Poultry: breeding and keeping

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Many people who have their own houses or summer cottages are seriously thinking about breeding poultry at home. This allows you not only to supply yourself with safe and he althy products, but also to earn a certain amount of money, if you approach the issue correctly. Of course, to do this, you first need to decide which bird is suitable for a particular breeder.

Which bird to choose?

Of course, when it comes to poultry breeding, most breeders will immediately think of chickens. No wonder - they are the most common in our country. Therefore, chickens are usually associated with poultry. Well, it's really a good choice. We'll talk about it in more detail a little later.

However, the choice is not limited to chickens alone. Quails are also quite popular, bringing very valuable meat, which is highly rated among gourmets.

Don't forget about geese, ducks and turkeys - these birds have been successfully bred and cultivated in our country for many centuries.

In the end, if you want somethingmore interesting and exotic, you can always choose guinea fowl, pheasants, even parrots and ostriches.

Now we will tell you more about different birds, their pros and cons.

A few words about chickens

Perhaps, it is chickens that are the most simple and unpretentious birds. Therefore, when breeding birds, beginners are advised to choose them.

By getting chickens, you can provide yourself first of all with eggs and meat - high quality, clean and without impurities of antibiotics and other "chemistry", which birds are generously treated to in large poultry farms. In addition, down can also be obtained from them - an excellent material for stuffing pillows, highly valued by connoisseurs, especially today, when products filled with synthetic fibers are mainly found on sale.

An additional advantage is the relative unpretentiousness and resistance to disease, cold.

What is interesting about quails

If you are interested in profitable poultry breeding, then you should also look at quails. They provide not only the most tender meat, but also eggs, which are highly valued. And, despite their smaller size, quail eggs are much more expensive than chicken eggs.

Besides, quails begin to lay surprisingly fast. At the age of 35-45 days, when chickens are still running after their mother and are just getting to know the world, tiny quails are already starting to give eggs. And they do it very actively, bringing up to three hundred eggs in the first year of life! Considering that a dozen costs about 30-40 rubles, it is easy to calculate that each small birdin just a year will bring about 800-900 rubles of net income.

An additional plus is the small amount of feed consumed - instead of one chicken, you can easily keep three or four quails. Yes, and a lot of space for content is also not needed.

Who should get turkeys

Turkeys are also worth mentioning. True, they are suitable mainly for those people who not only consider poultry breeding as a business, but also have a significant piece of land. Still, a turkey carcass at the age of one year may well weigh 8-12 kilograms. Really serious indicator. Alas, turkeys carry few eggs, and they cannot boast of high taste. Therefore, first of all, you will have to focus on the meat component. Well, if you are interested in breeding poultry for meat, then this is a very good option.

However, here you should be prepared for the fact that turkeys really need a lot of space to live - both while walking and when living indoors on cold winter days. It is impossible to keep them in a cramped chicken coop - this will quickly lead to illness and death. Therefore, seriously weigh the pros and cons before starting them. An additional disadvantage is the following: the mortality among turkeys is higher than, for example, among chickens or geese. Moreover, even if ideal conditions are provided, part of the bird will still die before it reaches adulthood.

Plus Geese

When talking about breeding birds, you should definitely mention geese. Whom can they look at?They will especially appeal to people interested in poultry breeding as a business. Geese are not deprived of intelligence and all the warm season can do without feeding, eating mainly pasture. A flock may well go out early in the morning for a walk and pluck grass all day long, collect algae, peck bugs in order to return home in the evening, have a light bite of food prepared by the owner and settle down to sleep. So maintenance costs will be minimal. But only if it is possible to provide them with a large grazing area.

But already at the age of six months, geese reach a weight of 6-7 kilograms and are quite suitable for slaughter. The meat is simply excellent - tender and tasty. It is no coincidence that goose with apples is one of the most popular traditional dishes in many European countries.

Fascinating exotic

Or maybe ordinary birds like chickens, turkeys and quails do not seem interesting or are already on your farm? Then you can pay attention to more exotic birds. For example, on guinea fowl. They are not only beautiful, but also produce high-quality meat. And they also bring considerable practical benefits - for example, they are one of the few birds that eat Colorado beetles with pleasure. Therefore, they may well become assistants in growing potatoes, ruthlessly destroying a malicious pest.

Pheasants are rightfully considered one of the most beautiful birds raised in captivity. Their feathers can be handed over to collectors and connoisseurs, as well as those who are fond of needlework - they will be able to make fromsuch raw materials are exquisite ornaments. And the taste of their most tender meat is at its best - it is no coincidence that in their homeland, in China, pheasants are almost completely exterminated.

Ostriches were and remain especially exotic birds. Huge flightless birds can become an ornament of any household. Their meat is highly regarded by connoisseurs, as it tastes great and contains almost no cholesterol. Feathers can also be sold to craftsmen. And one egg can cost from 300 to 500 rubles - a very good addition to the budget.

Of course, getting exotic birds is a risky business. There is a higher risk that the business will fail and bring only losses instead of the expected profit. On the other hand, if everything goes as planned, then the profit will break all records. Still, the lack of competition has a positive effect on the development of any business. And ostrich meat is found on the market much less frequently than chickens and turkeys, which means it is valued much higher.

Choosing the right breed

For beginners, as mentioned above, who decide to start breeding and keeping poultry, it is best to focus on chickens. Still, they are not only easy to breed, but also universal - they give, first of all, eggs and meat that are in demand. Therefore, there will probably not be any problems with the sale of goods.

It is because of this that it is worth considering chickens as poultry in the first place.

It all starts, of course, with the choice of a suitable breed. Here, the novice chicken breeder has a large selection. He can decide for himself whatorient the economy. There are meat breeds, egg-bearing and universal. Their features can be easily judged by their names.

Bramah and kokinhin belong to meat. The most common egg are Russian white and leghorn. Large selection of meat and egg breeds: Wyandot, Amrox, Kuchinskaya Jubilee, New Hampshire and many others.

There are also decorative, fighting and vociferous, but they are of less interest to a novice breeder.

Creating the perfect environment

It is best if in summer the chickens roam freely on the street, collect grass, peck worms. The main thing is to provide them with protection from birds of prey and animals, and at the same time to equip shelter from rain, wind and direct sunlight. There are no problems here.

But in winter it is very important to protect the birds from the cold and especially drafts. The temperature in the chicken coop should be at least +10 degrees Celsius - otherwise egg production will be significantly reduced. Excessive crowding should be avoided - no more than three chickens per square meter. Otherwise, serious diseases that can mow down the entire livestock cannot be avoided.

Making a balanced diet

To begin with, we will tell you how to properly feed and water chickens. It is advisable to use special feeders and drinkers. Sprinkling food directly on the floor is not a good idea. Chickens just trample it, mix it with droppings. And then they eat and become infected with infectious diseases that are of great danger.

It's the same with water. chickenseither knock over the cups or soil the water in them. You have to regularly wash the containers and change the water 2-3 times a day. When using special drinkers, birds get clean water at any time, and the owner does not have to waste extra time.

Now let's move on to the diet.

Summer is much easier. Free-range chickens eat a large amount of greenery and insects, worms. Therefore, it is enough to feed them in the morning and in the evening with grain and mineral supplements.

In winter, everything is much more complicated. Chickens do not get vitamins from grains and mineral supplements. Therefore, either silage or brooms prepared in advance must also be added to the diet. Also, a special compound feed or vegetables - carrots, pumpkin, potatoes will be a good addition. Of course, we should not forget about fish or meat and bone meal, as well as mineral supplements (unless you use compound feed that contains everything you need).

A month before slaughter, you can also add corn to the diet. Thanks to her, chickens quickly gain weight, their meat becomes more tender.

Sales of products

A very important point in breeding animals and birds as a business is the sale of goods. Therefore, you should look for a sales market even before the product itself appeared. Still, it would be better to bring fresh eggs or freshly slaughtered and butchered poultry to the end consumer than to start looking for it when the product is already ready, and the quality is declining every day.

In addition, by concluding an agreement or simplyhaving agreed verbally, it will be easier to calculate the approximate profit and, if necessary, plan the expansion of the farm or change its specialization.

Conclusion

This article comes to an end. Now you know more about which birds can be bred on a regular farm. So, you can make a choice that you will not regret later.