₦airaland Forum

Greetings all.
So for the past few weeks I've been searching the Agriculture section to see if there is any thread dedicated to Layers Poultry Farmers, but I found none. So I'm opening this thread for the purpose.
Please this thread is strictly for Layers Poultry discussion. Please nobody should derail the thread. Thanks and God bless you.

The main stuff I will like to discuss are:

1. Your personal experience as a poultry farmer. How long have you been into actual practice.

2. Percentage production you're able to achieve and how you are able to achieve it.

3. The brand of feed you're currently using, and if you have changed feed brands before, why did you make the change.

4. What type of housing system are you using, Battery cage, Deep litter or any other.

5. Any other important information.

Thanks again.

I will go first.

1. I've been in the actual practice for just a year. So far so good, all glory be to God.
I look forward to learning from other experienced farmers.

2. So far highest was 90%, the average has been 84%

3. Hybrid layer mash, and we have not changed brand yet, but we're open to a better recommendation.

4. The Pen was built for battery cage, but due to the high cost of the cages and financial constraints, we're using the pen for deep litter system.

I look forward to an impactful discussion.

Thanks.

Hello guys I’m Jeffrey and I’m looking to go into poultry farming but I want to rent a farm. See as it goes. Dm me with location ‪+61 411 964 663‬

Jeffrey1k:
Hello guys I’m Jeffrey and I’m looking to go into poultry farming but I want to rent a farm. See as it goes. Dm me with location ‪+61 411 964 663‬

I don't have a pen to lease, but others may have.

Why are battery cages so expensive? I saw one A-Type on Afrimash and they said 400k. It was 180k when I asked a local fabricator.

Bodex2000:
Why are battery cages so expensive? I saw one A-Type on Afrimash and they said 400k. It was 180k when I asked a local fabricator.

They're very expensive, particularly the imported ones. I do deep litter system and it's odourless.

SoftHeart:
They're very expensive, particularly the imported ones. I do deep litter system and it's odourless.

Yes. Much better for the welfare of the birds sef

Nice thread

1. Have been a poultry farmer for about 4 years now
2. Highest have achieved was 99% and average was 90%
3. Feed am using is hipro
4. They're on battery cage but last year when I expanded I tried semi caged just like deep litter, they run around but inside wooden cage and it was disaster just like deep litter, I kept having lots of cracked eggs despite building nest, mortality was high too during heat period and highest production was 85%. Nothing beats battery cage in layers production.

aliadi2:
Nice thread

1. Have been a poultry farmer for about 4 years now
2. Highest have achieved was 99% and average was 90%
3. Feed am using is hipro
4. They're on battery cage but last year when I expanded I tried semi caged just like deep litter, they run around but inside wooden cage and it was disaster just like deep litter, I kept having lots of cracked eggs despite building nest, mortality was high too during heat period and highest production was 85%. Nothing beats battery cage in layers production.

Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
99% Wow! Even 90% is a very good result.
Battery cage system should definitely gives better results to the farmer than deep litter. 85% is a great result in deep litter system in my opinion, since detecting and culling of poor layers may be difficult, but it's very easy to detect and cull poor layers in Battery cage system.

Please I have a few questions for you.
How did you achieve the 99% to 90% production? Did you cull poor layers?
Also, how did your stock your farm, through POL or DOC?

SoftHeart:
Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
99% Wow! Even 90% is a very good result.
Battery cage system should definitely gives better results to the farmer than deep litter. 85% is a great result in deep litter system in my opinion, since detecting and culling of poor layers may be difficult, but it's very easy to detect and cull poor layers in Battery cage system.

Please I have a few questions for you.
How did you achieve the 99% to 90% production? Did you cull poor layers?
Also, how did your stock your farm, through POL or DOC?

99% was just once in while .
I always raise my birds from DOC, starting with crumble that premium grower, also all vaccination are complete Including revaccinate mareks at 23days

It's easier to cull birds in cages, I don't think you can cull birds on deep litter because how can you know. That's why farm on cages can achieve 100+ weeks production and still profitable, they cull out the ones not laying easier

aliadi2:
It's easier to cull birds in cages, I don't think you can cull birds on deep litter because how can you know. That's why farm on cages can achieve 100+ weeks production and still profitable, they cull out the ones not laying easier

Exactly my thought, culling makes achieving great result possible...
Thanks so much for your response.

Have you ever experienced not being able to find high-quality or inappropriate poultry cage? If yes, you may lose a lot from this business.

We, Sagri Farm Equipment, already worked in Nigeria market for around 16 years with a lot of projects there, the capacity from 5,000 to 100,000 birds for one house, both can be semi automatic cage or fully automatic. We also can design the best open house system for natural ventilation because of the lack of electricity.

For our cage, we know what farmers prefer, we have the best design to meet client's requirement. Hot galvanized for anti-rust, 360 degree nipple drinker for drinking, original PVC feed trough with 100kgs load-bearing.

For more details and quotation, please contact us by WhatsApp: +8615838398703, Email: sagrifarm.chen@gmail.com

Mr. Corner Chen
General Manager
Henan Sagri Farm Equipment Co., Ltd.
WhatsApp: +15838398703
Email: sagrifarm.chen@gmail.com
Website: www.sagrifarm.com

SoftHeart:
They're very expensive, particularly the imported ones. I do deep litter system and it's odourless.

I am about to start my layer farm. plan is for only 300 birds on deep litter (although i was advised to fabricate cages instead).

My problem now is that i am having challenge with accessing a steady supply to wood shavings. All the saw mills around me only have the smooth saw dust like 99% of the time.

question is, how do you cope with shortage in having wood shaves? how dangerous is it to put saw dust? should i just fabricate the cages and avoid possible wahala?

Zero experience in poultry farming or agriculture. Considering starting a commercial poultry somewhere in the southwest for economic purposes only. I have a bunch of questions.

How much capital would be needed?
is it wise to do hybrid? Layers and broilers for commercial success?
how do you guys find buyers?
Is processing broilers accessible easily and what are the costs of processing?

Any answers or pointers will be much appreciated

apexquest:
I am about to start my layer farm. plan is for only 300 birds on deep litter (although i was advised to fabricate cages instead).

My problem now is that i am having challenge with accessing a steady supply to wood shavings. All the saw mills around me only have the smooth saw dust like 99% of the time.

question is, how do you cope with shortage in having wood shaves? how dangerous is it to put saw dust? should i just fabricate the cages and avoid possible wahala?

Congratulations on the decision to start!
Brace up for the challenges and rewards ahead

Battery cage system is better and costlier. Though it has its own disadvantages, but in my opinion the advantages surpasses the disadvantages.

1. For a good deep litter you don't need any constant supply of wood shavings, just get a good amount of wood shavings to sufficiently cover the whole pen to about 2 inches depth, and add some charcoal.

2. Make sure the pen is proper built-in to prevent rain from entering and avoid water slippage from the drinkers.

3. Once this is properly done, just move in your birds and you don't need to add additional wood shavings throughout the production period.

4. This is what I'm currently using. We moved in the birds at about 11 weeks, they're now about 80 weeks, no odour, and litter is very dry.

5. Note: if you don't have enough wood shavings to sufficiently cover the whole pen to a good depth and you can't control water spillage, you'll struggle with terrible odour, and your birds will get sick from time to time.

Conclusion: Battery cage system will save a lot of stress, but you also need to clean up the droppings regularly.

upsupa:
Zero experience in poultry farming or agriculture. Considering starting a commercial poultry somewhere in the southwest for economic purposes only. I have a bunch of questions.

How much capital would be needed?
is it wise to do hybrid? Layers and broilers for commercial success?
how do you guys find buyers?
Is processing broilers accessible easily and what are the costs of processing?

Any answers or pointers will be much appreciated

You're welcome!
All your questions are valid and I will advise that you do a comprehensive research on each of the questions, one way to do this is to use google and YouTube, to get the best answers to these questions, you will need to put in some effort to watch videos and read other people's experiences.

Let me give you a quick answer to the question on buyers: For egg production, buyers will be looking for you. For broiler production, you are the one that will be looking for buyers, except you have a solid contract with a prospective buyer before you start, if not you'll need to look for buyers.

On the question of capital, poultry is extremely capital intensive. If you don't have enough money, please don't start. Even if you're starting with just 100 birds, you will need over a million naira to buy and feed the birds before they start laying. This is just the cost of buying and feeding the birds. Not building the pen and buying the land.

SoftHeart:
Congratulations on the decision to start!
Brace up for the challenges and rewards ahead

Battery cage system is better and costlier. Though it has its own disadvantages, but in my opinion the advantages surpasses the disadvantages.

1. For a good deep litter you don't need any constant supply of wood shavings, just get a good amount of wood shavings to sufficiently cover the whole pen to about 2 inches depth, and add some charcoal.

2. Make sure the pen is proper built-in to prevent rain from entering and avoid water slippage from the drinkers.

3. Once this is properly done, just move in your birds and you don't need to add additional wood shavings throughout the production period.

4. This is what I'm currently using. We moved in the birds at about 11 weeks, they're now about 80 weeks, no odour, and litter is very dry.

5. Note: if you don't have enough wood shavings to sufficiently cover the whole pen to a good depth and you can't control water spillage, you'll struggle with terrible odour, and your birds will get sick from time to time.

Conclusion: Battery cage system will save a lot of stress, but you also need to clean up the droppings regularly.

Thank you very much for this insight.

I have decided that i will cage them at about 12 weeks of age.

For the 3 month that they will be on the deep litter, your counsel will be adhered to.

I have already installed nipple drinking line in the house.

Thank you for the answers. I am currently doing research and it seems the capital outlay may be a bit higher than I envisaged. I might start smaller than I thought.

I was of the idea that you need to be at above 5000 birds to even consider it a viable enterprise. But it seems that is out of scope and may start a lot lower than that

SoftHeart:
You're welcome!
All your questions are valid and I will advise that you do a comprehensive research on each of the questions, one way to do this is to use google and YouTube, to get the best answers to these questions, you will need to put in some effort to watch videos and read other people's experiences.

Let me give you a quick answer to the question on buyers: For egg production, buyers will be looking for you. For broiler production, you are the one that will be looking for buyers, except you have a solid contract with a prospective buyer before you start, if not you'll need to look for buyers.

On the question of capital, poultry is extremely capital intensive. If you don't have enough money, please don't start. Even if you're starting with just 100 birds, you will need over a million naira to buy and feed the birds before they start laying. This is just the cost of buying and feeding the birds. Not building the pen and buying the land.

Have you ever experienced not being able to find high-quality or inappropriate poultry cage? If yes, you may lose a lot from this business.

We, Sagri Farm Equipment, already worked in Nigeria market for around 16 years with a lot of projects there, the capacity from 5,000 to 100,000 birds for one house, both can be semi automatic cage or fully automatic. We also can design the best open house system for natural ventilation because of the lack of electricity.

For our cage, we know what farmers prefer, we have the best design to meet client's requirement. Hot galvanized for anti-rust, 360 degree nipple drinker for drinking, original PVC feed trough with 100kgs load-bearing.

For more details and quotation, please contact us by WhatsApp: +8615838398703, Email: sagrifarm.chen@gmail.com

Mr. Corner Chen
General Manager
Henan Sagri Farm Equipment Co., Ltd.
WhatsApp: +15838398703
Email: sagrifarm.chen@gmail.com
Website: www.sagrifarm.com

SoftHeart:
Congratulations on the decision to start!
Brace up for the challenges and rewards ahead

Battery cage system is better and costlier. Though it has its own disadvantages, but in my opinion the advantages surpasses the disadvantages.

1. For a good deep litter you don't need any constant supply of wood shavings, just get a good amount of wood shavings to sufficiently cover the whole pen to about 2 inches depth, and add some charcoal.

2. Make sure the pen is proper built-in to prevent rain from entering and avoid water slippage from the drinkers.

3. Once this is properly done, just move in your birds and you don't need to add additional wood shavings throughout the production period.

4. This is what I'm currently using. We moved in the birds at about 11 weeks, they're now about 80 weeks, no odour, and litter is very dry.

5. Note: if you don't have enough wood shavings to sufficiently cover the whole pen to a good depth and you can't control water spillage, you'll struggle with terrible odour, and your birds will get sick from time to time.

Conclusion: Battery cage system will save a lot of stress, but you also need to clean up the droppings regularly.

Hello Oga Softheart

My layers are now 25 weeks old.

180birds in cage doing 97%
212 birds in deep litter doing 92%

The poultry house is in a lightly dense residential area.
Cleaning under the cages regularly has been herculean for me. I almost prefer the deep litter house.

apexquest:
Hello Oga Softheart

My layers are now 25 weeks old.

180birds in cage doing 97%
212 birds in deep litter doing 92%

The poultry house is in a lightly dense residential area.
Cleaning under the cages regularly has been herculean for me. I almost prefer the deep litter house.

This is great news. Your birds are doing fantastic. Well done.

Cleaning can be a difficult task in the Battery cage system, particularly when the poultry is located close to residential area.

[quote author=SoftHeart post=133103699]They're very expensive, particularly the imported ones. I do deep litter system and it's odourless.[/quote

Nice to read this, especially the odourless part in a deep litter system. Can you kindly share your standard operating practice that ensures the odourless operations? This will be appreciated sir.

Good evening great farmers, please help me o.

My birds are 20weeks old already, but they've not started laying. I'm still feeding them growers mash, but I'm thinking of switching to layers mash considering their age, can I do that?

[quote author=MozadFarms post=136765013][/quote]I assume that the pen is well constructed to allow maximum ventilation and at the same time prevent rain water from entering the pen.
If yes, then make sure the deep litter is actually thick, like at least 12 to 15 centimetres thick. Use wood shavings, not saw dust. Add Charcoal as much as possible for odour absorption. Strictly avoid water spillage as much as possible. If there are accidental water spillage, remove the litter from the affected area and replace with fresh litter of a mixture of wood shavings and charcoal.

Thefarmer3:
Good evening great farmers, please help me o.

My birds are 20weeks old already, but they've not started laying. I'm still feeding them growers mash, but I'm thinking of switching to layers mash considering their age, can I do that?

I assume the birds are not sick and has gone through all the needed vaccinations upto this stage. I also assume you're given them the recommended daily ration of feed and adequate clean water.

If yes, then you just need to relax, continue to feed them grower mash and don't transition to layer mash until about 10 to 20 percent production is achieved, this will help birds that are yet to reach the expected weight to get there before transitioning to layer mash.

SoftHeart:
I assume the birds are not sick and has gone through all the needed vaccinations upto this stage. I also assume you're given them the recommended daily ration of feed and adequate clean water.

If yes, then you just need to relax, continue to feed them grower mash and don't transition to layer mash until about 10 to 20 percent production is achieved, this will help birds that are yet to reach the expected weight to get there before transitioning to layer mash.

Alright sir, thanks

SoftHeart:
I assume that the pen is well constructed to allow maximum ventilation and at the same time prevent rain water from entering the pen.
If yes, then make sure the deep litter is actually thick, like at least 12 to 15 centimetres thick. Use wood shavings, not saw dust. Add Charcoal as much as possible for odour absorption. Strictly avoid water spillage as much as possible. If there are accidental water spillage, remove the litter from the affected area and replace with fresh litter of a mixture of wood shavings and charcoal.

Thank you for swift response.

this is a very nice thread i started mine about 2 years ago with 100 birds from day old, started with deep litter and it was working fine until they started laying and i started picking dead bird in the morning every other day , i lost a total of 6, which is why recently i moved them into battery cage which stop the issue, now comes the problem with their litters initially someone use to come and pack the waste but recently the person have being inconsitent so currently looking for alternative, i am expecting another 200 birds next month so i am torned between using deep litter or battery cage only if i can find a permanent solution to disposal of litters. for people using deep litters how do you avoid Coccidiosis this was one of the issue i was dealing with when i was using deep litter.

Olamlag:
this is a very nice thread i started mine about 2 years ago with 100 birds from day old, started with deep litter and it was working fine until they started laying and i started picking dead bird in the morning every other day , i lost a total of 6, which is why recently i moved them into battery cage which stop the issue, now comes the problem with their litters initially someone use to come and pack the waste but recently the person have being inconsitent so currently looking for alternative, i am expecting another 200 birds next month so i am torned between using deep litter or battery cage only if i can find a permanent solution to disposal of litters. for people using deep litters how do you avoid Coccidiosis this was one of the issue i was dealing with when i was using deep litter.

Really great thread. Suprised how stuck things are since last year. Your question is time bound but I would like to know how you dealt with the issue of deciding between battery cage and deep litter. How are your birds doing now?

Abidx22:
Really great thread. Suprised how stuck things are since last year. Your question is time bound but I would like to know how you dealt with the issue of deciding between battery cage and deep litter. How are your birds doing now?

yeah moved all 300 birds to cages its easier to manage in cages i had issues with bullying when they were in deep litter even after debeaking them, but what i made sure of was that no water on their waste so i use nipple drinkers with cups and i use a lot of saw dust and i pack it twice a week and give some farmers around