fnk:

We weigh them individually, and we weigh a whole bunch, and you can see from the ones you weighed that most of the other birds looks like the same size.
of course, some are about 900g some 800g and some 1.1kg etc.

In the past, at 4 weeks, most of them weighs 700g, some 600g

Ok tnx bro.

fnk:


My two cents, don't wait until it is all well to get started, because it is never all well. Start little, show yourself that it can be done. I ran what I called a research with 25 broilers and 10 layers at the back of my house, running this project recording everyday what I did, changing the water, replenishing the feed, changing the litter, and my kids naming some of the birds and watching the birds grow from 150g to eventually 3.5kg and more gave me the motivation. Of course I didn't have the money to go full scale them, I wrote business plan and went to some financing houses, they asked me where my farm was, and when I told them what I have done and that I just want to now get started, they told me to go get started and that if I then need money for expansion, then they can help. That was in 2011, I didn't let that stop me, I knew the potential of the industry and wanted to get in and be part of it.
So, don't procrastinate, start small and build from them. And when you start, know this that it is not going to be easy, and no matter what you have learned here, you will still have your owning learning by experience to do. Some things you have read here, it has been explained by someone here, and you will still do it wrong and your birds will die like fly. But don't worry, it means that you are becoming a farmer. I am speaking from experience, about 2 to 3 months ago, I lost about 6000 birds from my farm, and later I found out what I did wrong, and it is something that I have read here, something you shouldn't do.

So, don't wait, start now, and keep moving forward, there is so much room in this industry for everyone.

Nice one 'fnk', i believe your post would served as a motivation for those that have been discouraged in one way or the other.

But seriously, aside the cases of Avvian flu etc, losing 6000 birds in a single farm is extremely strange and really pathetic. Perhaps you need to review or change your vaccination program. please can you share some of your experiences during this period(expecially the causes of the high rate mortality)for others to learn?

fnk:


True talk ooo, I think digital would be better but na the analog one we de use ooo, I made a mistake I bought a scale from the U.S without paying attention to the lbs thing, I don carry am reach Nigeria before I realize that it would be better to get something that reads in Kg. And the machine no cheap. So, na analog we de use for now. Yes, random weighing and just by sight you can pretty much guess that based on the ones that you have weighed what the majority of the rest will weigh.

Hope all is well with you guys.

Your last sentence might be wrong 'fnk' especially if you were talking about broilers. You cannot easily predits the size of a particular bird until you place it on the scale. There are some birds especially female ones, they will look big but quite below an expected weight. It will be very difficult for anyone to know an average weight of entire flock without weighing them one by one.

It's not that difficult to do. You sort them randomly at 3/4 weeks, and when it is time to scale them one by one, it would be very easy. Infact you alone can scale 500birds within 3hours.

Yemmit90. I think FNK is right.
When I was into broilers. by weighing 10- 15 birds. I can tell you precisely the weight of others. sometimes by holding the birds in my hand. I can tell if the are 2.1 or 2.3. the difference is not always above .5

fnk:


If it is raining, won't the wind be blowing rain on your birds, I think that your roofing should have come a bit down to mitigate that, Just thinking.

Your are right, I plan to combat that with tarpauline. Tks for the words

davidzfarm18:
Yemmit90. I think FNK is right.
When I was into broilers. by weighing 10- 15 birds. I can tell you precisely the weight of others. sometimes by holding the birds in my hand. I can tell if the are 2.1 or 2.3. the difference is not always above .5

Are you talking about sorting birds or entire flock?

Well, i will agree with you that by holding a bird, you can predict it weight(though might not be exactly)but seriously you cant tell precisely the average weight or weight of others by sampling just 10/15.

Gidigidi3:
Had to relocate to another nearby villa dis yr while the court cases go on on the former 4 plots above.

Below my newly constructed broiler pen. 25 by 60ft by11ft, with farm house.
Elders in d house, hope am on wright course? Planned that it will take 1000 birds at full capacity. Thank you all for the valuable information I hv garnered here.

..
Keep it up bro.

Good day house. How can I achieve a 2kg weight in broilers in 6weeks.
Please I need facts and figures. Thanks.

pharmmylovey:
Good day house. How can I achieve a 2kg weight in broilers in 6weeks.
Please I need facts and figures. Thanks.

2Kg live weight or dressed weight?

Great job guys! Keep the updates coming...

grownaira:


2Kg live weight or dressed weight?

2kg live weight. Thanks bro.

pharmmylovey:

2kg live weight. Thanks bro.

Feed the birds well with good quality feeds, give them the proper vaccine/medications, add multivitamins in dia drinking water daily, and you will see fascinating results in 6weeks.

unclec2015:
I want to start my own poultry farm, but before starting I will like to go for training for the course.
Please have anyone on this forum attended the International course on Poultry production and Feed Manufacturing at North Carolina University. This course is for one week.
If yes what is your experience and is it a good course to attend.

are u for real?
U wanna travel halfway around d world just to do a one week course in poultry?
What practical knowledge do u hope to acquire in one week when even broiler take a minimum of six weeks to grow to size? Even incubators take 3 weeks to hatch eggs!!!!

Pls just tell us u are looking for a backyard door to migrate to US.
Dia are better and cheaper venues to gain comprehensive practical training here in Nigeria

yemmit90:


Are you talking about sorting birds or entire flock?

Well, i will agree with you that by holding a bird, you can predict it weight(though might not be exactly)but seriously you cant tell precisely the average weight or weight of others by sampling just 10/15.

That is what I mean, as a farmer, you can pretty much tell.

yemmit90:


Nice one 'fnk', i believe your post would served as a motivation for those that have been discouraged in one way or the other.

But seriously, aside the cases of Avvian flu etc, losing 6000 birds in a single farm is extremely strange and really pathetic. Perhaps you need to review or change your vaccination program. please can you share some of your experiences during this period(expecially the causes of the high rate mortality)for others to learn?

All the birds didn't die at once, we called in different vets, their conclusion was where we got the feed from, in good fath a friend offered to help cut my cost on feed my compounding feed for me. He has a mill in his farm where mill for his layers. The proximity of his mill to the layers pen is very close, so buying those feed and taking them to my farm was like introducing the bacteria from his farm to my, while his birds are muted to those bio security, my farm and birds weren't , so, everyday, we were recording high number of mutuality, and trying to treat the birds with different kind of drugs, and their suffering from the attack, stalled their growth, so, a 12 weeks bird was weighing 700g so we have to destroy over 1000 birds ourself, because at that point, the cost of raising the birds were already above N1,500/bird. So, it didn't make sense to continue trying to feed them or treat them. So, I have learned from that experience, I was trying to save money and didn't think through the descsion. But everything was done with good intention, my friend wanted to help me. So, don't buy feed from a farm where the mill is right next to the pen of their own birds, you will be bridging the bio security in your farm with the virus and bacteria from the other farm.

obstead200:
are u for real?
U wanna travel halfway around d world just to do a one week course in poultry?
What practical knowledge do u hope to acquire in one week when even broiler take a minimum of six weeks to grow to size? Even incubators take 3 weeks to hatch eggs!!!!

Pls just tell us u are looking for a backyard door to migrate to US.
Dia are better and cheaper venues to gain comprehensive practical training here in Nigeria

Easy on him cowboy, you don't know if the guy live in the U.S already. The truth of the matter is what you just said , no one week training will give you the experience you need to get into this industry, you will learn more by ready every page on this thread and taking note than by traveling to NC for even a one month course.

But guys, I know that in Atlanta, they do have a yearly conference on poultry, I think we can form an association and attend those conferences to learn a thing or two from the global stage. Just thinking.

grownaira:


2Kg live weight or dressed weight?

Buy the day old birds from obasanjo Ota farm, and feed them with Top Feed. Zatech birds from Ibadan gives me 2kg in 8weeks. I am raising about 4500 now in my farm, broilers from OBJ Ota farm, the first was 1,500 and at 4 weeks they are already 1kg in the next two weeks, they are on track to be over 2kg.

Has anyone tried to decode the formula that top feed uses for their broiler feed. They are dang good. I want to set up my own mill so that I can mill for my farm, it has to be a top feed quality or better, if not I will counting buy from top feed. Please help.

fnk:
Has anyone tried to decode the formula that top feed uses for their broiler feed. They are dang good. I want to set up my own mill so that I can mill for my farm, it has to be a top feed quality or better, if not I will counting buy from top feed. Please help.

Hardly or probably impossible is it for you to detect the formula they use. I was enquired with an animal health scientist, and he told me he suspect they use steroids because the growth difference of birds fed with topfeed and birds fed with other high quality feeds is too much.

fnk:
Has anyone tried to decode the formula that top feed uses for their broiler feed. They are dang good. I want to set up my own mill so that I can mill for my farm, it has to be a top feed quality or better, if not I will counting buy from top feed. Please help.

If you are really planning to mill, I would suggest you try Koudjis Concentrates. My broilers batches have been on Koudjis for almost a year and Yes! Zartech birds. And the result has been wonderful. That is not to say we never had challenges, but that would only be due to other factors not the feed.

Most of my broiler batches are out 6wks (+/- 3days), meaning sometimes I dispose them even b4 6weeks.

If you check the earlier posts sometimes this year we spoke about it and someone even posted the combination formular.

fnk:


All the birds didn't die at once, we called in different vets, their conclusion was where we got the feed from, in good fath a friend offered to help cut my cost on feed my compounding feed for me. He has a mill in his farm where mill for his layers. The proximity of his mill to the layers pen is very close, so buying those feed and taking them to my farm was like introducing the bacteria from his farm to my, while his birds are muted to those bio security, my farm and birds weren't , so, everyday, we were recording high number of mutuality, and trying to treat the birds with different kind of drugs, and their suffering from the attack, stalled their growth, so, a 12 weeks bird was weighing 700g so we have to destroy over 1000 birds ourself, because at that point, the cost of raising the birds were already above N1,500/bird. So, it didn't make sense to continue trying to feed them or treat them. So, I have learned from that experience, I was trying to save money and didn't think through the descsion. But everything was done with good intention, my friend wanted to help me. So, don't buy feed from a farm where the mill is right next to the pen of their own birds, you will be bridging the bio security in your farm with the virus and bacteria from the other farm.

I am the friend who helped @FNK mill the feed. @FNK this is Ken, I would rather have read this post and not respond but for the nature of the thread and the fact that we are all learning here I will say a little bit of my experience. First off all sorry for the loss, I know what it feels like to loose that number of birds. Though you didn't particularly blame me for the incident, but I feel like I did something wrong introducing you to something like that. while there maybe a possibility as to the reason given by your vet (In Theory). I am somehow not convinced about the cause given by your vet. As at the time I introduced you to this feed, I was feeding my 4000 DOC with the feed and I was not raising those birds in my Main Farm where my feed mill is located. I was brooding in the small pen at the back of my house. and I was getting excellent result with them because it was my first time trying out Animal Care Broiler Concentrate. The growth and the livability was encouraging hence I called you and told you about it. If you would recall in time past you asked me if I can mill broiler feed for you but I said no because I don't do broiler and don't want to take any risk on a formula I have not tried out myself. I keep only layers and that is the formula I have and have tried. after the first batch of 4000 DOC, I took another 4000 DOC which I also brooded in my house and at 13 weeks my mortality is less than 5%. With my little experience in this industry, farmers don't have a support system, 90% of the so called vet you have around don't know what they are doing, they solve most of your problems by asking you questions and finding loopholes in your operation and tell you that is the reason. I have had my own bitter experiences with them and at this point I just rely more on my past experiences and that of fellow farmers. The first DOC of 4000 was from zartech, they delivered 4000 to me and 4000 to my friend same day from the same hatchery, but when brooding started we got completely different result. while he recorded high early mortality, my mortality rate was near zero. So my point here is there are so many factor that can affect a flock at different times. The fact that you mill your own feed is always a flag when anything is happening with your flock, I have seen that time and time again. Farmer lets be wise.

AkayTopsy:


If you are really planning to mill, I would suggest you try Koudjis Concentrates. My broilers batches have been on Koudjis for almost a year and Yes! Zartech birds. And the result has been wonderful. That is not to say we never had challenges, but that would only be due to other factors not the feed.

Most of my broiler batches are out 6wks (+/- 3days), meaning sometimes I dispose them even b4 6weeks.

If you check the earlier posts sometimes this year we spoke about it and someone even posted the combination formular.

The setback with Koudjis line concentrates is that they are too expensive. The one I commonly use b4, which u add only maize now cost N12,200(50Kg) in my locality.

what is the mixing ratio @grownaira?

grownaira:


The setback with Koudjis line concentrates is that they are too expensive. The one I commonly use b4, which u add only maize now cost N12,200(50Kg) in my locality.

kengeorge:
what is the mixing ratio @grownaira?

100Kg maize for starter and 150Kg maize for finisher.

My birds are now over 80% in production. 77 crates out of 2800birds. Now i am planning to take 6-7,000 DOC and task this laying birds to feed them to lay as big sisters.. Guys what do u think.

[
quote author=afosoft post=35663988]My birds are now over 80% in production. 77 crates out of 2800birds. Now i am planning to take 6-7,000 DOC and task this laying birds to feed them to lay as big sisters.. Guys what do u think.[/quote]

Congrats: pls order for the DOC ASAP.

afosoft:
My birds are now over 80% in production. 77 crates out of 2800birds. Now i am planning to take 6-7,000 DOC and task this laying birds to feed them to lay as big sisters.. Guys what do u think.

@afosoft.
over 80% that's good.pls I will like to ask u...which hatchery did u get one laying and where are u planing to get the new DOC. And what can you say about d size of there eggs.pls what brand of feed are you using.thanks

Hello House.
My Birds are down with lymphoid Leucosis.
the production is stalled at 50% the past 3 wks. I was advised to cull the birds. Has anyone had similar challenges B4. the disease is a neoplastic viral disease very similar to Marek's when PM is done.
from research. mortality is usually low but egg production is affected.

Please gurus in the house. Am in a confusion state with the brand of feeds am using! I'm using hybrid layers at 2150 a bag.the problem is my eggs are not big,so d egg women who buy my eggs used that to price down my eggs....I used to get jumbo size eggs with top feed but with d prize of 2400 a bag someone cannot break even......pls help out my oga @ d top!

davidzfarm18:
Hello House.
My Birds are down with lymphoid Leucosis.
the production is stalled at 50% the past 3 wks. I was advised to cull the birds. Has anyone had similar challenges B4. the disease is a neoplastic viral disease very similar to Marek's when PM is done.
from research. mortality is usually low but egg production is affected.

@davidzfarm
Sorry about what happened to ur birds.the lymphoid leucosis is a retrovirus disease that affects kidney and liver. Ur birds may live on as non producer for d rest odf their lives.there is no treatent for it bro....so it better u cull d birds.....but let wait oga jamp,eggcelent and d rest advice on it....sorry once again!

afosoft. Proceeds from 2,800 laying birds cannot singlehandedly feed 6,000 pullet DOCs to the point the latter will cover their own expenses. Unless you have plans to bring in another #2Million to make up the likely shortfall. sukkotfarm. IMO, you have a purely biz decision to make here; "is the savings on cost of feeds more than loss on income from eggs?" Meanwhile, you may wish to see if photo stimulation will make any difference to size of the eggs. davidzfarm18. Kindly accept my sincere concern about the state of things with your birds. As advised by sukkotfarm, I'll suggest you sell off the birds ASAP.

fnk:


Buy the day old birds from obasanjo Ota farm, and feed them with Top Feed. Zatech birds from Ibadan gives me 2kg in 8weeks. I am raising about 4500 now in my farm, broilers from OBJ Ota farm, the first was 1,500 and at 4 weeks they are already 1kg in the next two weeks, they are on track to be over 2kg.

Thanks a lot for this contribution. What about the livability of Obasanjo birds? The feeds issue how many weeks of starter and finisher. Did you need to add indomie? and pls how many bags of top feeds did they consume to reach that weight. Thanks.