₦airaland Forum

dharts:
Quality and durable Nursery grow bags that can withstand the harshness of the sun for a very long period. Its very thick and strong and we have all sizes.
7 by 8
8 by 9
10 by 12
12 by 13
14 by 16
16 by 17

Call / Whatsapp :08062657534

Do you have white grow bags? And what are the prices?

Thank you.

flowmama:
Not advisable sir. You'll be spraying without ceasing.
Best is to plant all at once on the whole plot. Same applicable to tomatoes, only pepper being perennial can withstand that.


All the best sir.

That was my fear too. Thank you very much!!!

Experienced farmers in the house, is it advisable to have cucumbers of different ages in the same field?

For example, can I divide a plot of land into four and plant every two weeks? I have noticed fungal diseases appear much later in the life cycle of cucumbers, can the older cucumbers infect the younger ones?

Thank you!

cc farmerakinloye6 farmtech flowmama

IamAsiri:
Please, where did your get your incubator from?

Locally constructed in Kano.

Farouq94:
The short term goal is to measure how much feed they will consume, how many eggs and chicken I will have in the next 6 months and determine the market value.

The 65kg feed I made lasted for 40 days and during that time I got a total of 166 eggs. There are still ways I’m exploring to get feed costs down. So far so good, I believe this is a viable venture especially if you have a farm/large space.

My focus is now on commercializing this operation with the addition of my a new brooder with an automatic temperature control for the chicks that are hatching.

Hopefully I will be sharing milestones once in a while on here. For now, Adios!

The next batch of eggs went in the incubator today. I packed a total of 27 eggs but one cracked, so I ended up with 26. Total eggs gotten so far 20 + 27 = 47 eggs.

The eggs come in different shapes, sizes and color. Usually a pure indigenous chicken lays white eggs, but mine are a mix of white, brown and cream because they have been cross-bred over time.

Masterkleenlaun:
[b][/b]


Pls explain the ways to select the best breeds and then isolate/medicate them accordingly.
Thanks

There are a lot of ways to do that, but in a market-setting they might not let you set them free to observe.

First observed the physical appearance, the chicken should have a bright red comb, the legs must be clean and not scaly, blow under the feathers to observe if there are no mites. Then check the vent area, it should be clean, if you see poop in the feathers around the vent area, its most likely a sign that the chicken has diarrhoea. The chicken should also be “heavy” and active when you pick it up.

After observing that, I also like to keep the chicken (they are usually tied up) on the ground and watch it for a few minutes. Sometimes what these sellers do when you go to buy chickens is to agitate the chicken and shake it very well, pressing it to show you that it is healthy. But when you keep them on the ground or in the cage and leave them for a few minutes, if its sick it will most likely close its eyes to sleep or huddle in one corner.

There are other things that you might not figure out if you’ve not kept chickens before, like determining an old spent hen and a young hen.

About medication, I think I have written about natural antibiotics before in the thread, moringa, aloe vera and neem are very powerful in combating diseases. In any case that you observe a sickness, you can visit a vet to get broad spectrum antibiotics and vitamins to treat accordingly.

If anyone else has anything to add or correct, please feel free to share.

BoluwGoldenFarm:
I must commend that you are doing a good work & you are so open to help others out

Well done & may God continue to bless you more than you expect in Jesus mighty name..
I am an experience farmer too

Please WhatsApp me on 08120528950 to give you contact of a lady who can sell both duckweed & azolla to you.

I produce BSF maggots from rabbits waste, poultry waste, fruits waste, brewry waste,pkc slog etc for my local chicken and ducks
I give them dry & fresh Moringa leaves too as vitamins and minerals

Thank you very much. I will send you a message now.

Yes growing BSF maggots is a cheap way to supply chickens protein. I looked into it a while back and
unfortunately BSF is not native to my environment, and growing them in an enclosure is not sustainable for me.

Alamkir:
That's what am trying to do now, am not sure if this my goat (pic1) is WADS but am trying to cross breed her with sahelians in (pic2) What do u think?

The second pic is not a sahelian, it looks like a sokoto red cross. The sahelians have long droopy ears and typcially a long frame.

I didn’t know the WADS had a slower growth rate, and I always thought they were more expensive.

jidestroud:
Meet Omawunmi

Well, she just loves eating out the seeds/leaves of guinea grass.

Very friendly but Shy. Hoping to cross her once she goes on heat. She of age now

She’s beautiful! Looks like a sahelian and sokoto red cross. I’m curious, why did you switch breeds? Arent the WADs more prolific in your environment?

Just candled the 20 eggs I put in the incubator, as expected they are all in different stages of development because the laying and the brooding chickens kept sharing the same next, and 5 embryo’s died as a result.

So I’m left with 15 developing embryo’s, in 3 different stages. I expect the first batch to hatch by weekend. The rest of the chickens have finished molting and are starting to lay.

Masterkleenlaun:
Pls. I need local chickens in bulk.., I don't want to buy front the market cos they said the ones from the market are always afflicted with different diseases....what is your source or can I get like 20 local chickens from you for a start?

I do not sell currently. I have been breeding mine for a while now so they have acclimated to the environment.

Thats true, buying from the market is very risky. If you are not buying from a single flock/farmer, I do not advise buying 20 at the same time.

If your only option is the open market, there are still ways to select the best breeds, then isolate and medicate them accordingly before letting them free-range or mix with your other poultry,

Farouq94:
Two weeks later, the birds have acclimated to the new environment and have started laying. I brought in a total of 15 hens and 2 roosters, and left the rest on the farm.

So far we have 16 eggs, most of the hens are first time layers so I’m expecting an “eggs-plosion” in the coming weeks.

20 eggs later, three chickens went broody. Unfortunately thats one of the disadvantages of leaving the clutch of eggs. The natural instinct of the chicken to brood kicks in. Mind you, these eggs were not laid at the same time so some embryo’s had already formed whilst some eggs were still fresh.

I had to take everything away and put them in the incubator because the eggs not hatching at the same time means the chicken is going to abandon the nest as soon as the first batch hatches.

More chickens started laying today and this time we don’t leave the eggs in their nest so I expect much more eggs.

Masterkleenlaun:
Pls give us breakdown of the food u mix together and in what proportions too...

I mixed 25kg of Layer mash, 25kg maize bran, 5kg rice bran, 5kg wheat bran, millet and sorghum grain 5kg. Everything mixed together has an estimated 13.4% crude protein.

You can always look around and see the feed ingredients you have close to you that is cheap and nutritious to the chicken and mix it in, thats what I did.

CodeTemplar:
Check this out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWjYLYulALs

Thanks! 70k chickens free-range?! Thats huuuuge, and encouraging. I like the part where he mentioned locusts as feed, that saves him a lot in feed. His environment is his major competitive advantage here.

…

[quote][/quote]A major plus to where I moved the chickens to is how rich it is in SFRB (scavenging feed resource base). I had fattened some cattle earlier, and even after we packed all the cow dung, the soil has become very rich in organic matter.

The rain is finally here so when the soil gets wet, it becomes “alive” again and a great breeding ground for insects. The chickens head straight to the cattle posts when they are let out to free-range. They mostly dig up the soil for maggots and they go crazy for it.

I love watching them in action…

opes:
Oh, sorry, not presently around, but will communicate whenever i am around.

Okay thank you.

Hello, please I’m looking for duckweed and azolla, if anyone has on their farm, let me know. Thank you

opes:
I culture them,both duckweed and azolla.where is ur location?if closer to oyo state,i can send u some,then u can multiply it in ur farm

Hello Opes, I’m looking for duckweed and azolla, is there anyway I can get from you? Thank you.

CodeTemplar:
There is a Chinese guy in YouTube that is doing what you are asking about. I cant remember his channel.

Let me know when you do, thanks!

Btw if anyone knows where I can get duckweed and azolla let me know please.

Feed has been mixed and the chickens love it. I did a mix of layer mash, maize offal, rice bran, wheat bran, millet and guinea corn.

An approximate cost of N13,000 was spent for 65kg of feed. There are still ways to cut this down but because they have been free-ranging for a long time with no supplemental feed, I want them to bulk up fast before I reduce the crude protein to maintenance level. With a total of 17 chickens, we’ll see how long the feed lasts.

The short term goal is to measure how much feed they will consume, how many eggs and chicken I will have in the next 6 months and determine the market value.

Also, right now they are on a diet of millet, guinea corn, maize and wheat offal.

I am coming up with a feed ration that will include layer feed and some greens for them to forage on and get some much needed micro-nutrients.

Two weeks later, the birds have acclimated to the new environment and have started laying. I brought in a total of 15 hens and 2 roosters, and left the rest on the farm.

So far we have 16 eggs, most of the hens are first time layers so I’m expecting an “eggs-plosion” in the coming weeks.

Farouq94:
I will try and take a headcount of how many chickens I have now on the farm, and take pictures!

Hopefully this time around, I’ll make more time to properly train my workers, supervise, and everything goes well!!!!!

Since my last post, I noticed that we’ve reached a point where we have too many hens about to start laying, and without any care, we’ll end up at ground zero again. The rain is starting soon and that is when they lay the most because of abundant feed (grasses and bugs).

This time around I’m bringing the breeding chickens closer to home, I will feed them and properly account for their productivity. First batch came in today, 1 cock and 5 hens. Headcount is happening tonight, here are the ones I was able to capture….

Hello everyone! Just realizing its been more than 2 years since this project started!!!

Well, I took a pause from this project after covid hit because I didn’t have access to the farm. I lost hundreds of chicks that I hatched to bad management, and weather (which was mostly my fault) and decided to sell off all the breeding chickens. Literally just three chicks survived, we left them foraging around the farm with no care/attention. One later died, and we were left with 2 hens. One of my workers saw how dismissive I have been with the chickens because they were already starting to lay with no cock around. He “borrowed” a rooster for me and before I knew it, the farm was becoming full with chickens.

All this time, we just slaughtered and ate them . It was only recently I decided to sell some, and honestly the money motivated me . It felt like free money, seeing that I wasn’t feeding them at all. So I have dusted off the incubator, made some adjustments, and I’m ready to get this pet project going again! So excited!!!

I will try and take a headcount of how many chickens I have now on the farm, and take pictures!

Hopefully this time around, I’ll make more time to properly train my workers, supervise, and everything goes well!!!!!

shariff84:
Prices as of today 27 April 22:-

Ordinary brown beans 42k
drum beans 45k
Iron brown 45k
Oloyin 45k
Olotu 45k
white beans 40k
iron white 44k
Sesame 50k
maize 19k white
Yellow maize 22k
sorghum white 19k
red sorghum 22k
pearl millet 22k
millet 20k
local rice 46k
paddy rice 15k
locust beans 16k
suyabeans 36k,
groundnut 66k
unshell Groundnut 18k
Agusi peeled 86k
Agusi unpeel 25k
Tiger nut big seed 45k
Tiger nut small seed 35k
Date 55k
Sunflower seed 40k
all in 100kg bag

@sharrif84 I want paddy rice please. I have sent you a message on whatsapp.

shariff84:
yes

So a tonne of paddy is 180k?

shariff84:
Today prices:-brown beans 58k,white 50k,iron white 55k,maize white 23k,yellow maize 24k, sorghum white 24k,red 25k, local rice 45k,paddy rice 18k,bambara nut 55k, groundnut 58k,suyabeans 35k,millet 23k,pearl millet 24k.

Is the paddy in 100kg bags?

TeDesQ:
I'm trying to get maize offal. Can you direct me on where and how to get?

Look for where they sell livestock (goats, cows) and ask, they’ll direct you.

jidestroud:
Cats do not whaaaat? Mine pushes eggs off the crates to crack it. You know what follows next... (fortunately, it was just one of the cats that exhibited this demonic behavior )
It took weeks of beatings & threatenings before it stopped the wicked act.
Oh! How I miss my cats

Lol. I guess it was a troublesome cat. Even when there are cracked eggs, my will cats will never touch it. And they sleep near the eggs crates.

Nigerfine3:
@Farouk,
Or any one, does cat eat eggs from the chicken or could it be used to guide them from rat and family
Thanks

Cats do not eat raw chicken eggs, we use them to scare off/eat rats that disturb our chicks.