Price here in ilorin, I do not confirm for myself, but my mother in-law use to go village market to buy food stuffs, and she use to buy local chicken too ...she but some for event before the lockdown and I ask her the price, she said the rooster is #2500, the hen #2000, I asked her to help me buy point of lay and she ask for me it’s #1500, the chicken are Fulani breed , she still have them with her because the event was canceled due to covid-19, and the hen are even producing now

Sorry, point of lay is #1000-#1500 depending of the size, I decided to go for the #1500 because I prefer big one

jidestroud:
Price of local chickens over here goes for N600 for full grown hens, and N800 - N1000 Max for a grown rooster when buying directly the rural owners.

@Farouq94
It's the direct opposite here, the rains brings along with it diseases that kills off the local hens. Their population seems to explode only during the dry season. Most rural farmers tends to buy and raise their chickens during that season cause it possess less diseases that kills them.

Moreover, what we have here are the yoruba ecotype chicken. Chai, those chickens no b am at all. There's no difference between them and well fed pigeons when killed. . If not for their eggs, I wouldn't want one around (their eggs sweeeeeeet dieeeeee ). Well, looking at the bright side, those chickens are so hardy that they will survive any disease thrown at them.

At the bolded, thanks for making me laugh so hard that I almost felt some pain in my abs. I can relate with this. We have some free space at our backyard, about 38x56 feet, so we bought 8 Noilers at 4 weeks, about 2 months ago, we also bought 4 locals (3 hens and a rooster). So the biggest of the Noilers now at 3 months weigh more than the 3 local hens combined.

We bought the local hens so as to act as natural incubators for the Noilers eggs when they start laying, the Noilers have not started laying yet, but the 3 local hens has layed and hatched 20 chicks.

I'm eagerly waiting for the Noilers to start laying.

jidestroud:


na true Oga mi, you end up cutting into just 2 or 3 parts.


My Noilers/Kuroilers on most occasion starts dropping eggs around the 5th month. I have been able to record a few drop around the 4th month though, especially when raised with broilers.

Thanks for the information.
So I should expect them to start laying by August ending then. We have a few broilers too, but they're kept in cages. I tried to let them out a few days ago, the Noilers angrily attacked them, so I had to move them back to their cages.

Should the locals start to lay eggs again before the Noilers, I will have to collect the eggs for kitchen...

Farouq94:

I do that as well. This is something that only experience will teach you. You don’t see that written online. Some hens actually leave the nest too early, and one can assume the rest of the eggs cannot hatch when in reality they only need a day or two more.

Thanks for pointing this vital point out.

Most absolutely.

GafarOlatunji:
@ Farouq94 Thank you so much for bringing this type of thread to life , this is more than a thread is more of school, because me personally am learning a lot from here, and this is also giving courage to push more on my project.

Yes your previous answer to my question answered exactly what I want to know.

Thanks for sharing the process of your incubator and the egg, am eager to hear more. And want to to more about incubator and hatching of egg, other people that know more about this should kindly share.

Medication is another important aspect in poultry management, yes local birds are resistance to diseases but yet they sick sometimes. As for me I had notice blood stain in my chick poo , i think it’s sign of cocidioses , another thing that has happened to me swelling of eyes and raches around the eye.

For the blood stain poo , I treated with saint leave, bitter leave extract, pepper, ginger and garlic, I pounded pepper, garlic and ginger together and mix with the extracted leaves and it work, for the swelling eyes, I clean the surface with spirit and apply injection powder, and also give the above mixture as antibiotics, the swelling eyes treatment is still in progress but seems is working. Please, I personally needs more light on possible diseases and treat to save investment.

It is welcoming to read all the insights shared on this thread on Native fowls.

Diseases in local/native are not quickly noticeable because they (native chickens) are highly resistant to most poultry diseases. The beauty about them is they find a way of getting/eating the right weeds/grasses to help them fight off the diseases. Please, watch out: whenever you notice your local chickens eating any grass or weed, just know it is good for them, and as such, such weeds/grasses are medicinal and should retained around them, at least in little quantity.

It must be said, however, that most common issues with them are lices and pox. One simple way to eliminate lices is to clear the last brooding place. This can be done by burning the wood-shavings or the absorbent used as soon as the hens are done hatching. If brooding was done on bare floor or sand or soil, apply generous quantity o kereosene at the site. One should also regularly (at least once monthly) spray their coop/pen with kerosene or anti-lice. You could also apply anti-lice on the top and bottom winged-feathers of each fowl. (Please, do not allow the anti-lice touch their skin)

Similarly, for the rest of the diseases, as mentioned by @GafarOlatunji, bitterleaf and scent-leaf extracts will do magic. As antibiotic, one could also extract juice from Aloe-vera and Tagiri and add to their drinking water. You could also simply dice the aloe-vera and Tagiri into their water. You can do that for 5 consecutive days every single month.


For pox; it highly contagious. Neem Leaves have antibacterial property and could remedy an outbreak of pox infection. Cut and allow neem leaves ferment in a bowl of water for about 4 days. Fermentation is done by covering the bowl (preferably paint bucket) with a cloth or perforated nylon. Add, a tablespoonful into their drinking water for 5 consecutive days. Another method is to get what is known to the Yorubas as GELU, and apply to spot where the pox is. The pox will dry up in a couple of days.

GafarOlatunji:
@ Farouq94 Thank you so much for bringing this type of thread to life , this is more than a thread is more of school, because me personally am learning a lot from here, and this is also giving courage to push more on my project.

Yes your previous answer to my question answered exactly what I want to know.

Thanks for sharing the process of your incubator and the egg, am eager to hear more. And want to to more about incubator and hatching of egg, other people that know more about this should kindly share.

Medication is another important aspect in poultry management, yes local birds are resistance to diseases but yet they sick sometimes. As for me I had notice blood stain in my chick poo , i think it’s sign of cocidioses , another thing that has happened to me swelling of eyes and raches around the eye.

For the blood stain poo , I treated with saint leave, bitter leave extract, pepper, ginger and garlic, I pounded pepper, garlic and ginger together and mix with the extracted leaves and it work, for the swelling eyes, I clean the surface with spirit and apply injection powder, and also give the above mixture as antibiotics, the swelling eyes treatment is still in progress but seems is working. Please, I personally needs more light on possible diseases and treat to save investment.

It is welcoming to read all the insights shared on this thread on Native fowls.

Diseases in local/native chickens are not quickly noticeable because they (native chickens) are highly resistant to most poultry diseases. The beauty about them is they find a way of getting/eating the right weeds/grasses to help them fight off diseases. Please, watch out: whenever you notice your local chickens eating any grass or weed, just know it is good for them, and as such, such weeds/grasses are medicinal and should be retained around them, at least, in little quantity.

It must be said, however, that most common issues with them are lices and pox. One simple way to eliminate lices is to clear the last brooding place. This can be done by burning the wood-shavings or the absorbent used as soon as the hens are done hatching. If brooding was done on bare floor or sand or soil, apply generous quantity o kereosene at the site. One should also regularly (at least once monthly) spray their coop/pen with kerosene or anti-lice. You could also apply anti-lice on the top and bottom winged-feathers of each fowl. (Please, do not allow the anti-lice touch their skin)

Similarly, for the rest of the diseases, as mentioned by @GafarOlatunji, bitterleaf and scent-leaf extracts will do magic. As antibiotic, one could also extract juice from Aloe-vera and Tagiri and add to their drinking water. You could also simply dice the aloe-vera and Tagiri into their water. You can do that for 5 consecutive days every single month.

For pox; it highly contagious. Neem Leaves have antibacterial property and could remedy an outbreak of pox infection. Cut and allow neem leaves to ferment in a bowl of water for about 7 days. Fermentation is done by covering the bowl (preferably paint-bucket) with a cloth or perforated nylon. Add, a tablespoonful of this fermented neem-leaf solution into their drinking water for 5 consecutive days. Another method is to get what is known to the Yorubas as GELU, and apply to spot where the pox is. The pox will dry up in a couple of days.
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Nice thread!!
Its nice to know i have people of like minds. I recently changed my farm business model due to the high price of day old chicks, feed cost, vaccine/antibiotic failure and high death rate.
What i do now is a cross of Fulani Male x Noiler female. I use my local hens to incubate and hatch eggs. I just got 20 chicks this week and the average chick weighed b/w 35g - 42g. Which in my opinion is very ok.
Its a very fulfilling experience so far. I have 6 hens incibating 70 eggs at the moment. I noticed that the Noiler hens are taking a cue from d local and going broody...

I do mine with noiler male and local females and noiler hens..i also experienced few noiler hen going broody.Now i am working on there numbers to make it commercially viable but it hasnt been easy considering cost of feed,medication,cost of building a coop for them etc...I use a mix of growers and wheat bran and sometimes add corn or millet to it..can anyone suggest cheaper altenatives.I will also like is to discuss the structure of there housing if one is doing it commercially

I feed mine a mixture of grower and maize starch residue ( pap chaff). I also add maggots which i grow on the pap chaff. I ensil everything for 1 week to kill off any pathogens b4 feeding the chickens with it.
This drives down my feed cost by up to 50%. Sometimes i use brewers residue from Burukutu sellers to replace the pap chaff.

How long have u done ur crosses with Noiler males? And how long b4 they get to table size?

In my own opinion,i realised the noiler males are very prolific,we are hatching our first generation of crosses and full noilers on the farm.my male noilers took about 6 to 7months to become a giant but for table size it will be 5 to 6 months.
In regards the feeding,in my area its mostly cassava peels,brewery waste will be expensive due to transport.a friend was suggesting i do maize,millet,groundnut cake and etc but the cost of this materials seem to be on the high side as well, this breeders project wont make us any profit until we achieve a reasonable population and in my opinion it might take about 2 years.so keeping the cost of feed on the low is paramount.can anyone suggest cheap feed formulation,we are open to suggestions..

As per feed cost, its actually a big challenge so i will advise you get us a list of all agro waste materials in ur area & their prices. Am sure i can assist if u get me this list. Look out for things like
Cassava peel, pap chaff, rice bran, arbattoir waste(blood, meat, fish waste), fruit & vegetable waste etc. I semi- free range my birds too to cut feed cost.
You can also grow Azolla & Duckweed and snails. You can plant a food forest, u can compost etc.
Furthermore, i believe Poultry is a game of numbers. The more u can keep, the better d profit.
Let me post a pix of my semi- free range pen.

I would love to try this, it will cut cost on personal feeding and could use it to substitute some expenses.

How much can I get a male and female matured Fulani Chicken, A male and female matured Noiler chickens?

I'm in Edo. Benin City to be precise

GafarOlatunji:
@ Farouq94 Thank you so much for bringing this type of thread to life , this is more than a thread is more of school, because me personally am learning a lot from here, and this is also giving courage to push more on my project.

Yes your previous answer to my question answered exactly what I want to know.

Thanks for sharing the process of your incubator and the egg, am eager to hear more. And want to to more about incubator and hatching of egg, other people that know more about this should kindly share.

Medication is another important aspect in poultry management, yes local birds are resistance to diseases but yet they sick sometimes. As for me I had notice blood stain in my chick poo , i think it’s sign of cocidioses , another thing that has happened to me swelling of eyes and raches around the eye.

For the blood stain poo , I treated with saint leave, bitter leave extract, pepper, ginger and garlic, I pounded pepper, garlic and ginger together and mix with the extracted leaves and it work, for the swelling eyes, I clean the surface with spirit and apply injection powder, and also give the above mixture as antibiotics, the swelling eyes treatment is still in progress but seems is working. Please, I personally needs more light on possible diseases and treat to save investment.

I didn’t think this thread will garner a lot of interests at all. I just started it to journal my new adventure.

Thank you all for coming to make it very lively and educative for all of us. I have been busy with land prep for rice as the rain is finally here, but I see @wisdomline has done justice to the diseases treatment. I will elaborate a bit more later on the dosage, some simple combos and key points to note when you’re dealing with organic ingredients.

I will also share more about my incubation process. This is my first time and I’m learning as I go. @jidestroud has fabricated his own mini incubator, you can check out his thread to learn more as well.

jidestroud:
Price of local chickens over here goes for N600 for full grown hens, and N800 - N1000 Max for a grown rooster when buying directly from the rural owners.

@Farouq94
It's the direct opposite here, the rains brings along with it diseases that kills off the local hens. Their population seems to explode only during the dry season. Most rural farmers tends to buy and raise their chickens during that season cause it possess less diseases that kills them.

Moreover, what we have here are the yoruba ecotype chicken. Chai, those chickens no b am at all. There's no difference between them and well fed pigeons when killed. . If not for their eggs, I wouldn't want one around (their eggs sweeeeeeet dieeeeee ). Well, looking at the bright side, those chickens are so hardy that they will survive any disease thrown at them.

N600 for a full grown chicken? The last time I bought a chicken for that price was around 2010. But I guess the size/market differ.

@well fed pigeons �

wisdomline:


It is welcoming to read all the insights shared on this thread on Native fowls.

Diseases in local/native are not quickly noticeable because they (native chickens) are highly resistant to most poultry diseases. The beauty about them is they find a way of getting/eating the right weeds/grasses to help them fight off the diseases. Please, watch out: whenever you notice your local chickens eating any grass or weed, just know it is good for them, and as such, such weeds/grasses are medicinal and should retained around them, at least in little quantity.

It must be said, however, that most common issues with them are lices and pox. One simple way to eliminate lices is to clear the last brooding place. This can be done by burning the wood-shavings or the absorbent used as soon as the hens are done hatching. If brooding was done on bare floor or sand or soil, apply generous quantity o kereosene at the site. One should also regularly (at least once monthly) spray their coop/pen with kerosene or anti-lice. You could also apply anti-lice on the top and bottom winged-feathers of each fowl. (Please, do not allow the anti-lice touch their skin)

Similarly, for the rest of the diseases, as mentioned by @GafarOlatunji, bitterleaf and scent-leaf extracts will do magic. As antibiotic, one could also extract juice from Aloe-vera and Tagiri and add to their drinking water. You could also simply dice the aloe-vera and Tagiri into their water. You can do that for 5 consecutive days every single month.


For pox; it highly contagious. Neem Leaves have antibacterial property and could remedy an outbreak of pox infection. Cut and allow neem leaves ferment in a bowl of water for about 4 days. Fermentation is done by covering the bowl (preferably paint bucket) with a cloth or perforated nylon. Add, a tablespoonful into their drinking water for 5 consecutive days. Another method is to get what is known to the Yorubas as GELU, and apply to spot where the pox is. The pox will dry up in a couple of days.

Interesting. You pointed out something and I have highlighted it. Its been bugging me and I’d like to know your thoughts about it. Do you think there is a point where these local chickens lose their disease resistance, especially when we crossbreed them too much? I have chicks that hatched, one with a noiler cross (my brahma cross and a noiler rooster) and the other with full local chicken and my brahma cross. The agility of that chick from the local cross is very evident, its always scavenging even in their cage and turning the litter upside down. The other one from the brahma cross, whilst very healthy and heavier, is very docile. So that made me wonder if overtime I’ll lose the characteristics of the local chickens if I keep on crossbreeding them. What do you think?

I never actually had serious lice issues until now. We introduced poultry litter in prep for the rainy season farming and kept it near the surrounding and almost all my chickens had lice. We had to individually spray them with Cypermethrin weekly before we noticed any change. A good alternative to using kerosene around their brooding/sleeping area is wood ash. Spray ash around and also in their bathing area. That will kill the lice.

NativeChicken:
Nice thread!!
Its nice to know i have people of like minds. I recently changed my farm business model due to the high price of day old chicks, feed cost, vaccine/antibiotic failure and high death rate.
What i do now is a cross of Fulani Male x Noiler female. I use my local hens to incubate and hatch eggs. I just got 20 chicks this week and the average chick weighed b/w 35g - 42g. Which in my opinion is very ok.
Its a very fulfilling experience so far. I have 6 hens incibating 70 eggs at the moment. I noticed that the Noiler hens are taking a cue from d local and going broody...

42g is not “very ok”, its excellent. Thats almost the average of a broiler chick at day old. I guess its because you use a noiler hen. The highest so far I’ve had with my crosses is 28g. Local chickens usually weigh from 19-23g at day old.

Keep an eye on those noiler hens brooding. Some might abandon their nests half-way through brooding. And even if they hatch, they might be terrible mothers. I’ve had a hen that flew away from her two days old chick and they all died but two. Some hens are terrible mothers.

QTCL:
In my own opinion,i realised the noiler males are very prolific,we are hatching our first generation of crosses and full noilers on the farm.my male noilers took about 6 to 7months to become a giant but for table size it will be 5 to 6 months.
In regards the feeding,in my area its mostly cassava peels,brewery waste will be expensive due to transport.a friend was suggesting i do maize,millet,groundnut cake and etc but the cost of this materials seem to be on the high side as well, this breeders project wont make us any profit until we achieve a reasonable population and in my opinion it might take about 2 years.so keeping the cost of feed on the low is paramount.can anyone suggest cheap feed formulation,we are open to suggestions..

Yes feeding costs is one of the biggest (if not the only) impediment in rearing local chickens, because of their poor feed conversion ratio. I see that @NativeChicken has given vital advice. Look at your environment and find the cheapest feed resources, and that might be your competitive advantage.

There is something called the Scavenging Feed Resource Base (SFRB) and the way the Fulani’s raise their chickens at almost negligible costs. I will write on that soon.

HornyTave:
I would love to try this, it will cut cost on personal feeding and could use it to substitute some expenses.

How much can I get a male and female matured Fulani Chicken, A male and female matured Noiler chickens?

I'm in Edo. Benin City to be precise

Maybe you can contact @jidestroud if he can sell some of his stock to you?

I just love the knowledge sharing spirit and research/curiosity embedded in this thread. Thumps up guys!

Diseases and Prevention

Prevention is always better than cure. This cannot be overemphasized. Biosecurity is very important, especially when dealing with poultry. Make sure your feed is good, stored in a clean environment. Clean water, proper ventilation and a clean environment. Do not allow birds to continuously sleep in their litter. Always clean their cages regularly and wash their feeders/drinkers.

In the event that a disease outbreak occurs, nature has given us more than enough remedies to tackle them, depending on your location and availability. I have cured newcastle disease with just moringa leaf extract and aloe gel. The chicken couldn’t stand or feed, I didn’t take it will survive. I think most of us here have access to Neem and Aloe vera. These two are powerhouse that can be used to cure almost all most common poultry diseases.

Neem leaves and Aloe Vera are antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal, and also boost immunity of birds.

Preparation.
To make one litre of neem leaf extract, boil 1 litre of hot water, add to a container with 100gram of fresh neem leaves and leave for 24 hours. Strain and keep aside to cool.

Dose should be between 20ml-30ml per litre, and then you add 15ml per litre of Aloe Vera gel. Don’t add the aloe gel to the neem extract when its hot. For chicks you can administer for 3 days straight, serve clean water after they have finished it. And then be giving them maybe one or twice a month. Don’t overuse it.

Always store your natural medication in a cool place, and do not make large batches. To be on the safest side just make what you need to use for that week.

jidestroud:
Price of local chickens over here goes for N600 for full grown hens, and N800 - N1000 Max for a grown rooster when buying directly from the rural owners.

@Farouq94
It's the direct opposite here, the rains brings along with it diseases that kills off the local hens. Their population seems to explode only during the dry season. Most rural farmers tends to buy and raise their chickens during that season cause it possess less diseases that kills them.

Moreover, what we have here are the yoruba ecotype chicken. Chai, those chickens no b am at all. There's no difference between them and well fed pigeons when killed. . If not for their eggs, I wouldn't want one around (their eggs sweeeeeeet dieeeeee ). Well, looking at the bright side, those chickens are so hardy that they will survive any disease thrown at them.

At how much can I get matured Fulani Chickens?

Eagle and snake is another problem with native hen

Eagle and snake is another problem with native hen
If hatch 15 chick, very hard to see 5 reach table size successfully

Thats why one needs a proper setup,i guess you are free ranging.

Lombrozo:
Eagle and snake is another problem with native hen
If hatch 15 chick, very hard to see 5 reach table size successfully

Thats why one needs a proper setup,i guess you are free ranging.

but it's popularly said that local chicken cannot be cage

Scavenging Feed Resource Base (SFRB)

Because of the long time to maturity and the comparatively low prices of local chickens, it is of immense economic benefit to allow these chickens to free-range for their feed. To achieve maximum efficiency, supplemental feeding should be done in the morning, before they are allowed to free-range and later in the afternoon.

SFRB is basically the total amount food resources available in the environment that the chickens can use as feed.

Local chickens are very intelligent scavengers, they scavenge for insects to bulk up on protein, grits to help in digestion, grasses for vitamins, weed/grain seeds for fibre/energy and so on.

If you’re looking to raise chickens domestically, look at the volume of kitchen waste (in the form of leftover food) you produce, the expanse of the area in your backyard. How many chickens can they support?

If you’re raising chickens at farm level, look at your surroundings. Are there a lot of trees/shrubs/grasses in the area? Remember the presence of trees has a ripple effect on the environment. Leaves fall and decay, the soil becomes rich and a breeding ground for biota, which chickens feed on. Compost is another way to feed chickens. Chickens are excellent ‘composters’, they turn the pile and eat what they can.

Please how do I cross breed chicken

Farouq94:
Scavenging Feed Resource Base (SFRB)

Because of the long time to maturity and the comparatively low prices of local chickens, it is of immense economic benefit to allow these chickens to free-range for their feed. To achieve maximum efficiency, supplemental feeding should be done in the morning, before they are allowed to free-range and later in the afternoon.

SFRB is basically the total amount food resources available in the environment that the chickens can use as feed.

Local chickens are very intelligent scavengers, they scavenge for insects to bulk up on protein, grits to help in digestion, grasses for vitamins, weed/grain seeds for fibre/energy and so on.

If you’re looking to raise chickens domestically, look at the volume of kitchen waste (in the form of leftover food) you produce, the expanse of the area in your backyard. How many chickens can they support?

If you’re raising chickens at farm level, look at your surroundings. Are there a lot of trees/shrubs/grasses in the area? Remember the presence of trees has a ripple effect on the environment. Leaves fall and decay, the soil becomes rich and a breeding ground for biota, which chickens feed on. Compost is another way to feed chickens. Chickens are excellent ‘composters’, they turn the pile and eat what they can.

@ farouq if i want to cross breed how do i go about it??
how do i know a matured noiler that will mate with a local chicken??
can i raise noilers first then after maturity pair them with a local cock and chicken??
I'll be happy if you can teach us from start
pardon my manners you and jidestroud are really a rare gem.... wish I can be close to you guys to learn this things practically...thumbs up guys

NativeChicken:
As per feed cost, its actually a big challenge so i will advise you get us a list of all agro waste materials in ur area & their prices. Am sure i can assist if u get me this list. Look out for things like
Cassava peel, pap chaff, rice bran, arbattoir waste(blood, meat, fish waste), fruit & vegetable waste etc. I semi- free range my birds too to cut feed cost.
You can also grow Azolla & Duckweed and snails. You can plant a food forest, u can compost etc.
Furthermore, i believe Poultry is a game of numbers. The more u can keep, the better d profit.
Let me post a pix of my semi- free range pen.

@ Nativechicken can you please tell us the names of these things in Yoruba if possible and if a noiler is cross bred with a native chicken what are the characteristics of the chick as in size,resistance to disease,ability to lay egg and so