Learn to communicate with your birds, experts tip poultry farmers
A farmer picks eggs at his poultry farm. PHOTO/ FILE
Poultry farmers have been advised to regularly disinfect their farms to prevent diseases.
“Try to minimize costs. You find a farmer buying chicks with the provision of some to die. Just be clean to avoid infections, instead of using drugs to treat birds, disinfect your farms which is a cheaper option,” said Mr Fred Kimbugwe, a poultry specialist.
Speaking at a farmers training organized by Msingi Poultry Ltd in Mukono, Kimbugwe told farmers to learn to communicate with their birds in order to serve them for better production.
“You do not always need a doctor; when you communicate with your birds, you will know when to give them what they want at any particular moment. Also, ensure you feed birds on good feed. Substandard food compromises the eggs and meat production,” he added.
Sarah Nakanjako Mwanga, one of the farmers lauded the organisers of the training saying: “I have learned modern farming skills that are going to have a positive impact on my poultry farm of 9,500 birds.”
Darlington Ayenebwoya, a farm manager, said the new skills in waste management using solar dryers have inspired him to start his own farm.
“I am going back to Rukungiri to set up a small farm of 100 birds,” he said.
Closing the training, Mrs Rosemary Sseninde, the Director of Mass Mobilization, National Resistance Movement (NRM) urged farmers to keep records to monitor their business.
“If you do not keep records, you will not know whether the business is growing or not,” she said.
Msingi Poultry Ltd, one of the local leading producers and marketers of antibiotic-free chicken yellow-yolk eggs and meat in Uganda, currently operates an integrated business that consists of a brooding and an egg production facility with layer chicken using a cage system as well as managing farms for chicken meat production.
This also includes value addition and after-egg production processes such as egg packaging for both high-end markets and the general market, as well as manure and biogas production from chicken waste.
Poultry is important in supporting the livelihoods of farmers, consumers, traders, and laborers throughout the country. Small-scale poultry production ranges from small, semi-scavenging flocks of 10 to 30 indigenous breed birds in rural villages to 300 to 500 commercial improved breeds of birds managed with family labor in small-scale semi-commercial production systems.
