you single out those that are likely to be weak from healthy ones. This is key when dealing with Kroilers.
At the same time, a farmer must have a vaccination schedule for a full month as these vaccines must be administered at different duration intervals.
A farmer must have a well-prepared brooder with suitable temperatures for a day one chick.
Depending on the number of chicks, there must be relatively enough space for birds to move and feed freely.
Biosecurity
You must also consider the biosecurity at the poultry house whereby not every person must access the poultry house without the help of the poultry manager.
It’s always advisable to always disinfect your shoes before entering the poultry house.
The caretaker of the house must always ensure chicks feed at the right time with clean water.
After two months, you must maintain monthly vaccines against diseases.
Ensure you feed your birds the right feeds following their growth stages. For example, give pre-starter the first seven days, before introducing starter which must be feed for six weeks.
At this stage, you can introduce Kroilers to growers which must be fed from six weeks to ten weeks and so on, but you must know the right feeds at a given stage.
You also need a feed calculator which helps to know how much each bird should feed per day. This is done to avoid wastage.
At seven weeks make sure you grade the birds. At this stage, you may decide to select the breeders from those intended for meat or eggs or for other farmers who want to breed.
For breeders, you can choose either to hatch or sell fertilised eggs and for the cocks you can choose to grow them and sell them off for meat.
