Chickens What was the biggest mistake you made in your poultry farming journey?

[Janssen]

I personally had a few :

• When I purchased my month old chicks I did not research the buyer or ask for vaccination records. In the end, 60% of my flock died from Marek's disease, which is the vaccination the chicks need when they are one day old. DO YOUR RESEARCH AND ASK FOR RECORDS.
• In the first month, I did not have electricity or a jiko to keep my birds warm. When the cold nights came about 10-15% of my flock had died.
• I purchased feeds from an unknown buyer that lacked the essential nutrients and proteins for optimal health. I now only purchase from known buyers or formulate my own feeds with a group of farmers in my area.
• In the end, I tried to grow too big too fast. It's important to start small and LEARN LEARN LEARN before taking the steps to scale.

What were some mistakes you made?

 

[Vincent Omega]

I have made many mistakes as well...

One of my big ones in the early years was trying to manage my farm remotely (Telephone Farmer). At the time I lived in Nairobi and my farm was in Eldoret being managed by a farm boy from the area. Whenever I was away he did not clean the farm properly and my birds ended up dying from having unhealthy housing conditions.

My advice is to either be there yourself on a regular basis if you can or hire someone you can completely trust. Perhaps even requiring your helper to send you pictures on a daily basis of their duties could be beneficial.

 

[Chris]

I did not properly sanitize my farm and did not have footbaths at the entrance. I used to have a ton of visitors who would come and bring diseases from other farms and I suffered big loses. I now only let select individuals visit my farm and make sure they sanitate correctly.

I love how we can share our experiences and learn from each other, thanks for sharing team.

 

[primabel]

I

I personally had a few :

• When I purchased my month old chicks I did not research the buyer or ask for vaccination records. In the end, 60% of my flock died from Marek's disease, which is the vaccination the chicks need when they are one day old. DO YOUR RESEARCH AND ASK FOR RECORDS.
• In the first month, I did not have electricity or a jiko to keep my birds warm. When the cold nights came about 10-15% of my flock had died.
• I purchased feeds from an unknown buyer that lacked the essential nutrients and proteins for optimal health. I now only purchase from known buyers or formulate my own feeds with a group of farmers in my area.
• In the end, I tried to grow too big too fast. It's important to start small and LEARN LEARN LEARN before taking the steps to scale.

What were some mistakes you made?

.chicks are vaccinated against...Marek's disease at one day old .....what of the case u luck knowledge regarding vaccination ...and u never did vaccination can it be done at different age like 2_3 weeks?
Kindly advice

 

[Sue Auma]

I believe you should not.....If you try to vaccinate older birds for Marek's and they've already been exposed somehow, the virus is already in them. The vaccine will do no good and the bird will eventually come down with the disease. All manufacturers of the vaccine state it must be done with chicks at one day of age. Many birds often show symptoms at 6 to 9 months of age.

@Keystone Poultry Farm may know more....

 

[primabel]

I believe you should not.....If you try to vaccinate older birds for Marek's and they've already been exposed somehow, the virus is already in them. The vaccine will do no good and the bird will eventually come down with the disease. All manufacturers of the vaccine state it must be done with chicks at one day of age. Many birds often show symptoms at 6 to 9 months of age.

@Keystone Poultry Farm may know more....

@ sue thanks a lot

 

[primabel]

Positively agreed

I have made many mistakes as well...

One of my big ones in the early years was trying to manage my farm remotely (Telephone Farmer). At the time I lived in Nairobi and my farm was in Eldoret being managed by a farm boy from the area. Whenever I was away he did not clean the farm properly and my birds ended up dying from having unhealthy housing conditions.

My advice is to either be there yourself on a regular basis if you can or hire someone you can completely trust. Perhaps even requiring your helper to send you pictures on a daily basis of their duties could be beneficial.

 

[Keystone Poultry Farm]

@ sue thanks a lot

Marex vaccine should be done in the incubator, and this must be an incubator with an egg capacity of 1000eggs or more..otherwise those with incubators with egg capacities of about 500 or below should not be worried...infact, the marex vaccine comes in doses of 1000 birds...