I want to start local chicken business too.I don't know how to go about it. Please should I buy 25 day old local chicks and sell in next six months or ....Please guide me.I am confused

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.

Good evening everyone, Pls for blood stain poo or brown watery poo organic treatment, in Wat proportion would the ginger, garlic and bitter leaf mixture be in a 4litre drinker? Pls I need urgent answers. Seeing blood stain and brown watery poo in my noilers pen.
thanks

gbemmytop:

Good evening everyone, Pls for blood stain poo or brown watery poo organic treatment, in Wat proportion would the ginger, garlic and bitter leaf mixture be in a 4litre drinker? Pls I need urgent answers. Seeing blood stain and brown watery poo in my noilers pen.
thanks

add 30-40ml of bitterleaf extract to 1litter of cleanwater

kannyluv:
add 30-40ml of bitterleaf extract to 1litter of cleanwater

Thanks... Pls, what about the scent leaf, garlic nd ginger?
Can all be mixed together nd administered same time?

Farouq94:
Breed Improvement/Cross-breeding.

The Nigerian local chicken genetic potential has remained largely unimproved. The average clutch size is 10-12 eggs, with at least 60 eggs yearly if its is allowed to brood and raise the chicks.

I have cross-bred a local hen with the American brahma rooster. The Brahma chicken is a large meaty breed with feathered legs. I will post the pictures below. Its taken a couple of generations of chickens for me to almost remove the “feathered-leg characteristics” of the cross-bred offsprings. I get a few of chicks that have feathered legs every now and then I realized they somehow outgrow it and it becomes almost non-visible.

The pictures below are of second generation. So they are 25% Brahma and 75% local breed. They are much larger than the local chicken and lay twice as much eggs.

. I think you can used cockerel,instead of this long process or what do you think? Because my parent tried it when I was in the village then and we got an improved breed

gbemmytop:

Thanks... Pls, what about the scent leaf, garlic nd ginger?
Can all be mixed together nd administered same time?

. you can mix scent leave and bitter leaves together. it is the treatment of coçcidiosis

sodeeqsulaimon88:
kindly share pictures of the fulani chicken and is it different from female native chicken
how do we identify it when we see it??
someone said we shouldn't buy chicken from the market is there any other place we can get this fulani chicken??
can we formulate feed for them if yes is it grower,starter or finisher??
maize offal is easy to get here wah can i mix with it to get that % of crude protein

I have attached a picture of the Fulani chicken to this post I am making. This is how the fulani breed of chicken looks like . They are usually biger than the southern Nigerian local chicken. They also have very bright colours. Cheers.

Hello beautiful people
I'm sad for not discovering this lovely thread as at the time I started my local hen farming

And I'm so happy, I discover this thread when I'm starting to see this hobby as a business.
I sincerely appreciate every beautiful minds here, i had thought I'm the only person on earth seeing a vision in the local hen farming
Not knowing I'm just a learner. Thank you all for sharing your knowledge without holding back anything

My journey
I bought my first hen at the market (24th August 2019)at #800
It laid 12eggs(oct)and hatched 10(nov)

I kept the mother and chick in the cage and gave broiler starter. At wk2, I noticed dropping feathers and stunted growth. I gave them herbal medication, it wasn't working

I let down out of the cage to scavenge in order to self medicate. No improvement .the mother was always coming home to ask for broiler starter
Eventually, I lost 6
The surviving 4 are 3 females and a male

After 6 months (July 2020).the mother and 2 daughters collectively hatched 13 chick's. I lost all to this same strange disease and they also had coryza and pox. The mothers are having fighting for custody of the chicks

I've sold 4 chicken to the market women

I will try the neem and aloe gel extract, i pray it will help combat this strange disease. I always have this outbreak each time I cage them

Im very happy to be here. Next, I'm going to buy 1 female noiler and 1 Fulani breed

Good day All. Its given we all agree that our local chicken breed can be commercialized for good profit.
Its also given that we can improve their meat & egg production capacity by crossing them with other breeds like Noiler, Layer, Fulani etc for improved efficiency.
What with now need to discuss , i believe are 3 major factors that will enhance productivity and profit :-
1. How do we handle Health - Vaccination & Antibiotic treatment??
2. What are the standard management processes we need to employ?
3. How do we cut down feed cost without inhibiting production??

These are some salient issues we need to address for our local chicken business to thrive

NativeChicken:
Good day All. Its given we all agree that our local chicken breed can be commercialized for good profit.
Its also given that we can improve their meat & egg production capacity by crossing them with other breeds like Noiler, Layer, Fulani etc for improved efficiency.
What with now need to discuss , i believe are 3 major factors that will enhance productivity and profit :-
1. How do we handle Health - Vaccination & Antibiotic treatment??
2. What are the standard management processes we need to employ?
3. How do we cut down feed cost without inhibiting production??

These are some salient issues we need to address for our local chicken business to thrive

We dey follow you bumper to bumper

From my experience so far on this local chicken and noiler commercialisation,i have thought about it, that one cant rely only on the local hens for hatching of eggs,like for example in my farm,my noilers poduces far more fertilised eggs than the local hens and getting them broody at each point to hatch all the available eggs have been a challenge as the local hens dont go broody all at once.
This as brought me to the conclusion that an incubator is needed despite having more than 40 local hens or else no commercialisation.
Can you show us your battery setup,my incubator is 160watts and am in need of a setup that can un constantly to powe the incubator.

Farouq94:


Nope. I turn all the eggs manually, three times a day, the automated ones he makes are pricier, so for a start i settled for the semi-automated one. I initially thought turning the eggs was a small job until now that I have over a hundred eggs inside, and I’m seeing the benefit of automation lol. My own was made for 75k.

With an additional 40k for battery set-up you can be independent of NEPA.

[quote author=jidestroud post=91362802]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.



[/quote
Will the local hen lay egg without mating? When you are referring to the sweet egg is it the boiled or fried? Is it advisable to eat fertilized egg?

jidestroud:
@Excel70

All hens lay eggs irrespective of mating or not, whether there is a rooster or not, whether local or crossbreeds or poultry birds. Mating only has to do with fertility of the eggs. Even layers will lay eggs whether you give them layer mash or not. Likewise, turkeys, Guinea fowls, ducks etc.

Yes, boiled local eggs are sweeter . Maybe it's just me anyways, there's a whole lot difference in taste. I rarely eat poultry eggs again.

On eating fertile eggs, well, I guess it boils down to your person. Just make sure the eggs are still fresh and well preserved so you don't end up breaking one with the embryo already forming. I supposed that's the only irritating side to it. So, once I get my freshly lay fertile eggs, I simply preserve it in the fridge to slow down the process and eat in no distant day. Verrrrrrrry sweeeeeet chai...

Oga jide kindly share how the home made incubator was done...As we'll need an incubator in which only few of us can purchase the ready made

I love this thread
I actually made a kerosene lantern incubator using cartons out of curiousity
One hen abandoned her eggs so I was really curious if I could hatch the eggs after reading about the kero incubator
To God be the glory I hatched 2 eggs out of 4.
One egg got spoilt and maybe i was too excited not to candle the other egg well. When disposing it it had a dead chick in it
Though I love the experiene and will incubate again in the future
My two chicks hatched on the 19th day, I think most local hens do that cos of the small size of the eggs cos my broody hen hatched all nine eggs on 19th day too
Though she didn't get up much cos I had food and water by her side
My incubator chicks are 3 day old now

mojid22000:
I love this thread
I actually made a kerosene lantern incubator using cartons out of curiousity
One hen abandoned her eggs so I was really curious if I could hatch the eggs after reading about the kero incubator
To God be the glory I hatched 2 eggs out of 4.
One egg got spoilt and maybe i was too excited not to candle the other egg well. When disposing it it had a dead chick in it
Though I love the experiene and will incubate again in the future
My two chicks hatched on the 19th day, I think most local hens do that cos of the small size of the eggs cos my broody hen hatched all nine eggs on 19th day too
Though she didn't get up much cos I had food and water by her side
My incubator chicks are 3 day old now

can you please share how the kero incubator was made

Greetings all,
I noticed that my Noilers (about 15 weeks old now) doesn't like to eat formulated feeds, I have tried several brands (Top feed, Vital, Chikun, and one other feed that I couldn't remember the name at the moment).

They always ignore the feeds. Say I give them feed in the morning when I come back in the afternoon, it will still be there, almost untouched, so I will be forced to take it to the broilers in the cage.

When we bought them, we restricted their movement for two weeks and fed them formulated feeds, which they actually eat to a reasonable extent. Thereafter we released them to free range in the backyard and ever since they've been avoiding formulated feeds. They eat more of kitchen food waste, which I believe is not always enough for them, they eat leaves too (bitter leaves, water leaves and some other leaves).

I'm worried because I think they may not grow well, so I've been searching for an alternative, I gave them some millet and guinea corn, it seems they love it as much as they love eating kitchen food waste. So we bought some, but I noticed that both millet and guinea corn is more expensive than formulated feeds when I compared the price per kilogram.

Has anyone experienced this situation with their Noilers?
Is there anywhere I can get millet and guinea corn at a cheaper price?
The price here is about N200 per kilogram.

SoftHeart:
Greetings all,
I noticed that my Noilers (about 15 weeks old now) doesn't like to eat formulated feeds, I have tried several brands (Top feed, Vital, Chikun, and one other feed that I couldn't remember the name at the moment).

They always ignore the feeds. Say I give them feed in the morning when I come back in the afternoon, it will still be there, almost untouched, so I will be forced to take it to the broilers in the cage.

When we bought them, we restricted their movement for two weeks and fed them formulated feeds, which they actually eat to a reasonable extent. Thereafter we released them to free range in the backyard and ever since they've been avoiding formulated feeds. They eat more of kitchen food waste, which I believe is not always enough for them, they eat leaves too (bitter leaves, water leaves and some other leaves).

I'm worried because I think they may not grow well, so I've been searching for an alternative, I gave them some millet and guinea corn, it seems they love it as much as they love eating kitchen food waste. So we bought some, but I noticed that both millet and guinea corn is more expensive than formulated feeds when I compared the price per kilogram.

Has anyone experienced this situation with their Noilers?
Is there anywhere I can get millet and guinea corn at a cheaper price?
The price here is about N200 per kilogram.

My 7weeks old noilers did same dis week, I was very disturbed cuz I haven't had such experience b4 nw despite my years of rearing birds. Had to change to chikun pellets, they r gradually taking to it, a few of them r still learning to pick the pellets thou.

sodeeqsulaimon88:
can you please share how the kero incubator was made

Just an experiment oo
Not a standard incubator

I got a larger carton, put an indomie carton in it, cutting open one side.
I line the bottom of the indomie carton with a towel.
Put a lantern on the opposite side facing the side I cut opened
I placed the thermometer/hygrometer on the towel to measure the temp and humidity, that was like a day before placing the eggs
I had small water in a plactic placed beside the lantern
I regulated the lantern till I got the ideal temperature 100.5 but it fluctuates a lot even after been stable for a long time so putting an eye on it is a must
Turned eggs three time a day
Raised humidity to 60% on the 18th day, though it has always fluctuated between 48 and 52%
Ibhad a hard time raising it but I did it and to my surprise the eggs pipped on the 19th and hatched on the 20th

Will build a better one in the future by God's grace
I have forced air incubator in mind.

mojid22000:


Just an experiment oo
Not a standard incubator

I got a larger carton, put an indomie carton in it, cutting open one side.
I line the bottom of the indomie carton with a towel.
Put a lantern on the opposite side facing the side I cut opened
I placed the thermometer/hygrometer on the towel to measure the temp and humidity, that was like a day before placing the eggs
I had small water in a plactic placed beside the lantern
I regulated the lantern till I got the ideal temperature 100.5 but it fluctuates a lot even after been stable for a long time so putting an eye on it is a must
Turned eggs three time a day
Raised humidity to 60% on the 18th day, though it has always fluctuated between 48 and 52%
Ibhad a hard time raising it but I did it and to my surprise the eggs pipped on the 19th and hatched on the 20th


Will build a better one in the future by God's grace
I have forced air incubator in mind.

Can you please do this on YouTube for as to get a better view or you download to your Google drive

My Fulani x Noiler cross @ 2weeks old.
Just seperated them from the mother hen this morning.

NativeChicken:
My Fulani x Noiler cross @ 2weeks old.
Just seperated them from the mother hen this morning.

Which is the rooster is it the fulani or the noiler?

Azarina:


Can you please do this on YouTube for as to get a better view or you download to your Google drive

There are actually a lot of videos on YouTube that I watched before actually proceeding
Here are some links


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxcWJqKhe8U


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

mojid22000:


Which is the rooster is it the fulani or the noiler?

The Fulani is the Cock
I once heard about a comparative research that examined the performance of chicks from various crosses involving our local breeds and some foreign breeds. The Fulani Male x Foreign female cross did very well.
These are my 1st chicks from the cross and so far, am impressed

NativeChicken:


The Fulani is the Cock
I once heard about a comparative research that examined the performance of chicks from various crosses involving our local breeds and some foreign breeds. The Fulani Male x Foreign female cross did very well.
These are my 1st chicks from the cross and so far, am impressed

I like that
Hope they will be get the broody trait when they become adults and grow as fast and big as noiler

Will keep in touch to know how it goes

Nice birds,do you vaccinate them at this point or is there any organic treatment you use at there early stage.Am saying this because for other birds like broilers,layers,noilers..we buy in bulk and do lasota,gumboro fowl pox but in a case where chicks are hatched in clusters from time to time,how can this vaccination be carried out.i give mine lasota when giving to my other birds ...

NativeChicken:
My Fulani x Noiler cross @ 2weeks old.
Just seperated them from the mother hen this morning.

I bought a bag of chikun grower yesterday and my boy and i realised that the bags are not up to 25kg and whereas the price as gone up from 3000naira to 3170naira..i use wheat offal together with growers as feed and sometimes give them waterleaf and broken watermelons from the farm as a treat but at this point i am thinking of other type of feed to drive cost down.I am open to suggestions,someone said brewery waste but my challenge with that is that they come wet and drying them in the raining season might be a problem.

NativeChicken:
Good day All. Its given we all agree that our local chicken breed can be commercialized for good profit.
Its also given that we can improve their meat & egg production capacity by crossing them with other breeds like Noiler, Layer, Fulani etc for improved efficiency.
What with now need to discuss , i believe are 3 major factors that will enhance productivity and profit :-
1. How do we handle Health - Vaccination & Antibiotic treatment??
2. What are the standard management processes we need to employ?
3. How do we cut down feed cost without inhibiting production??

These are some salient issues we need to address for our local chicken business to thrive

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QTCL:
Nice birds,do you vaccinate them at this point or is there any organic treatment you use at there early stage.Am saying this because for other birds like broilers,layers,noilers..we buy in bulk and do lasota,gumboro fowl pox but in a case where chicks are hatched in clusters from time to time,how can this vaccination be carried out.i give mine lasota when giving to my other birds ...

No, i dont vaccinate them in the regular sense. i use organic meducation. So, i use Itagiri ( Christmas Melon), Apple Cider Vinegar and Ginger & Garlic extracts. I also give them Organic multivitamin and calcium

sodeeqsulaimon88:
kindly share pictures of the fulani chicken and is it different from female native chicken
how do we identify it when we see it??
someone said we shouldn't buy chicken from the market is there any other place we can get this fulani chicken??
can we formulate feed for them if yes is it grower,starter or finisher??
maize offal is easy to get here wah can i mix with it to get that % of crude protein

I do not have a full picture of a fulani hen, but if you’re familiar with the noiler hen, some fulani hens can be as big as them.

The issue of buying chicken from the market is diseases. Most of them are subject to already infected environment so by the time you buy them and bring them, they are usually very weak. If the market is your only alternative, you can choose the most vibrant chicken you see, inspect its crop to see if there is any feed inside, check the vent to see if its clean ...measures like those that will make sure you get healthy stock. Then when you bring them home, quarantine them and give them antibiotics, dewormers and vitamins till you’re satisfied that they are healthy enough to free-range. Never ever mix birds from the market with your existing birds. Always quarantine them first.

Feed formulation is very technical, though local chickens are very forgiving compared to broilers. I suggest you start with already made feed first to give your chicks a good start. Then later start finding alternatives close to you.

I personally do not like giving young chicks maize offal, because I find a lot of impurities inside, and that can give a chance for infection to set in especially for young chicks that do not have enough immunity. For adult chickens, I mix it with their feed.

Either way, maize offal is lower in crude protein than wheat bran, but higher in energy. A ratio of 1:2 will give you roughly 17.3% CP. Assuming average CP of maize offal at 10% and your starter at 21%. For wheat bran, a ratio of 1:1 will give you an average of 18% CP.

So lets say you’re producing a 15kg feed, 10kg starter + 5kg maize offal will dilute your CP down to 17.3%.

Frankyfaith:
Pls, do you have to cut the beaks (mouth) of noielers
when they start laying just as layers so they don't brake their eggs

You cut beaks to stop cannibalism, feather-picking between birds. Look at the set-up of battery cages and commercial layer production, birds are usually very stressed and that causes all sorts of bad behavior amongst them.

So if your birds are free-ranging and have a lot of space, you do not need to cut their beaks.

sunbreaker:
. I think you can used cockerel,instead of this long process or what do you think? Because my parent tried it when I was in the village then and we got an improved breed

The Brahma cross breeds I have weren’t an intentional effort. It just happened. And I noticed that their offspring laid much more eggs than the local chicken, and thats part of the reason I started this project.

So if this project proves successful, the goal is to pick the best performers from their offspring, get the black cockerel and start my commercial operation from there.

You need to get as many eggs as possible from these local chickens.