Poultry Farming Guide for Beginners

Poultry Farming Guide for Beginners:

The following article explains about “Poultry Farming for Beginners”.

Poultry (chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, and other fowl) can be kept by enthusiastic individuals in a back garden or on an allotment, or intensive farming production systems with large acreage and high turn-over. However, the knowledge needed for looking after the birds in any number is generally the same, whether they are housed or free-range. While many intensive operations concentrate on just one or two breeds of bird, for the enthusiast there are a wide number of the broiler birds raised for meat) and egg-laying breeds available.

Poultry farm managers are responsible for the day to day running of the farm, which includes monitoring the welfare of the birds, feeding them and ensuring fresh drinking water is always available.

Poultry Broiler Farm-guide Lines For Broiler Poultry Farming:

The duration of broiler rearing is getting shorter by one day every year. As of now, the broiler growing cycle is 40 to 42 days. Such a short cycle requires faultless start, alert running and smart finish. Broiler farming can be started any time anywhere Broiler farming is catching up very fast in India. The broiler production costs are coming down in spite of raising feed and management costs. But, the price of grown up broilers is not going up and is hovering close to the production cost. The consumer is looking at the quality of the reared broiler. They are looking at the health of the bird and other attributes like dressing percentage and muscle growth. Under the circumstances, the farming has to be done meticulously and scientifically, else the whole batch can be a failure resulting in heavy losses.

Broiler farming started as multi age farming at the same site by the same farmer. Soon, it got in to “all in all out” housing at one site. The cost of chicks is 25 to 30% in broiler farming. Either the farmers setup their own hatchery or the hatcheries started rearing their own chicks. Linkage between hatchery and farmer either in the form of hire or contract farming resulted in huge integrated companies. These companies going down the line for their own chicken processing and marketing by “brand name” changed the shape of the broiler industry. As far as broiler farming is concerned, the practices and the variables are the same. Let us look at one unit of broiler rearing farm.

The steps towards successful broiler Poultry Farming are

1.Selection of site and building.


2. Planning “all in all out” rearing.


3.Equipment.


4. Procuring quality inputs.


5.Preparation of house before every batch.


6.Day to Day Management.


7.Timely marketing.

Benefits of Poultry Farming in India:

1. Commercial poultry farming in India has created and still creating a profitable business opportunity for the Entrepreneurs.
2. Poultry farming business can provide a great employment source for the job seeking people.
3. This is such a business in India that can never dry up.
4. All types of poultry product has a great demand in the market inside India. And there are no religious taboo about consuming the poultry meat and eggs.
5. Highly productive local and foreign breeds are available for commercial production.
6. Required initial investment is not too high. You can start with small scale production and elaborate it gradually.
7. Bank loans are available throughout the country.
8. Numerous farms are available and you can easily learn about poultry farming from those established farmers.

Read: Poultry Farming Loan, Application Process.

Commercial Poultry Farming in India:

Starting a commercial poultry farming business in India is not too easy. You have to go through some step by step process. To be successful in poultry farming in India, you have to go through the steps listed below.

Selecting  Proper Location for your Poultry Farming:

The main and Foremost important thing for poultry farming in India is selecting a suitable land. And it is the most expensive part of this business. For setting up commercial poultry production, it would be better if you have the land of your own. The area of the land depends on the number of birds you want to raise. Consider the following aspects while choosing land for commercial poultry farming business in India.

1. Try to setup the farm in rural areas that is slightly far from the city. Because, land and labor are relatively cheaper in rural areas.
2. Select a chaos and noise free calm and quiet place.
3. The area of the land depends on the number of birds and the arming system. Free range farming system requires more land than the intensive system.
4. The chosen area must have to have fresh and pollution free environment.
5. Never setup the farm in rented land. Because, in rented land, the land owner can force you to leave his land at anytime. So, it would be better if you are the owner of the land.
6. While selecting land, ensure a great source of a sufficient amount of fresh and clean water.
7. The selected area must have to be free from all types of harmful animals and predators.
8. Suitable transportation system is a must.
9. Presence of a suitable market near the farm will be effective. You will be able to buy the necessary commodities and sell your products easily in the market.

Types of Poultry Farming Systems:

For commercial poultry farming in India, three systems are suitable according to the condition of India. And the suitable three systems are listed below.

• Intensive System,
• Semi-Intensive System and
• Extensive System.

Selection of Poultry Breeds:

Selecting high quality productive breeds is very important for successful poultry farming in India. There are numerous local and foreign high quality poultry breeds available in India. Choose proper breeds according to your desired production. If you want to start producing eggs commercially, select highly productive layer poultry breeds. For commercial meat production business, go with highly meat productive broiler poultry breeds. Contact with your nearest expert poultry producer to learn more about highly productive breeds. Common and mostly raised poultry breeds in India are of three types.

• Broilers: The poultry breeds that is suitable for commercial meat production is known as broiler poultry. They are like meat producing machines. They consume foods and convert them to meat quickly. They grow fast and become suitable for slaughter purpose within a very short time.
• Cockerels: Cockerels are other types of meat producing poultry breeds. They also used for commercial meat production like broilers. But their growing rate is slower than broilers. They become hardy and can adopt themselves with the environment easily than the broilers. Cockerel meat is also very popular and has a great demand in India.
• Layers: Various types of layer poultry are vary popular for commercial eggs production throughout the world. Some of them are very suitable for farming in India. Layers can be used for both commercial meat and egg production. There are some layer poultry breeds available which can lay up to 300 eggs per year.

Choose any of those breeds according to your desired production. While choosing breeds for commercial production, consider the availability of all types of necessary facilities. Visit your nearest local market and try to understand which product has a huge demand and price.

Read: Country Chicken Farming Project Report.

Poultry Farming Housing/Cage/Shelter:

Making a suitable poultry housing is another important factor for commercial production. But it is not too expensive like buying land. There are numerous ways for making a good house for the poultry birds. Always be sure that, the house or cage is sufficient and spacious enough to accommodate the birds with necessary space and facilities. In free range farming system, ensure a sufficient amount of space for running and moving. The design of the house depends on the breeds and production type. However, while making a poultry house, consider the followings.

1. Make a proper ventilation system in the house. Because, good ventilation system ensures good health and proper growth of the birds. So, the house must have to be well ventilated.
2. Ensure flow of a sufficient amount of fresh air and light inside the house.
3. Try to make south facing house. This will help to entrance a sufficient amount of clean and fresh air.
4. If you go for large scale commercial production and make numerous house, then the distance from one house to another house will be at least 40 feet.
5. Always keep the house clean and fresh. And clean it perfectly before bringing the chicks into the farm.
6. Prevent all types of harmful animals and predators.
7. Make good facilities so that rain water and cold wind can’t enter inside the house.
8. Try to build the house in a calm and quiet place.
9. Make a suitable drainage system inside the house. It will help you to clean the house easily.
10. Keep all equipment in proper distance inside the house. And always clean the house and equipment in a regular basis.

Feed for Birds:

Feeding good quality and nutritious food keeps the poultry birds healthy and productive. So, good and high quality nutritious food is a must for commercial poultry production. There are numerous poultry feed producing companies available in India. They produce feeds for all types of poultry birds. You can easily use those food for your birds. If you want to prepare the feed at your home, then you must have to know the necessary nutrient elements in their food. And you also have to buy all those elements separately from the market and mix it in a proper ratio. Along with providing fresh and nutritious food, always try to serve them a sufficient amount of fresh and clean water according to their daily demands.

1. Poultry feed
2. Broiler poultry feed
3. Layer poultry feed

Poultry Farming Care and Management:

Always try to take good care of your birds. And good management ensure proper growth and production. The main threat of poultry farming in India is diseases. Thousands of farmer face huge loss due to various types of poultry diseases. So, always take good care of your birds and provide them nutritious food and clean water. Never try to mix contaminated or polluted food with their regular food. Vaccinate them timely and make a storage of some common and necessary medicines.

Poultry Diseases:

The major types of poultry diseases are listed below.

Contagious Diseases:  Some diseases spread from affected birds to healthy birds. This types of poultry diseases are known as contagious diseases. Contagious diseases are of 3 types, which are described below.

1. Bacterial Diseases: The diseases which are caused by bacteria are known as bacterial diseases. Cholera, pullorum etc. are some bacterial poultry diseases.
2. Viral Disease: This types of diseases caused due to various types of virus. Newcastle, chicken pox, gumboro, mareks, duck plague etc. are viral poultry diseases.
3. Fungus Diseases: This types of diseases attack the poultry birds through fungus. Spargilosis, fevus, thrash, micotoxicosis etc. are fungus diseases of poultry.

Parasitic Diseases: The organism which live in other animal’s body are known as parasites. This organisms creates some diseases while living in other animal’s body. This types of diseases is known as parasitic diseases. Micoplasmosis, colibesilosis, steptocackich, coccidiosis, espegilosis, worms, lice etc. are parasitic poultry diseases.

Malnutritious Diseases: If you don’t feed your birds well balanced and nutritious feed, then they might suffer by malnutritious diseases. Malnutritious diseases are of two types.

1. Vitamin Deficiency Diseases: The diseases which caused due to lack of vitamins are called vitamin deficiency diseases.
2. Mineral Deficiency Diseases: Some diseases attack the poultry birds due to lack of sufficient amount of various types of minerals. This types of diseases are known as mineral deficiency poultry diseases. Mineral play a vital role in keeping the poultry birds healthy. So they become sick and live an unhealthy life due to mineral deficiency diseases.

Other Poultry Diseases: 

The poultry birds also get affected by some other miscellaneous diseases like cannibalism, egg bound etc. Although cannibalism and egg bound are not specifically poultry diseases.

How to Market:

The main benefits of poultry farming in India is easy marketing. You can easily sell your products in your nearest local market. So, you don’t have to worry about marketing your products. If the local market located so far from your farm then transport the products very carefully.

If you are new in this business and want to start poultry farming in India, then first of all try to visit some farms practically and start raising in small scale. After gaining sufficient knowledge about poultry raising go for large scale commercial production.

For Sheep Farming: Read here.