Poultry

LEARN TO CARE FOR POULTRY

• For Self Sufficiency
• As a Hobby
• To start a small farm

This poultry course is for people wishing to work in the poultry industry and amateur enthusiasts.

The course examines diet, breeding, vaccination, pests and diseases and much more.   To get the most out of your chickens you need to know how to care for them. 

This course aims to provide you with the skills and knowledge you need to keep your chickens in optimum condition.

Small Scale Poultry Farming

Small or beginner farmers should consider producing poultry or poultry products for niche markets such as:

• Special breeds for exhibition,
• Organic meat,
• Free range eggs
• Raising poultry for the backyarder 

To be successful in a niche market the small enterprise will need to:

• Focus heavily on customer service
• Find a market with limited competition
• Research market trends
• Maintain profitability (particularly with products that have competition from large suppliers)
• Gain long term customer loyalty

The advantage for the small producer is that they will most likely have the opportunity, whilst the business is still run on a part-time basis, to earn income from an outside source (or complimentary enterprise) in the initial setting up period.

Lesson Structure

There are 8 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction: Terminology
   • Poultry Terms
   • Contract Growing
   • Regulations
   • Management Factors
   • Further Considerations
   • Small Scale Considerations
   • Poultry Breeds, Light Breeds, Dual Purpose Breeds
   • Cross Bred Poultry
   • Incubation and Rearing
   • Poultry Husbandry
   • Turkeys
   • Geese
   • Ducks
   • Skeleton System
2. Nutrition
   • The Digestive Track
   • Sources of Nutrients
   • Rationing for Poultry, phase feeding, limited feeding,
   • Rations
3. Diseases In Poultry
   • Viral Diseases
   • Bacterial Diseases
   • Mycoplasmosis
   • Fungi
   • Protozoan
   • Non Infectious Diseases
   • Vitamin & Mineral Deficiency
   • Parasites
4. Layers
   • The Extensive System
   • Disease Management
   • The Semi-Intensive System
   • The Intensive System
   • Housing
   • Nest Boxes
   • Drinker Systems
5. Broilers
   • The Brooding Period
   • Feeding Broilers
   • Housing
   • Hygiene & Health
6. Incubation
   • Natural Incubation
   • Artificial Incubation
   • Incubator Management
   • Poor Hatchability
7. Brooding
   • Heating
   • Feeders
   • Drinkers
   • Floor Space
   • Rearing
8. Record Keeping, Economics & Marketing
   • Records
   • Growth Records
   • Egg Production Records
   • A Small Scale Poultry Business
   • Preparing a Farm Business Plan
   • Finance
   • Land Care or Land Management

Aims

• Select appropriate poultry breeds for use in different production situations
• Explain the techniques used in the management of condition, including both feeding, and pest and disease control, of poultry.
• Explain the management of poultry as layers.
• Explain the procedures for the management of poultry as broilers.
• Explain the techniques used in the management of poultry incubation.
• Explain the management of brooding poultry.
• Develop management strategies for a poultry business.

What You Will Do

• Distinguish between cross bred and pure bred poultry, being grown in your locality.
• Categorise different breeds of poultry, including ducks, geese, chickens and turkeys; into groups, including: *Egg laying birds *Meat/Table birds *Dual purpose breeds.
• Explain the advantages of cross breeding poultry for two different specified purposes.
• Label the parts of a chicken on a supplied unlabelled illustration.
• Evaluate ten different poultry breeds to determine the most suitable breeds for three different specified purposes.
• Label on an unlabelled illustration, the parts of the digestive tract of a fowl.
• Describe the function of different parts of the digestive system of poultry.
• List the dietary sources of different nutrients for poultry.
• Describe the function of five different ingredients in specified poultry feeds.
• Explain how rations of feed are determined for poultry.
• Describe the feeding of poultry stock in a specified situation.
• Describe possible dietary disorders in poultry.
• Describe commercially significant pests and diseases in poultry.
• Develop a checklist to be used for regular inspections to detect signs of ill health in poultry.
• Explain the treatment of six different pests and diseases in poultry.
• Describe a poultry vaccination program for a specified property.
• Explain the techniques for, and the value of, quarantine procedures for poultry.
• Compare extensive (free range), semi-intensive and intensive production systems, in terms of: *management *production cost *product quality product quantity.
• Describe different housing requirements for poultry.
• Explain a commercially viable method of collecting eggs, used on a specific poultry farm.
• Explain three procedures used in an egg production system which are critical to the efficient operation of a specified farm.
• Develop a production plan for laying poultry, which includes details of; *birds required *facilities required *materials needed *a schedule of husbandry tasks *cost estimates.
• Describe the brooding period for a typical fowl, on a specified property.
• Explain how brooders are successfully fed, on a specific property visited by you.
• Explain appropriate housing for broilers being provided at a poultry farm, as observed by you.
• Explain how hygiene and health are managed in a broiler production system, as observed by you.
• Evaluate the successful management of broilers in a specified situation.
• Describe daily routine tasks carried out in farming of broilers at a poultry farm visited by you.
• Describe the process of incubation, as observed by you on a poultry farm.
• Compare natural with artificial incubation methods, to determine appropriate applications for each type.
• List criteria for selecting eggs for incubation in a specified situation.
• List five different reasons for poor hatchability.
• Compare two different incubator designs with respect to cost and application.
• Describe the management of a specific incubator which the learner has inspected.
• Describe the characteristics which distinguish brooding poultry from other poultry.
• Explain how to create an appropriate brooding environment for a specific situation.
• Compare different types of brooders.
• Describe the operation of different brooding equipment.
• Prepare a timetable of husbandry tasks from hatching to maturity for a brooding fowl.
• Explain problems that may occur during rearing, including: *crowding *cannibalism.
• Develop a checklist for monitoring the condition of a brooding fowl.
• List records which should be kept by a poultry farmer.
• Analyse purchasing procedures for routine supplies, used by a specified poultry farm.
• Explain the value of different records kept by a poultry farmer, including: *growth records *egg production records.
• List the minimum machinery required for a specified poultry enterprise.
• Calculate the cost of production, showing a breakdown of the costs, of one marketable produce item in a small poultry business.
• List factors which may be critical to successful marketing for a poultry farm.
• Explain any legal requirements which apply to a specified poultry enterprise.
• Write a job specification for one member of staff on a poultry property.
• Prepare a report on innovations in the poultry industry being used in your locality.
• Develop a detailed poultry production plan.
• Describe a successful marketing strategy employed by one supplier of poultry products in your locality.
• Recommend an innovative approach to marketing for a poultry enterprise which you are familiar with.
• Match credit to business needs of a poultry farm to develop the most suitable strategy for the enterprise.

What do our students think of the course?

[The course] has helped me to get into College to study Countryside and Environment Management. I have always been interested in all animals especially poultry and the college tutors were impressed with my knowledge. So I am very pleased I did this course. My mum is now thinking about taking the Goat course, as she breeds Pygmy and Golden Guernsey goats and says she would enjoy learning more about them.

Aaron May, UK, Poultry course.

Study this course to -