Why are the moderators bringing us 2014 threads now?

knowledge4:


Inadequate!
What are the ratios for the salt, lysine, methonine and premix?

And he also forgot limestome and antioxidant.

valarinz:


You're sounding so negative without proffering any solutions, the young man opened a thread because he needs info from practicing farmers on formula to mix feed, so its either you have something to contribute or you just please read and pass. You Dont mean to tell me that every successful poultry farmer buys feed or concentrate.

e
Na true. Me sef no dey buy feed again I formulate. But sincerely, only 10 birds are not worth the stress of feed formulation. Better for him to buy concentrate and mix.

noblefarm:


pls why ppl come de close their poultry farms after some years of running the farm, a lot of abandoned poultry farms everywhere.
what do u mean by "1st signature below"

1. they don't take time to study the business before going into it.
2. they employ people and go and sit down, then the people run down the business.
3. they have no knowledge of record keeping.
4. as they see the chicken big big, that is how they eat and dash to people. then when the profit starts coming, they want to show every one that they have arrived, so they eat the profit and eat into the capital too. You will find out that many of them try to go back to the business after some time.
5. many don't like to do marketing. they want you to come and look for them. is it possible to be checking every house may be you will see a poultry farmer there?
- No be me be 1st signature o. I just wanted to answer your question.

FarmTech:

..
Why did you ask no. 3 questn? I'll like to know.

We don tay for the business.
Why do you want to know?

Ambi25:
am doing it! Check out my farm

They look so lovely.

Yes o. All my mai suya customers prefer cockerels to broilers and many of my restaurant customers too. I is eateries and that go for broilers more. Free marketing tip huh?

I can recommend a book for you, and I can link you up with someone there in Abuja where you can see it practically. Just call me to remind me on 08172346102.

The market for any business o, na as you fit take market your product. So, rule out the talk that market dey for one and e no dey for another- I no gree. Even if you have a water source, by the time you dig a pond out of the money, what is left will not be enough to run the business. But you have the option of a plastic tank you can do it. It is just that it is not so convenient to use. But if you consider poultry, before the end of 6 months you would have recovered your money back with profit. That is if you farmed broilers. If you go for layers, you will not be able to stock more than 50 because you have to feed them for a long time. So, you have to be careful not to do what will make you run short of money before the profit starts coming in. And you will need to be guided.

1. What farm did you buy from?
2. Is their growth looking uniform?
3. Is their brown colour the same? Or are they a mixture of dark browns and light brown?

nvgyh:


What antibiotics do you think I should use, doxygen 20/20, amoxyl-col or tylodox and for how many days? And regarding to feed, a friend suggested maybe 100kg is no longer enough.. can that possibly results into there drop in production.

Doxygen is good. use for 5-7 days. Yes. Increase their feed. Yes please. You should be very happy that they are eating. They need the food to recover fast. And their weight have to be good before the laying can pick up. You just have to be patient for them to recover. Inadequate feed is enough to cause them stress, sickness and reduce their productivity. They must not be short of water please.

He he heee! She don enter. Maybe she no hear say Buhari dey find scape goat and she no get house for UK wey she go run go. Madam why now?

I forgot to answer the question on Lasota. Although, I doubt that the problem is Newcastle. ND will make some of their necks limp and there will be discharge from their eyes and nostrils along with the other symptoms. When you look at the number of birds written on the bottle of the vaccine, if it is 1000, then that is for 1000 birds and if for example it is 200, then you need 5 vials for 1000 birds. Please give them plenty of water o.

Abeg make this twins no fight o. See as dem wan take bring themselves down.

Whenever you give them a medication, you should watch out for the ones that are not going to drink the water. You should carry them there one after the other and assist them to take a little sip of it.

nvgyh:
@ura pls what other vaccination schedule are you talking about? Yes , some simes to have lost weight. I don't think it is coccidiosis, I have just dewormed and other antparasitic for tick, lice and mite. They are eating and that actually call for a concern as I am thinking maybe the 100kg is no longer enough. I have changed thr sawdust as well. And pls can anyone tell me the actual doses of lazota for 1000birds? Today, I am begining to notice a brownish watery dropping and the greenish one seems to have stop.. your help will be highly appreciated.

For vaccination, apart from Gumboro and Lasota, we also have Marek's, Fowl pox and Komorov vaccines. Those are the ones you can find easily in the market and they are more expensive than Gumboro and Lasota. Greenish diarrhoea is a symptom of fowl typhoid. I prefer to use drugs from Kepro company because they are usually more effective. Did you use Doxygen 20/20 or Amoxy-col? I hope you know that deworming them is not a treatment for coccidiosis. And I hope that rain does not get into their house. You can check my thread, you will see a book I advertised there. It will be very helpful for you. I sympathize with you. I know how stressful such situations can be. Please keep in touch so that I can know how they are progressing.

Jonnic1:
Good and highly informative write up. keep it coming. I am into yam and maize farming though not for commercial purpose.

Don,t you want to go on a commercial scale? Even as a small farmer, there are varieties of maize that you can reproduce for seed companies and they will pay you for it. If perhaps you have a bigger farm which may not be close to you, you can partner with friends and they will work with you and keep you company on the farm and at the end of the day you share the profit among yourselves. And with that your little farm, the government can support you with loan.

Thank you bros. Good to know that the gist makes sense to someone. Someone who was curious about why farming is very successful in some western countries traveled to three countries and brought back information. We had to put the information together and practicalize them. The results were amazing. In fact, if I were to give the full gist, you will see that we are very very very backward technologically. He wanted to sell the idea to the government, but trust our government, they always prefer wuru wuru to the answer. And our people too take style lazy. I believe that spreading the information free is the best way to propagate it. Anyone can just try it even on a small piece of land. the results are wonderful.

MosquitoREBIRTH:
why are you guys always like this? First of all, he said he saw a big party emerging to unseat PDP, he didn't mention a particular year or date. He also said he does not support any party for you to be talking about praying for GEJ to win. And lastly, this is not just a clip released, these are regular video recordings from his church services that people get to cut from the full clip to show peeps. Moreover, if you will like to know his prophecies before hand, you'll need to always stay glued to emmanuel TV because he says them at random. Not a fan of his, but I criticise objectively... cheers..

It is non my portion to be glued to emmanuel TV. I insist that it is a fake. Na today

Why is it that this man always come out after a deed has been done to say he prophesied about it? Where did he make his prophesy? Why were there no people testifying since before the elections that they were there when he said it? The one that he said he was speaking in parables, he has not yet deciphered it. The president of that western country that he predicted that he will be killed, is still there. I have not heard any news of that sort. If God Almighty revealed it to him, why did he not pray that it should be changed in favour of president Jonathan? Look at the number of times the President visited him. People like me don pass the level of this type of children's story. It is his custom to release tape after the deed has been done but never before. Make all the people wey the man don brainwash enjoy their bedtime story joor. Enjoy yourselves

Another aspect of poultry farming that is making waves is the Turkey farming. I have noticed that the variety of turkey that I see around are the local variety. Why go for the local variety when the hybrids are readily available? Many people have actually admitted that they do not know that the hybrid variety exists. My aunt once reared the hybrid variety, and there was one among them that she consistently refused to sell off. That one grew so big that we stopped helping her in her poultry because every one was afraid of going in then, except she and her husband. And when she decided to sell it, she got more than 30k for it. That was actually what got me interested in turkey farming, even though I don't keep them until they as big as hers.

The hybrid type usually grows bigger and faster than the local species. Turkeys lay more eggs than the chicken. A friend of mine had to get a locally constructed incubator, and with that she started another business of supplying middlemen with day old turkeys. Many people have complained that customers are not willing to buy their turkeys at a high price. But that is because the farmers try to make too much profit from it. If a chicken that weighs 2.5kg sells for around N2000.00, why should a turkey that just weighs about 6-7kg sell for between N15,000 and N20,000? Afterall, you don't even spend so much money on them the way you spend on a broiler. And turkeys can even weight up to 10kg.

If for instance, a farmer buys a carton of turkey chicks at N30,000.00, and he spends N70,000.00 to rear them till maturity (it does not cost this much please) and then sell them at N800.00 per kg of body weight, he will get N4,800.00 per one.This amount multiplied by 50 will give N240,000.00. When you subtract the cost of purchasing and rearing them which we have assumed to be N100,000.00, you are left with N140,000.00. If you take out a salary of payment of N60,000.00 for yourself, you will be left with a profit of N90,000.00. For someone just starting out in the business, is that not good enough? As you expand on the business, so your profit grows. Live turkey sells for higher that that.

The fact is that, if we really meanto sustain the market for poultry products, we must not be greedy. If people know that the bird is not as expensive as farmers make it look, they will prefer to patronize the local farmer than to go for the imported turkey which contains chemicals that might not be good for our health. So, we stand to gain more if we can sustain and grow the Nigerian market.

As time goes on I will discuss other types of poultry that you can keep. Please feel free to ask questions, make comments and add your contributions. The HANDBOOK FOR POULTRY FARMERS is still on sale. It is a book you cannot do without. To book your copy, just call 08172346102.

God bless you all.

Part B:
Apart from seeds and fertilizers, you also need herbicide. I tell you that our kind of weed here in Nigeria are opportunistic weeds. Infact, they are a liability to farmers. They are sure to consume most of the nutrients that you make available to your plants. Some times they make your plants look very small, and their seed very scanty while they ( the weeds) look like they are the ones you planted. That is why farmers like myself don't play friendlies with them. Trying to hoe weed manually increases your costs and eats into your profit. Remember that a businessman is very kobowise. So, I prefer to use a herbicide that kills all the weed and keeps my farm weed free throughout the season. But you have to be patient for it to work for about weeks before you continue work on your farm. And by the way, what is two weeks compared to the kind of loss that they cause you?

Afterwards, you plough, harrow very well and ridge then you can go ahead to plant. Before planting, you should make sure that all your seeds are viable. That is to say that they are all seeds with healthy pods minus chaff. I am sure you will not expect a shrunken maize or bean seed to produce an excellent fruit. When we were given rice to plant by the federal government, by the time we had carried out seed selection ( we have a special method for that), about 40% of it was just chaff. Imagine planting that 40% of chaff on your farm. What do you expect to gain from the harvest? That is why seed selection is very important.

Another important practice is the spacing you give your seeds. Every plant has its own spacing requirement, much of which is dependent on how far their roots can spread. Some require much spacing while others don't and if they are too closely planted, you find them competing for nutrients, you know, survival of the fittest. Also, the number of seeds that you are planting per hole is also very important. Since you have sorted the seeds, one seed per hole is just enough. At most, it should be two.

Make sure that while ridging, the borders of your farm are well raised so that water can collect in your farm. Whenever you feel that the water is too much, you can just make a small opening in one of the ridges so that the water will seep out gradually.

If you are using organic fertilizer, follow the direction for use. Each plant has its time for application. But generally, you can apply at pre-planting ( that is applying to the seed before you plant) or once it starts germinating. Y can apply a second round 3-4 weeks after, and a third round when it starts flowering.

If your farm was properly cleared of weed before planting, you might not have any cause to weed or re-apply herbicide. But where you have to weed or re-apply herbicide, please do not hesitate because weeds are one of the factors responsible for poor yield. I you are using herbicide, make sure it is selective of that crop. Other things you should watch you for are pests or rodents that may attack the plant of fruit.

Then you look up to the Almighty for sufficient rainfall and a bumper harvest.

Later on, we will do financial calculations involved in farming. And for those who will want to approach banks for loan, we will discuss how to go about it.

Thank you for your time. If you have any questions you can just call 08172346102 or email me at urafola@yahoo.com. There are alot of topics I will be sharing with you as time goes by, so that we will understand the concept of agric as a business. Your comments, contributions, and observations are all welcome.
God bless you all and bless Nigeria too.

1. Did you complete their vaccination schedule? You know it is not just about Gumboro and Lasota.
2. Did you change their feed and have they lost so much weight?
3. Did you check for coccidiosis?
4. Did you check for tick or lice or mites?
5. Has their feeding picked up?
6. Have you changed their sawdust since they recovered?
You just have to identify the cause of the egg drop.

funstufz:
Nice info, keep it coming

thanks o funstufz but I am not sharing this for fun. It is meant to be utilized.

Hallo Nairaland farmers, good to be with you again. Today we will discuss the cost of farm activities. I will use maize as an example. Some of the farm practices involved are quite similar to other crops. Some of the activities are easy enough for you to get a few other people to join you in order to minimize costs while you have to contract some of the jobs like tractorization out.

Before talking about the main topic, I hope that Nairalanders are aware that it is not so difficult for them to secure land for farming from their various communities? All you have to do is to tender your request through the Head of Department, Agric. in your LGA to the Chairman of the Local Government. They will assist you to get it. Or you make a direct request from your community leader. Making land available for you to use is supported in the Land Use Act. Considering the type of country Nigeria has become, you might have to give them a token for it. The good news is that you are eligible for up to 500 hectares. But remember that the land does not belong to you, and after a certain period of time, if you do not utilize it, they are allowed to take it back from you (after 4 years). However, if you are putting it to good use, you can be allowed to use it for a very long time.

Back to our business for the day. Back in the days when our grandparents and great grandparents farmed, they did not spend much money. They had their land (inherited family land), they had seed reserved from previous harvest or they could just ask a brother for some, or in the worst instance, they buy from the open market. Then, they would move the entire family - wives, children and grandchildren to the farm (after all, they will all eat from the harvest). The men will make the ridges and the women and the children will plant the seed, (except in the case of crops like yam). They can plant that very day if the soil is moist, or wait till the next rainfall. They will visit the farm at intervals and do the needful, especially pertaining to weeding. If they have fertilizer, they apply. If they don't, no qualms. Then, they wait for rainfall to do its part.

Nowadays, the practice has changed. Many of us no longer live in our family compounds, so we have to rent or seek permission to use other people's land. Technology has also made it possible that we no longer have to bend over to till the soil. Tractors are available to do such tedious work for us. Also, the kind of activities involved in the farming have also changed. Now it costs more to farm than then, but the end results are also more favorable than it used to be then. Let us take a look at what it costs to farm maize, even though our technology here in Nigeria is still far behind what is obtainable in developed countries.

AN EXAMPLE OF MAIZE FARMING ON A HECTARE OF LAND.
Seeds ----------------------- -------------------- N10,000.00 (20kg)
Plough/Harrow/Ridge ----------------------------- N20,000.00 (on day job basis)
Herbicide ----------------------------------------- N4,000.00
Labour for herbicide application -------------------- N6,000.00 (max.)
Liquid Organic fertilizer ---------------------------- N15,000.00 (4 litres)
Labour for fertilizer application ---------------------- N20,000.00 (max)
Harvesting and Threshing -------------------------- N10,000.00 (or less)
Transportation ------------------------------------ N10,000.00 (or less)
Marketing ----------------------------------------- N10,000.00 (or less)
Miscellaneous ------------------------------------- N5,000.00
Total ---------------------------------------------N110,000.00

Using good seed and carrying out the right practices, You should expect a very high yield. Maize under normal practices will yield about 5600kg per hectare. With a combination of high yielding seeds and adequate organic fertilizer, you should expect higher than normal yield of about 10,000 kg or even more per hectare.

Please give it a try. Most crops will be ready for harvest in 3-4 months. By then you would have started planning for your irrigation farming. So that you can make farming an all year round business.

I look forward to interacting with you guys again. Remember to add your questions, comments and observations. The next topic I will be sharing with you is on accessing government loan.

Cheers.

AreaFada2:
.

Lol, depends on size. I'm currently doing one. i want it to be relatively standard and durable structure with enough space to expand built in. 1.2 m is unlikely to finish it as things are going now.
But I know others who started with 25 chicks or little more in a makeshift coop in the backyard with less than 20 to 30k. They have grown big now.

You are very correct. Even 20k can start it. But why is your own construction that expensive? If you are spending up to 1.2M, for construction I hope that the number of birds you will stock will justify what you are spending for the construction. And I hope that you have budgeted for their feeding because that is where the real spending is. Please all new poultry farmers should always seek for guidance o.

I will do a breakdown for what you need for 1000 broilers and get it across to you. Send me an email at urafola@yahoo.com. It is free consultation I am offering anyway. Just want to encourage you. That's why.

You need loan? It is government loan o. and it is available in banks but there must be something on your farm when they come to inspect and if they are satisfied, it will not take as long as BOA. And you must have your proposal on ground if you need help just let me know. We are practicing farming the book way now. Not the cut and join method of those who did it before us. No be say dem no try o.

Bros, plant rice and if you no see market, contact me. I get am for za market flenti. But e get the type of rice o. If you no sabi the farming contact me. No go waste your time and money come day say had I known. Farming levels don change now. With a farmland like that, you are a potential multi millionaire.

Una see wetin GEJ and Mama P don cause? Mama P follow your husband to go and vote, she no gree, she wan go do umpire for Rivers. You husband put your wife for front make una waka go together, e dey do suegbe dey claim say everybody go carry im own jet waka go. Now see wetin mama P don go cause for Rivers. for her own thinking, she no fit dey make APC rule her state. May God take us to May 29th safely. Make Gej and im wife carry their own dey go.

Do you mean that in the whole of Delta, there is no Vital feed or Top feed depot or is it that you are not interested in those ones? Or do you mean that you need the chicken feed in very large quantity?

It is ok to start even with one layer only. But if you are rearing to sell, I will not advice to go for only 5. Let us say close to 10 birds because 30 eggs make a crate and the the 5 birds might not lay on a daily basis. So, having like 10, you should be able to make a crate in 4-5 days which is ok instead of having to wait for like 8 or 9 days before you make a crate. Is that all you need to know?
Pardon my omission. I am in a haste to do some other activity.