ANSCI 2 - INTRODUCTION TO LIVESTOCK AND POULTRY PRODUCTION

Poultry Production and Management

Overview of Poultry Industry

• Taxonomic Classification of Poultry
  • Kingdom: Animalia
  • Class: Aves
  • Order: Galliformes (Gamebirds)
  • Order: Anseriformes (Ducks, Geese, and Swan)
  • Family: Anatidae
• Poultry Definition
  • Collective term for all domestic birds rendering economic services to man.
  • Refers to the dressed carcass of fowls.
  • May also be defined as the structures/buildings that house the birds.

Poultry Species

Chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus)

• Rooster or cock - mature male chicken
• Hen - mature female chicken
• Cockerel - young male chicken
• Pullet - ready-to-lay female chicken
• Broiler - meat chicken weighing 1kg LW in 4 weeks
• Fryer - overgrown broiler
• Roaster - chicken old enough but sufficiently tender
• Capon - male chicken without testes
• Slip - imperfectly caponized chicken
• Poulard - female chicken whose ovaries are removed

Ducks

• Drake - male duck
• Duck - female duck
• Duckling - young duck
• Green duck - young duck for meat purposes
• Mule duck - cross of Muscovy and mallard, sterile
• Common Breeds:
  • Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
  • Muscovy (Cairinia moschata)
  • Pekin (Anas platyrhynchos)

Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)

• Tom - male turkey of any age
• Hen - adult female of any age
• Gobbler - male turkey at maturity
• Poult - young turkey

Pigeon (Columba livia)

• Cock - mature male pigeon
• Hen - mature female pigeon
• Squab - young pigeon

Quail (Coturnix coturnix)

• Hen - mature female quail
• Cock - mature male quail
• Chick - young quail

Guinea Fowl (Numida meleagris)

• Cock - mature male guinea fowl
• Hen - mature female guinea fowl
• Keets - young guinea fowl

Poultry Industry in the Philippines

• Inventory of Chicken
  • The volume of Poultry Production by Region and Commodity in the Philippines from April to June 2024 is as follows:
  • Philippines
    • Chicken: $520,476.4$ metric tons
    • Chicken eggs: $198,044.9$ metric tons
    • Duck: $6,827.6$ metric tons
    • Duck eggs: $14,373.8$ metric tons

Advantages of Poultry Raising

The popularity of poultry raising could be attributed to the fact that:

• Fast multipliers
• Quick growers
• More efficient converters of feed to meat and eggs

Most Popular Species in the Philippines

• Chicken:
  • Products: Meat and eggs, processed egg (balut, salted egg & century egg)
• Duck: Eggs
• Quail: Eggs

Current Problems of the Poultry Industry in the Philippines

• High cost of production in relation to farm gate price
• High cost and unstable supply (availability) of good quality inputs
• Inefficient marketing system
  • Lack of market information
  • Unstable prices
  • Poor grading standards for eggs
• Prevalence of diseases – for native chicken, ducks
• Climate – El Niño, too hot weather resulting in poor growth/efficiency
• Insufficient financing
• Lack of government support for poultry products.

Species of Poultry

The Chicken: Classes, Breeds, and Varieties

• Origin:
  • Red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus) - native of SE Asia
  • Gray Jungle Fowl (G. sonnerati)
  • Ceylonese Jungle Fowl (G. lafayetti)
  • Javan Jungle Fowl (G. varius)
• Development of Modern Breeds and Varieties:
  • To improve egg and BW; wild jungle fowl weighs only $0.9$kg and lays only few eggs, while modern hen lays as much as 320 eggs and weigh 1.5 to 2.0 kg at 6 weeks old.
• What brought the change?
  • Genetic mutation - chemical change in gene frequency
  • Selection:
    • Natural (survival of the fittest)
    • Artificial - interference of man to achieve a certain goal

Classification of breeds and varieties

• Breed - a group of chicken (fowls) possessing certain conformation or shape of body that distinguishes them from others
• Variety - a group of chicken within a breed that possesses the same plumage color or type of comb
• Strain - a group of chicken within a variety of a breed which has been under constant specific selection for a particular trait in a period of 5-8 years

Australorp Chicken

• Color and Appearance
  • Australorps are large and soft feathered
  • Glossy black Australorp chickens were the original color. However, other color types of chickens have been developed and are blue and splash.
• Size of Australorp chickens
  • Large Australorp:
    • Roosters should be between $3.9$ kg ($8.6$ lbs) and $4.7$ kg ($10.4$ lb), while hens weigh in between $3.7$ kg ($8.2$ lb) and $4.5$ kg ($9.9$ lb).
  • Bantam Australorp:
    • Bantam roosters weigh from $1.8$ kg ($4$ lb) to $2.3$ kg ($5$ lb), with hens weighing between $1.7$ kg ($3.7$ lb) and $2.2$ kg ($4.8$ lb).

Poultry Production

• Breeds and breeding
  • Present day chickens are classified into Utility and Standard class

Chickens (classification based on economic utility)

• Place of Origin:
  • Utility - according to purpose for which the bird is raised

Egg Type

• Comparatively small
• White/cream
• White earlobe
• No feathers on the shank
• Active & nervous temperament
• Early maturing
• White-shelled eggs
• Non-sitters
• Examples:
  • Ancona
  • Mikawa Leghorn
  • Minorca

Meat Type

• Large body size
• Slow movement
• Quiet & gentle disposition
• Late maturing
• Brown-shelled eggs
• Sitters & good mothers
• Examples:
  • Cochin/Chinese Shanghai Fowl
  • Asil
  • Black-Red Old English
  • Malay
  • Cornish

General-Purpose Type

• Medium body size
• Less active than the egg breeds
• Brown-shelled eggs
• Sitters & good mothers
• Examples:
  • Plymouth Rock
    • composite of several blood lines
  • Dominique male
  • Black Cochin Female
  • Wyandotte
    • American Sebright
    • broad feathers
    • smooth fitting plumage
    • medium weight
  • Rhode Island Red
    • cross bred of
      • Red Malay Game
      • Leghorn
      • Asiatic Native

Fancy Type

• Unusual appearance and beauty of plumage
• Raised as ornamental fowls
• Examples:
  • Frizzles
  • Silkies
  • Bantams

Chickens (Place of Origin Classification)

• Standard classification based on the place of origin

American Class

• Black Jersey Giants
  • crosses of
    • Black Java
    • Dark Brahmas
    • Black Langshans
• Large & very heavy
• Rapid growth & weight
• Yellow skin color
• Brown-shelled eggs

Mediterranean Class

• Ancona
• Non sitting fowl
• Excellent layers
• Rapid growth and weight
• Yellow skin color
• White shelled eggs

English Class

• Orpington
  • large bird from the English class of chickens.
  • It is a bold, upright breed with a wide chest, broad back and smallish head and tail.
  • The Orpington chicken was bred as a dual-purpose breed (meat production and eggs)

Asiatic Class

• Brahma

Other Classes

• Polish Class
  • Large protuberance on top of the skull
  • Large cavernous nostrils
  • Ornamental fowls
  • Non-sitter
  • White shelled eggs
• Hamburg Class
  • German breed name but Dutch origin
  • Good layers
  • Ornamental fowls
  • Non-sitter
  • White skin color
  • White-shelled eggs
• Transylvania Naked Neck (Turken)
  • Skin turns red when exposed to sun
  • No feathers on the neck
  • Less feathers on its body
  • Less resistant to cold temperature

Chicken (classification based on economic utility)

• Layer
  • Leghorns, Minorcas, Mikawa, Ancona
• Broiler
  • Brahmas, Cornish, Cochins, Langshans
• Dual-purpose
  • Nagoya, Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island Red, Wyandottes, Cantonese
• Fancy
  • Frizzles, Silkies, Bantams
• Gamefowl
  • Blue Face, Brownred, Claret, Hulsey Grey, Roundhead, Ruble Grey,

Chicken (classification based on the place of origin)

• American
  • Plymouth Rocks, Rhode Island Red, Wyandottes, New Hampshire, Jersey Black Giants
• Asiatic
  • Cantonese, Mikawa, Nagoya
• Mediterranean
  • Minorcas, Leghorns, Anconas
• English
  • Orpringtons (called Australorp in Australia), Cornish
• Oriental Group
  • Sumatra, Malay, Malay Bantams

Other Avian Species

Ducks

• Egg type Ducks
  • Mallard ducks - Anas boschas
    • Female voice is a loud quack
    • Male voice is soft and whispery
    • Males develop a curled feather on top of the tail
• Meat type Ducks
  • Muscovy ducks - Cairina moschata
    • Coloration is black and white
    • Feet are equipped with strong sharp claws
    • Bright red crest around their eyes and above the beak
    • Don't swim much
    • Larger males than females

Duck farming advantages:-

• Ducks lay more egg per bird per year than chicken.
• The size of the duck egg is larger than hen egg by about 15 to 20 gms.
• Ducks require lesser attention and thrive well in scavenging conditions.
• Ducks supplements their feed by foraging. They eat fallen grains in paddy fields, insects, snails, earthworms, small fishes and other aquatic materials.
• From commercial point of view, ducks have a longer profitable life. They lay well even in second year.
• Ducks do not require any elaborate houses like chicken
• Ducks are quite hardy, more easily brooded and more resistant to Common avian diseases.
• Ducks lay 95-98% of their eggs in the morning before.
• Ducks are suitable for integrated farming systems such as duck-cum-fish farming, duck farming with rice cultivation.
• Ducks are good exterminators of potato beetles, grasshoppers, snails and slugs. In areas plagued liver flukes, ducks can help correct the problem (2 to 6 ducks per 0.40 hectare of land).
• Ducks are quite intelligent, can be tamed easily, and trained to go to ponds and come back in the evening of their own.

• Indian Runner
  • Small size, upright carriage of body
  • Three (3) varieties:
    • White
    • Fawn and White
    • Penciled
• Buff (also called Buff Orpington)
  • originated from England.
  • The plumage is an even shade of fawn, except that in the drake the head and upper portion of the neck are seal brown
• Khaki Campbell
  • larger than the Indian Runner and is buff in color except for bronze shading in the head, neck, and wings of the male

Ducks - meat type

• Muscovy
  • South American origin. Roost on convenient places. Females do not quack. Good forager but grows slower than Pekin
  • Weight: Drake (adult) - $4.54$ kg
  • Duck (adult) - $3.18$ kg
  • Varieties - a) White b) Colored

Duck (classification based on economic utility)

Type

• Meat
  • Breeds: Pekin, Muscovy, Rouen, Caguya
• Egg
  • Breeds: Khaki campbell, Indian runner, Tsaiya, Pateros (Phil. Mallard)

Turkeys - Meleagris gallopavo

• Breeds: Black, Bourbon, Royal Palm, Bronze, Narragansett Slate, White
• Males has a bear on its breast
• Males are larger in size than females
• Tom - male turkey of any age
• Hen - adult female of any age
• Gobbler - male turkey at maturity
• Poult - young turkey
• Turkeys have been kept for many years for their line table qualities. Black turkeys were introduced to England as long ago as the early 1520's from Spain and later became known as Norfolk Black turkeys, named after the county of Norfolk where they were kept and became popular for their table qualities.
• More and more people are realising that keeping turkeys as pets can be very rewarding since they have such great characters and are not difficult to keep.
• They are certainly impressive creatures to look at, are inquisitive and docile and can become very friendly.
• Narragansette
  • Plumage: the plumage that of the Bronze, but there is no red-green sheen and no bronzing
  • Color is metallic black, and main tail feathers and tail coverts are penciled, light brown and black
• Slate
  • Plumage: slate color in all sections
  • Shank color: pink

Geese - Anser anser

• Breeds: Embden, Toulouse
• Geese Cygnopsis cygnoides
  • Longer neck
  • Knob on its forehead
  • Develop is distinct orange shanks and toes
• A special building is not required for brooding small numbers of geese.
• Any small building or a corner of a garage or barn can be used as a brooding area for a small flock if it is dry, reasonably well-lighted and ventilated, and free from drafts
• High temperatures may result in slower feathering and growth.
• Goslings should have feed and drinking water when they are started under the brooder or hen.
• Goslings can be started on a crumbled or pelleted chick starter.
• Geese are quite hardy and not susceptible to many of the common poultry diseases so medicated feed is not generally necessary.
• Geese are excellent foragers. Good succulent pasture or lawn clippings can be provided as early as the first week.
• Considerable attention has been given to the use of geese to control weeds in cotton, strawberries, and some truck crops.
• Select geese that are vigorous and well developed, have shown rapid growth, and have compact meaty bodies.
• The larger breeds of geese usually mate best in pairs and trios. Ganders of some lighter breeds will mate satisfactorily with four or five females.
• Start feeding a pelleted breeder ration at least a month before egg production is desired. Provide water at all times.
• The heavier geese lay from 20-50 eggs per season, depending on the amount of selection for egg production in the strain being raised.
• Toulouse (from Toulouse, France)
  • Large and gray
  • Popular for meat
  • Bill is pale orange and the shank are reddish orange
• Embden
  • Pure white, bill and shank are orange color
  • Excellent for meat
• Egyptian
  • Very attractive looking bird with part color plumage
  • Head is gray with a reddish brown patch around the eyes
  • There is a ring of black around the neck
  • Always mate in pairs

Quails - Coturnix coturnix

• Eggs are mottled brown
• Breeds: a. Button or Chinese quails b. Japanese seattle (preferred) by most quail raisers c. Eurasian Pharaoh, d. Common European, e. Harlequin quails
• Sound
  • Female - sharp high pitch and long shrilling chirp whee-whee-whee have blackish or grayish vent
  • Male - have a throaty hoarse cry ti-ek-tik-ek Crowing cock-grr-rrr-rrr the upper protruding vent has a cream-like substance coming Cout of the vent if pressed upward
• Quail can be very productive laying around 230 eggs per year and are an ideal solution for people with small back gardens unsuitable for chickens.
• Quail Eggs
  • Quail eggs weigh in on average at just 12 grams (compared to around 60g for a hens egg). They are enjoyed by most hardboiled in salads and are eaten in a small mouthful.
• Quail are popular birds to keep for their delicious eggs They will usually come into lay at approximately 8-12 weeks of age.
• Quail do not over-eat so can be fed ad-lib as with other poultry however if you feed them with a quail seed / pellet mix.
• Great care needs to be taken with the chicks to ensure that they cannot fall into the water
• Quail are becoming more popular to keep for their delicious eggs but if you would like to increase your stock levels or sell hatching eggs, there are a few tricks to ensure you are getting good levels of fertility.
• The optimum temperature to keep a breeding pen is around 21° C
• Breeding stock can be kept in trios or even quartets but for the optimum fertility, you can have a pen containing more than one male but the more males there are in a pen, the more fighting there will be amongst them, so care should be taken.

Pigeons

• Pigeons- in developed areas pigeons are raised for:
  • Squab production for profit
  • Racing pigeons for carrying messages
  • Ornamental varieties for pleasure
• Note: There are well over 500 species of wild pigeons and doves and more than 175 breeds of domestic pigeons.
• Common pigeon breeds raised for meat production include white king, red Carneau, French Mondain, and giant homers.
• Homing pigeons have been trained to return to their own lofts or cages when released. This talent can be used in a variety of activities, including carrying messages or racing.
• Messenger pigeons were used in World Wars I and II to carry messages between fighters in the field and command posts.
• The most famous pigeons:
  • Cher Ami and GI Joe
• Giant Homer
  • Good breeder and feeds its young as well
  • Less compact body than King but has broad deep breast
• French Mondain
  • Short body but with very deep and broad breast
  • White variety is the most popular of several varieties

Ostriches - Struthio camelus

• Lays the largest egg of any species
• Fastest two-legged running animal on planet at speed of about 65km/h (40 mph)
• Lifespan of domestic birds is 75 years while wild ostrich live 20-30 years
• Five Subspecies are reorganized:
  • S.c. australis in Southern Africa or Southern Ostrich
  • S.c. camelus in North Africa, the North African Ostrich or Red-necked Ostrich
  • S.c. massaicus in East Africa, sometimes called the Masai Ostrich
  • S.c. syriacus in Middle East, the Arabian Ostich or Middle Eastern Ostrich
  • S.c. molybdophanes in Somalia, Ethiopia, and northern Kenya is called the Somali Ostrich

Other Avian Species

• Peafowls - Pavo cristatus
• Swans - Cygnus olor

Guinea Fowls - (Numida meleagris)

• Cock - mature male guinea fowl
• Hen- mature female guinea fowl
• Keets - young guinea fowl
• The domesticated Guninea Fowl has kept much of it's wild nature and many poultry keepers are starting to keep a few Guineas.
• Guinea Fowl are excellent flyers and can fly almost vertically up over a 6ft tall fence with ease.
• Guineas are good watchdogs and will start to become very vocal if something unusual comes into their environment.