How can poultry farming profits be improved? Breaking out of five misconceptions is key
How to improve the rearing rate, laying rate and weight gain rate of broilers is the issue of greatest concern to poultry farmers, and it is also the key to whether poultry farming can achieve economic benefits. At present, the low economic benefits of some rural farmers are not unrelated to five misconceptions in their farming mindset. To improve benefits, erroneous ideas must be eliminated and correct countermeasures adopted.
Misconception One No awareness of good breeds
For some rural farmers, when choosing chicks, the first consideration is a low price, and whether the chicks are of a good breed is judged only by their external appearance, evaluating them by their chirping, mental state, whether they have a black navel, a big belly and other external features. This view is wrong. Although these are the most basic conditions, what determines a chicken's production performance is often the inner qualities of the chick — factors such as the breed of the purchased chicks, their age in days, whether the hatching time is consistent, whether the individual chick sizes are consistent, and whether the maternal antibodies are consistent. In particular, as farming scale expands, these inner factors become more and more important. They will directly affect the uniformity of the flock's later growth and the effectiveness of immunization, and the production performance and some indicators of laying hens will also be affected as a result.
Misconception Two Emphasis on brooding, neglect of rearing
High and stable production of the flock is the guarantee of obtaining maximum benefits, and raising qualified replacement chickens is an important part of achieving high and stable production. However, in actual feeding and management, farmers often focus their energy on the brooding stage. During brooding, they manage the chicks according to the measures provided by the breeding company in all respects; some farmers even use broiler feed to meet the nutritional needs of the chicks for rapid growth, for the sake of their healthy growth. Yet in the main period that determines high production — the early rearing stage (whether the body weight of rearing chickens at 10 weeks of age meets the standard determines about 80% of the laying performance of laying hens) — because it cannot bring obvious economic benefits, it is often overlooked by farmers. At this stage, many farmers use low-quality formula feed to save feeding costs, resulting in body weight at 8-10 weeks of age failing to meet the standard and poor flock uniformity, missing the main management period that determines high production. This leads to adverse effects such as low later laying performance, a low laying peak, and a short duration of the laying peak. Because low-nutrient feed is used, the chicken body, in order to meet its own growth needs, consumes large amounts of low-nutrient diet, causing the stomach to become enlarged, so that feed intake during the laying period is 5-10 grams more than under normal feeding conditions. In terms of the overall economic benefits of laying hens, this greatly increases farming costs and causes major losses.
Misconception Three Belief that vaccines are omnipotent
Some farmers believe that once chickens are vaccinated, all diseases are gone and everything is fine. They often pay no attention to immunization programs and feeding management. For example, free-range chickens can be seen everywhere, and dead and diseased chickens are thrown randomly in ditches, along roadsides, and around houses, artificially causing the repeated occurrence and spread of many infectious and parasitic diseases, bringing major economic losses to the poultry industry.
For vaccinating chickens, the immunization program is very important. First, in formulating the immunization program, it is necessary to take into account the actual conditions of the local area and the local farming community, and refer to factors such as the immunization program provided by the chick supplier, the vaccine varieties, and the time required to develop protective immunity; second, choose high-quality vaccines and master the injection site and dosage; third, do not use live vaccines for viral infectious diseases that have not occurred locally; fourth, after each vaccination, carefully disinfect vaccine vials, vaccination vials, vaccination equipment, and the sites used for intranasal administration, eye dropping and injection.
Misconception Four Belittling disinfection
Disinfection is the only means of killing bacteria and viruses in chicken houses and exercise yards, and is one of the important measures for maintaining a clean and hygienic environment and the healthy growth of chickens. One of the important reasons for the high incidence and mortality rates in household poultry farming is that disinfection work is not done or not done thoroughly, sanitation is poor, and pathogenic microorganisms remain. In some farming communities, farmers move freely between each other's houses, there are no necessary disinfection troughs or disinfection basins at the chicken house entrances, nor basic disinfection measures, let alone cross-use drug disinfection. This artificially increases the incidence of opportunistic pathogenic bacteria — E. coli and mycoplasma disease — among farmers. Household poultry farmers must strengthen their awareness of disinfection and disease prevention, and take disinfection work seriously, carefully and with great attention.
Misconception Five Valuing feed price over quality, and abusing drugs
Feed is the foundation for the flock to give full play to its production performance. High-quality, comprehensive and reasonable feed can often bring out the greatest production potential of the flock, enabling high and stable production and generating higher economic benefits.
In actual farming, because feed costs account for about 75-80% of farming costs, some farmers focus only on feed cost and do not pay attention to feed quality. In fact, using poor-quality feed results in a higher input-to-output ratio than using good-quality feed. Low-quality feed often contains large amounts of miscellaneous meals, and the anti-nutritional factors and some disease-causing factors in them will greatly reduce the available nutrient level of the feed, and also cause body disorders and susceptibility to viral infection, thereby increasing flock mortality and having a great impact on production.
According to the growth conditions of the chickens and the need for disease prevention in a certain period, adding certain drugs to the feed in the short term is appropriate. However, the phenomenon of drug abuse in poultry farming by some farmers is very serious. Adding drugs to feed year after year not only wastes drugs but also easily produces drug resistance, making treatment very difficult once disease occurs. Cases of poisoning caused by long-term drug use are also common.
Therefore, when chickens get sick, a timely diagnosis must be made and the right medicine given. Never use drugs at will, use them blindly, or increase the dosage; even more, it is strictly forbidden to use drugs as health supplements or growth promoters for a long time. If medication is necessary, note: drug selection and compatibility must be reasonable, the dosage must be accurate, and the medication time must be appropriate. Generally, the continuous use of a drug should not exceed one week, so as to avoid drug resistance and adverse reactions.