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2015 - A Look Ahead

It has been a long time since the last update, however a lot has been going on in the background which is defining how the project is progressing.

The highlights are:

Expansion - the ground work is being laid in 2015, however looking to at least triple the current flock numbers

Experiments - New Breeds - we shall be looking to try out different breeds of birds to assess productivity potential

Experiments - Health Management Regime - taking all the learnings we will be reviewing our vaccination regime (for chicks) and health management for flocks during laying to extend the productive lifespan of the birds through proactive health management

Experiments - Feed Automation - in our current facility which was not built for automation, the only change in the new flock will be feeders that are filled daily reducing the need for workers to keep entering the house

Experiments - Water Supply Automation - in the new expanded facility the plan is to have full automated water supply a move which will reduce the costs of scaling

Experiments - Cage systems - this is for later in 2016, once the economics have been fully worked out, however this looks to provide the potential for increasing the density of the flocks within an area while reducing the labor intensive activities.

All in all 2015 is looking exciting with new prospects and opportunities abound

Water Storage Unit - 10,000liters

As the tank is being put together before being installed

After installation of the tank, now ready to use

#water

The first egg is dropped - June 21, 2014

So happy that my new flock has started dropping eggs. They were born on Feb 3, 2014 and started laying on June 21, 2014, after a period of 138 days or 19 weeks (rounded down) or 4 months and 19 days

Farm Record Management

Currently the model I am using is as follows (all pen and paper)

1. Expenses Book - here I track all expense on the farm whether operational or capital expenditure.

2. Sales book - sales of eggs to clients which is balanced every Sunday to track Profit and Loss todate

3. Farm journal - for each flock track the water usage, feed given, medication given and any other occurences on the farm. Also for laying birds how many eggs are picked at each point in time. This enables the tracking of laying trends

4. Daily Production Log: total of eggs laid for each flock for each day

The plan is to move this records into Quick books to build a proper P&L but for now this works for us

What do you use, and what works for you?

#records management #farm records #accounting

Congratulations on your expansion, I am very inspired by your project. I have a backyard chicken peoject, with only 17 in my flock I am looking at growing in the near future. I saw in your blog where you cut the beaks I tried it with one of mine which has a Skewed beak so I thought I could help it eat better by cutting it. But it bled quite a bit. Is thus normal?

Yes its normal for birds to bleed on debeaking,so you need to give an anti-biotic just to ensure that there is no infection.

Skewed beaks (like the one below) are a sign of calcium deficiency, so you need to add more egg shells or calcium sources to your feed mix.

how far are you with your adventure?

Well this adventure started January 2013, and 18 months in I can say that I have got the rhythm. We have added a new flock that is 3x what we stared with and are establishing ourselves as a provider of choice in the local market.

The road has been bumpy, with lots of hard-knock lessons along the way, however the overall experience is unlike any other

Laying Boxes

This time around we have taken an early approach and invested in building laying boxes, experience is the best teacher right?

Why laying boxes? What have we learnt? In the first flock, we were unable to get the laying boxes built in time which meant:

Alot of the laying was done in corners and odd places that the chickens felt comfortable. So we had to continuously monitor and improve the quality of these adhoc laying spaces (corners) to reduce damage to eggs

Higher operational costs as eggs have to be collected more frequently, 5 times a day to reduce damage

Aggressive monitoring for cannibalism and egg eating

What do the laying boxes look like this time? The design has the following elements:

Raised 1 foot (30cm) off the ground

Each unit is 10' (3m) long so that they can be moved around as needed

10 laying rooms each 1' (30 cm)

Tapering top so that no laying is done at the top, and also to reduce crowding in the rooms

At the front and back, there is a 4" (10cm) board to stop the eggs from rolling out of the box to the ground. In one of the houses with a skirting, there will be no back support since the laying box is flush with the wall.

Instead of using expensive wood pieces at the back, these have been replaced by hard brown paper.

The proceeding photos show the stages of design for the laying boxes

#laying boxes

8 Weeks in a Brooder ... now time to separate them into their new houses

The chicks are now 5 weeks, the feathers have also grown reducing the need for pots (now 4 previously 6), and the two brooder areas have been combined into one

#brooder

Layer Health Management

One of the biggest challenges facing poultry farmers is ensuring that the productivity of the birds stays high without having to spend alot on drugs to maintain immunity of the birds. Like all other businesses the factors controlling profitability are keeping productivity high and operational expenses low. The major expenses are feed, labor (cannot be altered much without significant capital investment), and medication.

The medication regime we are following is two fold:

Added to feeds - regular

Acidomix

Methionine

Toxen Binder (Toxibab)

Immunity booster - monthly with 1 day spacing

Deworming in drinking water

New Castle in drinking water

Vitamin booster for 3 days

This helps us maintain immunity levels to lengthen the period of productivity while keeping costs within range.

What do you do to maintain the health of your layers?

#layer #health #productivity

A new set of chicks are in the brooder so this is how they are running up and down with lots of energy ...

#brooder #chicks

2nd Floor Superstructure Progress

As work countinues on the expansion, the 2nd floor superstructure progress has been rapid and fruitful. The tenant is to build beams, upon which a mesh of poles will be laid across which a floor made of flat planks will provide the flooring

2nd Floor Support Infrastructure

The supports for the second floor and roof are now in place .... Seemed like a simple job but its lots of work

Expansion Mode

Well we are now in expansion mode ... This will be a double storied building with capability to have birds on each level and more efficiently use the area we have.

The columns are now being setup lets see how next week goes on

Well we are now in expansion mode ... This will be a double storied building with capability to have at least 1200 birds per level

Will keep up updated

Double Yolk Egg - Pleasant Surprise

Well last Saturday we got a double yolk egg, while we have been getting extra sized eggs but this was sweet ...

Comparing it with my Nokia C200

#eggs

Eggs - Eggs - Eggs Galore

Yay!!! On May 25, the first egg was laid. It was a day of celebration and joy since our efforts were finally bearing fruit. The sad thing is that during the next 3 weeks we lost 5 birds, which were trampled to death as they struggled to find a corner to lay.

We have now fixed the issue and the birds are getting used to the hatchery boxes "bibikiro" in the local language, and as of June 4 (USA Independence day) we are achieving 90% productivity.

Dietwise even if the birds are laying they are still on growers mash till end of July, 2 months of productivity, to ensure they grow and develop producing for much longer.

For now we are ramping up advertisement and growing the market for the eggs

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