Smart farms

: 12 April 2016; Hits: 15676

Honey reduce heat stress, increase quality of eggs in poultry

Poultry farmers can use honey, guava or coconut juice to successfully contain stress in their birds and improve the quality of eggs, thanks to a recent study by the Federal University of Agriculture in Nigeria that shows that these product are antioxidant capable of removing toxins accumulated in the chicken body due to heat stress
This study is good news to poultry farmers in Kenya who according to the Ministry of Agriculture Livestock and Fisheries lose up to 30 per cent of their chicken annually due to stress mostly caused by heat, disease or food shortage. Most of them have been forced to erect expensive and high energy consuming heat regulators in poultry houses, incurring high production costs.
Findings
The 4 months research which involved 120 active layers showed that if just 10ml of honey is added in about a litre of drinking water, the egg quality and survival rate improve. The lead researcher Dr Monsuru Oladimeji Abioja explained that most hybrid layers are sensitive to high temperature during the hot season and, thus, a flock can suffer from heat stress, which is known to produce toxin in the bodies of the chicken, reducing egg quality and survival
The study explains that high environmental temperature leads to excretion of some minerals like calcium, iron and zinc which results in decreased bone strength. According to Dr. Abioja, heat stress showed deleterious effects by decreasing length and width of tibia, ash and its strength
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Fast-growing hybrid chicken as a result typically has significant skeletal problems and may suffer lameness. To avoid this, optimal poultry production in the hot season therefore requires an adequate and appropriate management system that can reduce the effects of heat stress to the minimum.
The optimum temperature for both layers and broilers should be 18 to 21°C beyond which the growth and welfare of the birds is compromised and survival rate lowered because of their responses to the stressor.
This finding qualifies another one conducted by the same university in 2012 that proved that addition of vitamin C to broilers’ drinking water could reduce rectal temperature and panting rate during afternoon in open-sided poultry house during hot-dry season. Vitamin C helps in inhibiting the secretion and release of corticosterone, which may be cytocytic at high concentration during stress episodes.
Dosage
Although the study is not conclusive on the quality of honey, Dr.ABioja said that farmers should add 20ml to a litre of water and given to chicken for not more than four consecutive weeks. “This will be detrimental to the egg production. The best way would be to give it to the chicken for four weeks and thereafter take a break of two weeks and then continue if need be,” said the researcher.

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: 12 April 2016; Hits: 12952

What to consider while buying one day old chicks

Poultry farming is gaining momentum in Kenya; thanks to the all time market and quick returns associated with the business. This has sometimes seen farmers hastily purchase chicks that end up dying while on transit, incurring huge losses.This has sometimes seen farmers most hastily purchase chicks that end up dying on transit, incurring huge losses.
In a bid to help farmers purchase quality chicks, www.farmbiz.glorycarefoundation.org has prepared a check list to consider while purchasing especially one day old chicks for commercial purposes.
The validity of the hatchery
Farmers are advised to purchase chicks from hatcheries certified by agricultural stakeholders like the KALRO’S Non-Ruminant Research Centre. The hatchery must display its valid license and receipt must be offered after sells. Most farmers are being duped by unscrupulous dealers who invoke names of trusted brands in the market. A physical visit at the hatchery is therefore a must
Health and history record
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Farmers must check the health history of chicken producing eggs for the hatchery. A farmer must ensure that the hatchery he is buying from has a good history and day old chicks bought from there have low mortality rates.
Before purchasing chicks, a farmer must confirm if they have been vaccinated against common poultry viral diseases. If you choose the latter option, then you must have a veterinary doctor on hand who would give the vaccinations to the chicks as soon as they get to you to prevent diseases or death.
Ecological region
High breed chicken is highly sensitive to changes in temperature. Farmers are advised to purchase chicks from hatcheries within their ecological sphere. Chicks bred in areas with low temperatures are likely to die of heat stress if taken to areas with high temperatures. The knowledge about temperature changes will also help a farmer prepare himself adequately for energy needs like solar, electricity or cooling gadgets in case of extreme heat.
Time
Time is also a very important factor when buying day old chicks. This is because day old chicks require a lot of care and attention especially in the first 5 weeks of purchase. Therefore, you must clear out your schedule and ensure that you would have time to care for them when you buy them.
The size of poultry
When you buy day old chicks, they are usually so small that a thousand of them can fit into a tiny space. But you shouldn’t allow this initial size deceive you; as they grow older, they begin to consume a lot of space and if you didn’t do proper space planning at the point of buying day old chicks, you would face a lot of space challenges.
Means of transport
It is advisable to use special containers because chicks are quiet delicate; when transporting day old chicks from their current location to the destination you want to send them it is proper to use containers that are hard on the outside and inside very soft. When the inside of the container is very soft it will act as shock absorbers to protect the chicks from bruising.
Day old chicks are very delicate and find it difficult to sustain injuries when they are bruised and they may die. The container should be put in a place that will prevent strong shaking and somersault because when that happen your chicks will crash into each other strongly and some will get their limbs and other parts of their body broken.
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Ventilation in transit to avoid draughty conditions; they type of transport you are using to carry the chicks should be well ventilated to enable proper breathing of the chicks because they will need the breadth to get energy to be able to continue the journey. The portions allocated for the ventilation shouldn’t be too much as to expose the chicks to the strong wind because when that happens they suffocate and may die too. Care must be taken to ensure that there will not be any mortality during the journey.

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: 12 April 2016; Hits: 9051

Weather SMS to help over 300,000 farmers in planning

More than 300,000 farmers would soon have a sure way of planning production calendars after the conclusion of an ongoing weather prediction pilot project in the Western and Rift Valley.

Western Wiser would reach out to famers through short message services, SMS. The farmers would get updates of weekly weather patterns, which will inform their decisions on farm operations.

Calistas Wachana of the Kenya Meteorological Department said, the UK supported project would help subscribed farmers schedule when to plant, apply fertiliser and other agro-chemicals, harvest, among other activities.

The trial is ongoing in Kisumu, Kakamega, Siaya and Trans Nzoia.

Kenya remains food insecure because of adverse weather conditions such as drought and flooding, which affect production from the field, transportation, up to storage and markets.

This has perennially made the country an importer of maize, the local staple food, to cover deficits.

Flooding sweeps crops in the fields while promoting germination of others, more-so grains.

With the alerts from the SMS, timely harvest would prevent loses accumulating from poor transport, rotting, and germination.

A prediction of drought would be a warning to farmers against planting, effectively saving them farm input losses. They will know when it will be the best time to plant or plan on alternative corps that are drought resistant.

More than 80 per cent of agro-producers in Kenya are small-scale; and they lose more than 40 per cent of harvest to adverse weather.

The UK-supported project is being done in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries and the Meteorological Department.

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