ANS 3105/ANS 2105

POULTRY MANAGEMENT I
Lecturers: Dr. K. Kamara, Mr. H. Magala

Course Type: CORE (B.Sc. Agric. III, B.Sc. FST III, BARI II, BAGM II)

Course Credits (CU): 2 CU

Course evaluation:
Continuous Assessment 40%
Final examination 60%.

☞ Students are strongly advised to attend all classes and make their
own notes.

☞ Quizzes could be given without prior notice.

☞Students who are retaking this course must attend all classes.
Academic Year 2020/2021
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COURSE OBJECTIVES
Overall objective: to produce a graduate who can undertake
poultry production as a business or/and is capable of guiding poultry
farmers and policy makers.
By the end of this course, you should be able to:
• Assess the state of the poultry industry in your
country
• Identify the poultry management system that suits
various economic situations
• Make a poultry business plan
• Run a commercial poultry enterprise
• Assess the performance of any given poultry farm
• Assist poultry farmers, hatchery operators and
traders to improve their performance.
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 COURSE CONTENT
• Characteristics of the Poultry Industry in
Uganda/E. Africa
• Development of modern commercial chicken
lines
• Poultry production lines and enterprise
combinations
• Record keeping in poultry production
• Systems of poultry management
• Housing Poultry
• Management of meat-type poultry
• Management of Egg-type poultry
• Hatchery operation
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RECOMMENDED REFERENCES FOR READING
• Smith A. J. 2001. Tropical Agriculturalist – Poultry.
Macmillan Publishers. UK.
• Ensminger M.E. 1992. Poultry Science 3rd Ed. Interstate
Publishers, Inc., Illinois, USA.
• Sainsbury D. 1992. Poultry Health and Management 3rd
Ed.
• Austic R.E. and Nesheim M.C. 1990. Poultry Production
13th Ed. Lea and Febiger, Philadelphia, PA., USA.
• Kyarisiima, C.C. (2011). Poultry Farming as a Business.
A Practical Guide. Fountain Publishers, Kampala,
Uganda.
• Bland D. 2000. TURKEYS: A Guide to Management. The
Crowood Press , UK.
• Twinch C. 1993. POULTRY: A Guide to Management. The
Crowood Press , UK. 4
 Definition of Terms
**Poultry: The term “poultry” generally refers to domesticated birds
which are of economic value to humans. Examples: chickens, turkeys,
ducks, geese, (plus quails, pigeons, guinea fowls, etc. if domesticated).
☞The term is also used to refer to dressed birds.
• Chicken (s) Gallus gallus domesticus
• Turkey Meleagris gallopavo
• Muscovy duck Cairina moschata
• Guinea fowl Numida meleagris
• Pigeon Columba livia domestica
• Japanese quail Coturnix japonica
• East African Ostrich Struthio camelus massaicus
• Broilers: fast growing meat-type chickens (of either sex)
• Cock (s), Tom (s), Drake (s), Hen (s)
• Cockerel (s), Pullet (s)
• Chick (s), poults, keets, ducklings, goslings, squeakers

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Examples of Poultry species and their eggs

Duck Goose
Chicken Turkey

Guinea fowl Ostrich Quail

Pigeon

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 Uses of Poultry
• The primary use of poultry is production
of food for humans (meat and eggs).
• Secondary uses:
– Source of manure for crops and/or for biofuel
– Use in many socio-cultural functions
– Ancient sport (cock fighting)- banned because it
violates principles of animal welfare
– Therapeutic uses… ???
– Use of poultry in idol worship still exists in some
African communities. BUT this is based on myths, so
it doesn’t fit in modern civilization.
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 Poultry Farming as a Business
• Specialized aspects of poultry keeping:
– Production of table birds (broilers, cockerels,
turkeys, spent hens, pigeons, etc)
– Production of table eggs (egg-type chickens, quails)
– Production of fertile/hatchable eggs (Breeder parent
stock of meat-type/egg-type poultry)
– Production of day-old chicks (hatchery operation)
– Production of pullets (egg-type chickens)
– Production of dual-purpose birds (local/indigenous
chickens, hybrids)
☞The choice of enterprise or enterprise combination
depends on the availability of market and financial
capability of the farmer/investor 8
 Establishing a poultry farm
☞Major considerations:
• Location of the poultry farm & layout
• Type of poultry and production line
• Flock size/capacity
• Management system
• Poultry Houses (how large; how many; organisation; ...??)
• Source of inputs (chicks, feeds, vaccines, equipment, ...)
• Continuity of the business (production forecast…)
• Form of business and management
• Marketing strategy, etc
☞Assignment: Make a poultry business plan (a production line
of your choice) 9
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 The Poultry Industry in Uganda /
East African region
1. Chickens dominate the poultry industry
– Several other poultry spp exist ……
– Latest trends --- high value poultry……
2. Uganda statistics (UBOS- latest)
– chickens – c.39 million of which c. 15% are
exotic or crosses, and over 80% are local
chickens
– Turkeys- about 0.3 million
– ducks – about 0.8million
– geese about 0.26 million ?
– Unconventional poultry species..?
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 The Poultry Industry (ctnd)
3. Traditional poultry keeping
– the traditional system of poultry keeping is
dominant = low input-low output
– almost all agricultural households keep local
poultry under the backyard system
4. Small scale commercial farming
– Done by smallholder farmers practicing
mixed poultry production systems i.e. lack
of specialization, run as supplementary
enterprises
– Smallholder units range: up to 5,000 birds
(exotic chickens, pigeons, quails,
ostriches..) 11
 The Poultry Industry (ctnd)
5. Modern commercial poultry farming is
also done to supply the urban markets
with meat and eggs
– based on production of exotic strains of
chickens (broilers and egg-type chickens)
• production units for day-old chicks (hatcheries),
parent stock, broilers and layers
• hatcheries may have capacity of up to 50,000 eggs
• Production units may be up to 20,000 chickens
• Run as sole or supplementary farm enterprises.

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 Classification of chickens
• Class = a group of standard breeds that have
been developed in a specific geographical
region e.g. Asiatic, English, Mediterranean, and
American class.

• Breed = a group of chickens within a class that

possesses a specific set of physical
characteristics such as body shape, body size,
skin colour, etc e.g.
– Sussex, Cornish, Australorp (English)
– New Hampshire, Plymouth Rock (American)
– Cochin, Brahma, Langshan (Asiatic)
– Leghorn, Ancona, and Minorca (Mediterranean) 13
 Classification (ctnd)
• Variety = a group of chickens within a breed
that is distinguishable by plumage colour and
design, comb shape, muffs, etc. e.g. Black
Australorp, and Single/Rose… comb Rhode Island Red,
White Rock, White Leghorn, Barred Rock……..

• Strain = a chicken breeding stock bearing a

given name and produced by a breeder through
at least five generations of closed flock
breeding. The distinctive differences between
strains are genetic and are selected by the
breeder for specific purposes e.g. Hy-line, Goldline,
Cobb, Hybro, Hubbard, Babcock, Hisex and ISA Brown
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 ↑
Cornish

← Leghorn →

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 Development of modern
commercial chicken strains
• Before the 2nd World War, in Europe,
dominance of dual-purpose backyard
chickens
• Rapid development in the chicken
industry in the post-war era - the general
population demanded for more meat and
eggs.

• Intensive breeding led to production of

modern commercial chickens i.e. broilers
and layers in Europe and USA. 16
 Primary Breeder Companies
• Aviagen Group (USA) since 1999
– commercial broiler chickens and commercial meat turkeys
– Ross, Arbor Acres, Lohmann Indian River
• Cobb-Vantress (USA, UK)
– Cobb broilers
• Hubbard (USA) – since 1921by Ira and Oliver Hubbard
– Hubbard broilers
• Hy-Line (Iowa, USA) – since 1936
– a world leader in poultry layer genetics
• Institut de Sélection Animale (ISA), Hendricks
Genetics (Netherlands)
– ISA Brown, Shaver, Hisex, Dekalb, Bovans, Babcock
– Mission: To breed and sell layers that are capable of
laying 500 top quality eggs per hen housed, without
compromising on egg quality 17
 Development of modern
commercial chicken strains (ctnd)
Breeders developed two main lines of chickens:
• Meat / heavy lines (broilers) = birds selected & bred
for rapid growth rate and high feed efficiency, able to
attain market weight of 1.8-2.0kg in < 8 weeks. Genes
from Cornish used in development of broiler strains
(large body frame)

• Egg production lines = capable of producing > 300

eggs by 80 weeks of age.
– 2 categories of egg-type chickens: white-egg lines
and brown-egg lines.
– Light in weight, sexual maturity at five months of age
– genes responsible for broodiness bred out of the
commercial egg laying strains - genes from the
Leghorn breed because it is non-broody. 18
 The Indigenous (local) chickens
of East Africa
• do not belong to a specific breed because they
have not been formally characterized
• vary widely in the adult body weight, plumage
colour and design, and egg production
characteristics. No intensive selection/breeding
has been done to improve productivity
• very little attention is paid to management of
local chickens
• performance of local chickens is generally poor:
i.e. Slow growth rate and less than 50 eggs per hen per
production year. 19
 Production characteristics of indigenous
chickens
• Number of clutches per year 2.5-3.0
• Number of eggs per clutch 6-20
• Number of eggs per year 20-50
• Egg weight (g) 40-50
• Hatchability of eggs (%) 40-100
• Age at sexual maturity (months) 7-8
• Mature cock weight (kg) 1.5-2.5
• Mature hen weight (kg) 1.0-1.2

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 Flock structure of various age groups
Number Mortality (%)
• Flock size 5-40 -
• No. of cocks 2-5 <5
• No. of hens 5-15 <10
• No. of growers 5-25 5-50
• No. of chicks 5-20 10-100

• Importance of the local chickens

– Probably the cheapest animal protein source
that the rural poor can afford, esp. for infants
and the sick.
– They have many socio-cultural functions in
many communities for which exotic birds are
not acceptable e.g. their roles in marriage,
birth, and religious ceremonies.
– Perceived therapeutic roles. 21
 Positive attributes of local chickens in
the context of Uganda
– They can tolerate harsh management conditions
e. g. poor housing
– They hatch and rear their own offspring - they
have excellent mothering ability. This is very
important in the “low input-low output production
systems in the rural areas where there is limited
access to artificial incubators
– They can utilize a poor feed resource base - they
are good scavengers
– Their meat and eggs are perceived to be tastier
than those from exotic chickens
– They are relatively tolerant to some diseases.
Note that they are not resistant to diseases.
☞Is the Indian Kuroiler a substitute? 22
 Constraints to increased productivity of
local chickens
• Poor feeding
• Poor housing
• Poor or no disease control measures
• Prevalence of predators e.g. hawks, kites, rata,
mongooses, snakes, wild cats, wild dogs, foxes, etc
• Unplanned breeding
• Poor marketing system

☞What strategies can be put in place to

increase productivity of local chickens?
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Poultry business plan guidelines
• Introduction
• Vision
• Mission
• Goal
• Values
• Objectives
• Form of business
• Source of finance
• Location and infrastructure
• SWOT analysis
• Marketing strategy
• Production and sales forecast
• Input suppliers
• Management structure
• Risks and uncertainties
• Environmental issues
• Legal issues
• Conclusion and recommendations
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