poultry farming

Raising birds commercially or domestically for meat, eggs, and feathers.

Chickens, ducks, turkeys, and geese are the birds of primary commercial importance. Guinea fowl and squabs are chiefly of local interest. Though chickens have been domesticated for at least 4,000 years, their meat and eggs have been mass-production commodities only since с 1800.

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Introduction

      raising of birds domestically or commercially, primarily for meat and eggs but also for feathers. Chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese are of primary importance, while guinea fowl and squabs are chiefly of local interest. This article treats the principles and practices of poultry farming. For a discussion of the food value and processing of poultry products, see egg. See also livestock.

Chickens (chicken)

      Humans first domesticated chickens of Indian origin for the purpose of cockfighting in Asia, Africa, and Europe. Very little formal attention was given to egg or meat production. Cockfighting was outlawed in England (United Kingdom) in 1849 and in most other countries thereafter. Exotic breeds and new standard breeds of chickens proliferated in the years to follow, and poultry shows became very popular. From 1890 to 1920 chicken raisers stressed egg and meat production, and commercial hatcheries became important after 1920.

Breeds

      The breeds of chickens are generally classified as American, Mediterranean, English, and Asiatic. The American breeds of importance today are the Plymouth Rock, the Wyandotte, the Rhode Island Red, and the New Hampshire. The Barred Plymouth Rock, developed in 1865 by crossing the Dominique with the Black Cochin, has grayish-white plumage crossed with dark bars. It has good size and meat quality and is a good layer. The White Plymouth Rock, a variety of the Barred Plymouth Rock, has white plumage and is raised for its meat. Both varieties lay brown eggs. The Wyandotte, developed in 1870 from five or more strains and breeds, has eight varieties and is characterized by a plump body, excellent meat, and good egg production. Only the white strain is of any significance today because it is used in broiler crosses where its white plumage, quality of flesh, and rapid growth are highly desirable.

      An American breed, the Rhode Island Red, developed in 1857 from Red Malay game fowl crossed with reddish-coloured Shanghais—with some brown Leghorn, Cornish, Wyandotte, and Brahma blood—is good for meat production and is one of the top meat breeds for the production of eggs. It has brilliant red feathers and lays brown eggs.

      The New Hampshire, developed in the U.S. (United States) in 1930 from Rhode Island Red stock, is a meaty, early maturing breed with light-red feathers and lays large brown eggs. The only Mediterranean breed of importance today is the Leghorn. This breed, originated in Italy, has 12 varieties, the single-comb White Leghorn being more popular than all of the other types combined. This breed, the leading egg producer of the world, lays white eggs and is kept in large numbers in England, Canada, Australia, and the U.S. The White Minorca, a second Mediterranean breed, is often used in crossbreeding for egg production.

      The only English breed of modern significance is the Cornish, a compact and heavily meated bird used in crossbreeding programs for broiler production. It is a poor producer of eggs, however.

      The only Asiatic breed of significance today, the Brahma, which originated in India, has three varieties, the light Brahma being preferred because of its size.

      Chicken breeding (animal breeding) is an outstanding example of the application of basic genetic principles of inbreeding, linebreeding, and crossbreeding, as well as of intensive mass selection to effect faster and cheaper gains in broilers and maximum egg production for the egg-laying strains. Maximum use of heterosis, or hybrid vigour, through incrosses and crossbreeding has been made. Crossbreeding for egg production has used the single-comb White Leghorn, the Rhode Island Red, the New Hampshire, the Barred Plymouth Rock, the White Plymouth Rock, the Black Australorp, and the White Minorca. Crossbreeding for broiler production has used the White Plymouth Rock or New Hampshire crossed with White or Silver Cornish or incrosses utilizing widely diverse inbred strains within a single breed. Rapid and efficient weight gains, and high quality, plump, meaty carcasses have been achieved thereby.

      The male sperm lives in the hen's oviduct for two to three weeks. Eggs are fertilized (fertilization) within 24 hours after mating. Yolks originate in the ovary and grow to about 1.6 inches (4.0 centimetres) in diameter, after which they are released into the oviduct, where the thick white and two shell membranes are added. The egg then moves into the uterus where the thin white and the shell are added. This process requires a total of 24 hours per egg. The hatching of fertilized eggs requires 21 days, with the heavy breeds requiring a few more hours and the lighter breeds slightly fewer. Ideal hatching temperature approximates 100° F (38° C) with control of air flow, humidity, oxygen, and carbon dioxide being essential. Standardized egg-laying tests and official random sample tests have been used for many years to measure actual productivity.

Feeding

      Chicken feeding is a highly perfected science that ensures a maximum intake of energy for growth and fat production. High quality and well-balanced protein sources produce a maximum amount of muscle, organ, skin, and feather growth. The essential minerals produce bones and eggs; 3 to 4 percent of the live bird being composed of minerals and 10 percent of the egg. Calcium, phosphorus, sodium, chlorine, potassium, sulfur, manganese, iron, copper, cobalt, magnesium, and zinc are all required. Vitamins A, C, D, E and K and all 12 of the B vitamins are also required. Water is essential, and antibiotics are almost universally used to stimulate appetite, control harmful bacteria, and prevent disease. Modern rations produce a pound of broiler on about two pounds (0.9 kilograms) of feed and a dozen eggs from 4¹/₂ pounds (2.0 kilograms) of feed.

Management (farm management)

      Among the world's agricultural industries, meat chicken breeding in the U.S. is one of the most advanced. It is presently considered the model for other animal industries, the broiler industry leading the way in advanced agricultural technology and efficiency. Intensive nutritional research and application, highly improved breeding stock, intelligent management, and scientific disease control have gone into the effort to give a modern broiler of uniformly high quality produced at ever-lower cost. Today, one person can care for 25,000 to 50,000 broilers that reach market weight in three months' time, giving an annual output of from 100,000 to 200,000 broilers. A modern broiler chick gains over 43 times its initial weight in an eight-week period. Aggressive marketing methods increased the per capita consumption of broilers more than fivefold in the three decades beginning in 1950, with further substantial increases predicted for the future. Less than half as much feed is now required to produce a pound of broiler meat as was needed in 1940. While per capita consumption of eggs has declined, the feed requirement per dozen eggs is only slightly more than half as high as it was in the early 1900s. Annual egg production per hen has increased from 104 to 244 since 1910.

      A carefully controlled environment that avoids crowding, chilling, overheating, or frightening is almost universal in chicken raising. Cannibalism, which expresses itself as toe picking, feather picking, and tail picking, is controlled by debeaking at one day of age and by other management practices. The feeding, watering, egg gathering, and cleaning operations are highly mechanized. The vast majority of chicks hatched each year are used for broiler production and the remainder for egg production. In egg production feed represents more than two-thirds of the cost. Pullet (immature hen) flocks predominate. Hens are usually housed in wire cages with two or three hens per cage and three or four tiers of cages superposed to save space. Cages for laying hens have been found to increase production, lower mortality, reduce cannibalism, lower feeding requirements, reduce diseases and parasites, improve culling, and reduce both space and labour requirements.

Other poultry

      These include turkeys (turkey), ducks, geese, guinea fowl, and squabs.

Turkey production

      After World War II turkey production became highly specialized, with larger flocks predominating. Turkeys are raised in great numbers in Canada where their ancestors still live wild, as also in some parts of the U.S. Broad Breasted Bronze, Broad Breasted White, and White Holland are the most popular of the larger breeds, representing nearly three-fourths of the total production. The Beltsville Small White is the most popular of the smaller breeds and composes the bulk of the remaining 25 percent. At 24 weeks of age the toms are 50 percent heavier than the hens. In breeding flocks, one tom is required per eight or 10 hens. Tremendous improvements both in breeding and nutrition have been made in this century. Since 1910, the amount of feed required to produce a pound of turkey meat has fallen 40 percent, while the time required has been reduced 25 percent. Fifty to 80 pounds (23–36 kilograms) of feed will produce a turkey for market weight with from 2¹/₂ to 3 pounds required per pound of gain on full-size turkeys, and 2¹/₂ to 2³/₄ pounds (1.1–1.2 kilograms) of feed per pound (0.45 kilograms) of gain for turkey broilers, which are marketed at from 12 to 15 weeks of age. Turkey poults are hard to start on feed. One method is to dip their beaks in water and then in feed. Another is to light the feed troughs very brightly and to use oatmeal or ground yellow corn sprinkled on top of the feed. Turkeys are given range, or open land, and automatic waterers, self-feeders, range shelters, heavy fencing, and rotated pastures are used. Successful marketing techniques have increased turkey consumption; e.g., in the U.S., per capita consumption from 1930/34 to 1980 rose 500 percent.

duck and goose production

      Duck raising is practiced on a limited scale in nearly all countries, for the most part as a small-farm enterprise. The flocks once kept in England are much reduced, the demand for eggs (egg) being greatly lessened, though a limited market still exists. Khaki Campbell and Indian Runner ducks are prolific layers, each averaging 300 eggs per year. In Indonesia, where the labour supply is large, duck herders take a flock of ducks to the high country during the warmer seasons and work their way down the mountainsides to the lowlands. Ducks are easily transported, can be raised in close confinement, and convert some waste products and scattered grain (e.g., by gleaning rice fields) to nutritious and very desirable eggs and meat. In developed countries, commercial plants have been built exclusively for duck meat production; an example is the large duckling industry of Long Island, New York. There are also local industries in The Netherlands and England, the favourite breed in England being the Aylesbury. This breed has white flesh and can reach eight pounds (3.6 kilograms) in eight weeks. The U.S. favourite is the Pekin duck, which is slightly smaller than the Aylesbury and yellow-fleshed.

       goose raising is a minor farm enterprise in practically all countries, but in Germany, Austria, some eastern European countries (notably Poland), parts of France, and locally elsewhere, there is important commercial goose production. The two outstanding meat breeds are the Toulouse, predominantly gray in colour, and the Embden (or Emden), which is white. Geese do not appear to have attracted the attention of geneticists on the same scale as the meat chicken and the turkey, and no change in the goose industry comparable to that in the others has occurred or seems to be in prospect. In some commercial plants, geese are fattened by a special process resulting in a considerable enlargement of their livers, which are sold as a delicacy, pâté de foie gras.

guinea fowl and squabs

      Guinea fowl are raised as a sideline on a few farms in many countries, and eaten as gourmet items. In Italy there is a fairly extensive industry. There the birds are raised in yards with open-fronted shelters. In England (United Kingdom), guinea fowl are marketed at 16–18 weeks of age and in the U.S. (United States) at about 10–12 weeks. The market weight is usually about 2¹/₂–3¹/₂ pounds, but food conversion is poor.

      Pigeons are raised not only as messengers and for sport but also for the meat of their squabs (squab) (nestlings), also a gourmet item. Squab production, carried on locally, is rare in most countries with established poultry industries.

Poultry diseases

      Poultry are quite susceptible to a number of diseases; some of the more common are fowl typhoid, pullorum, fowl cholera, chronic respiratory disease, infectious sinusitis, infectious coryza, avian infectious hepatitis, infectious synovitis, bluecomb, Newcastle disease, fowl pox, avian leukosis complex, coccidiosis, blackhead, infectious laryngotracheitis, infectious bronchitis, and erysipelas. Strict sanitary precautions, the intelligent use of antibiotics and vaccines, and the widespread use of cages for layers and confinement rearing for broilers have made it possible to effect satisfactory disease control.

      Parasitic diseases of poultry, including hexamitiasis of turkeys, are caused by roundworms, tapeworms, lice, and mites. Again, modern methods of sanitation, prevention, and treatment provide excellent control.

Wesley Patterson Garrigus Ed.

Additional Reading

Domestic fowl production is covered by Stuart Banks, The Complete Handbook of Poultry-Keeping (1979); Richard E. Austic and Malden C. Nesheim, Poultry Production, 13th ed. (1990); and Homer Patrick and Philip J. Schaible, Poultry: Feeds and Nutrition, 2nd ed. (1980). Ed.

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