STARTING A LAYERS FARM

 STARTING A LAYERS FARM 

           

Starting a layers farm is not very different from starting a broilers farm , However its important to understand what is a layers farm.

Layers farm just like the name suggest is the farming of laying birds , Laying birds are birds kept for egg production this eggs are sold for consumption although some breeder farms , farm laying birds to use their fertilized eggs for the purposes of hatching day old but here we are concentrating on the farming for eggs for sales and consumption .

Female birds lay eggs but some specifically are designed to lay more eggs than others , you may have been told that Noilers lay eggs , yes they do but they are not classified to be best layers so we shall talk about laying birds for commercial brooding .

When considering keeping laying birds you have to understand that they are 2 ways to keep them its either on deep liter system or battery cage system .

Battery cage system involves a system whereby birds are kept in iron cages where they are fed , when they lay eggs this eggs role out of the cages and are picked by the farmer. water is also given to them in this cages and feed is also passed to them .

one of the major advantages of this system is that birds don't come into contact with their waste ,water, feed or their eggs, they conserve energy which they use in laying egg.

While in Deep liter The birds are left on the floor or long cages where the move freely coming in contact with their  food , water , eggs  and their waste .

The free range system is also part of the deep liter method 

Having said that lets look at Starting a layers farm what a farm needs to do;

Starting a layers farm is like starting a broiler farm but the differences is the feed changes , drug changes and for best result layers farm requires adequate ventilation , 

Layers bird : in choosing a layers bird to farm its best to look for the most rugged and the ones that lay more eggs in a year , as for me i prefer the isa brown, they lay more eggs and are very strong layers .

At day old, layers are called Pullets , when they start laying they are called the layers .

when you have built a brooder for raising the day old make sure that their is space and all the brooding techniques for broilers are strictly adhered to for best result.

once you start brooding pls follow the vaccine chart diligently , for feeding its best to start with a chick mash for the pullets but where not available you can start with a broiler starter feed 

Feed Twice a day , and make sure they always have water 

when they get to 7 weeks switch their feed to growers mash during this switch support the birds with vitamin for smooth feed change 

Don't rush to switch to layers mash no matter the story wait until the birds start laying 10% of the total no of birds you have in a day before you switch example if you have 2000 laying birds when they start laying 200 eggs which is 10% of the birds then you switch to layers mash , just as you did when switching to grower support the birds with multivitamin during this switch .

If you are going for Battery cage system transfer your birds to the battery cage when they are 10 weeks old , this will help them settle before laying 

                  

Remember laying of pullets depends on management effectiveness and feeding some birds may lay at 18 weeks while some may lay at 24weeks the main difference is that egg sizes of the ones that lay at 18 weeks will be very small compared to the ones that lay at 24 weeks 

For effective result i suggest that from 8 weeks a compulsory monthly once lasota and deworming be introduced remember this is done once every month 

with the above system the incidence of Newcastle is almost eliminated and the issue of worms is checked

Questions are welcomed......Thank you