Kuroiler Chicken Farming and Management

Kuroiler Chicken is one of profitable poultry birds, which was successfully introduced by Keggfarms.

Keggfarm is a Private Limited successfully introduced a dual purpose Kuroiler chickens mainly to increase performances of local chickens due to its dual characteristics.

The Kuroiler chicken performs much better when it comes to egg and meat production and this is why a lot of farmers are shifting from other chickens breeds into profitable Kuroiler chickens.

The management system and feeds that are required are much easier and can operate at a low cost compared to other chickens breeds like broiler chickens, and at the same time Kuroiler chickens achieve a similar result.

This agribusiness article aims at giving more details about Kuroiler chickens breeds which among others, it talks more about its management practices for achieving a better results.

Characteristics of the Kuroiler Chicken

The Kuroiler chicken is a dual purpose breed that produces both meat and eggs very well.
It is multicolored in appearance and highly preferred by small holder farms. It is also useful as camouflage.
Hens attain weight off up to 2.5 kg in 12 months, begin laying eggs at five to six months and then lay 150 to 200 eggs during their 12-16 months egg laying period, initially more than 20 eggs per month(Keggfarms).
Cockerels reach 4kg in 12 months and weigh at least 1kg when they are about three months, at which point they could be sold for meat if the farmer chooses.
The Kuroiler chicken breed thrives well on household waste, scraps and vegetation and thus does not compete with the poor for grain or require any special feeding.
The colour of the egg is distinct shade of brown (tan) with bright yellow yolk.

Why the Kuroiler chicken?

They are hardy birds that do well even with unsophisticated management and feed input.
Their meat is distributed in an even manner on the breast area and legs.
The birds have a traditional appearance.
The quality of the meat is perceived as superior.
The Kuroiler chicken, being multicolored fetch a premium of over 10% in most live bird meat markets.
Traditional live bird customers prefer to purchase a whole live bird of 1kg weight and not a much bigger bird of almost 2kg.
Kuroiler chickens attain 1kg weight between 5 to 6 weeks of age depending upon feed and management conditions with excellent live ability.

How to site a poultry house

The poultry house should take advantage of topographical features which will favour air movement. East to West positioning of the house is the most ideal to take care of direct sun rays into the house at sunset and at sunrise.
The poultry house should be constructed on well-drained soil (not on a swamp) and the floor should be cemented (subject to availability of funds) to ease cleaning and to control diseases. Poultry house structure for kuroiler chicken.
The kuroiler chicken house should be of considerable height of not less than 6 feet for workers’ comfort and free air movement.
The house should provide ventilation for all stages of growth. However, care should be taken to prevent and avoid draughts.
Good ventilation aids in removing ammonia from the house and assists in drying litter which in return helps reduce risk of diseases.
Having a wire mesh on at least two sides of the poultry house is a must for adequate ventilation.
The front part of the house should have 1 meter and the back side 0.6 meters of wire mesh from the top. This can be adjusted to suit different regions. Just like human beings, to chicken hate a stuffy environment and this will even affect their growth and production.

Spacing

Provide adequate spacing for your chicken. Provide litter (wood shavings) and not sawdust for broiler chicken. These should be at least 12 inches of depth on the floor to absorb any moisture from water spillage and chicken droppings. Turn the litter using a fork spade once a week to facilitate absorption. Litter must remain dry at all times.

Nutrition

Your kuroiler chicken need to be given the best nutrition for the best production.This includes quality feeds, water and supplements. When budgeting, one needs to know the prices for feeds, vitamins and water depending on the number of chicken that you want to have for your farm. You need to know how much these will cost up to the time you start production.
You also need to have feeding and watering equipment for your flock. These include feeders, waterers. You can buy these from a local agro vet shop near you or you can make your own using available containers and other items in your home. The most important aspect is that they should be clean and that the chickens are able to feed and drink comfortably without having to reach out to the feeds and water. This equipment should also be able to keep the water and feeds clean at all times and prevent wastage and spilling.Other equipment that one needs to have include measuring caps, spoons.These come in handy when administering drugs and mineral supplements to your chicken.

Feeding Equipment

Feeders

Feeders are equipment where one puts feed for chicken. Good feeders should:

Be easy to clean. Avoid feed wastage, Easy for birds to access feeds, Maintain clean feed at all times.Feeders are designed to either be long or round and can be made of plastic or metal. In each case, allow for 4cm per broiler feeding length for long feeders and 2 cm in round feeders.
Feeders should be about 14 cm deep and should be filled not more than 2/3 full.

Drinkers

There are different types of chicken drinkers. They can be categorized into two:

Manual chicken drinkers.
Automatic chicken drinkers.

Manual drinkers

These are drinkers where one needs to add water in order to fill them up for the chicken to drink.
These can be made from locally available containers such as drums. There are manual drinkers which use gravity to access water to the chicken. These are called gravity drinkers/waterers. Most folks with just a few hens use gravity waterers. This is just a fancy way of saying you use a hanging chicken drinker.
Gravity waterers are by far the simplest and most commonly used ones. You don’t have to worry about water pressure or other factors used in automatic drinkers.
The major drawback to the gravity style is the need to refill them frequently.
On average, a mature chicken will drink about one pint of water each day (around half a liter) in normal weather conditions. This number may increase to 2 pints in hot weather. As long as you know how many chicken you have (or are getting), you can buy a drinker to fit their needs.
A caveat to this is it’s actually better to have a couple of them just in case you get a bully hen ‘guarding’ the food and water.

Good manual drinkers should

Be easy to clean
Avoid water spillage
Easy for birds to access water

Maintain clean water

Drinkers are usually round and mostly plastic. Other drinkers include automatic nipples and cups and also handmade ones. Allow 2 cm drinking space per bird in round drinkers and 10 birds per
drinking nipple. Drinkers should be washed daily with a disinfectant or soap and water and then filled with fresh clean water. It is recommended that birds be allowed free access to water. However provide water at the rate of three times feed intake per bird per day. This will depend on weather conditions.

Automatic Chicken Drinkers

These are chicken drinkers that refill themselves by virtue of being connected to a water source, such as a hosepipe, water tank, drum etc. virtually anything that can hold water. There are various types of automatic drinkers for poultry. This is new technology is rapidly becoming widespread.

Automatic chicken drinkers include:

Chicken nipple drinkers
Water cups
Automatic bell drinkers.

What are chicken nipples drinkers?

Chicken nipples are a handy little device designed to give water to chickens with minimal mess. They are small devices that look a bit like a spark plug. They screw into a bucket or similar water holder. When pecked at, the device releases a few drops of water to the chicken.

It is designed to cut down on water wastage which usually dampens the litter in the chicken house or makes puddles on the floor. This is a great advantage over regular drinkers which pour water all over the place when bumped or jostled by the chicken. Wet or damp litter or chicken house floor, is a conducive environment for bacteria, protozoa, viruses and other disease causing organisms to grow in, so anything that cuts down the potential for their growth is a most welcome improvement.

Chicken nipple drinkers are suitable for both small and large flocks of chicken. For smaller flocks on can be able to install without the help of an expert. They are even actually cheaper than the manual drinkers that are common in many poultry farms.
Chicken nipple drinkers occupy very little space as compared to the manual drinkers. This advantage allows chicken to have more space to feed and move around. This is especially advantageous for chicken flocks that have cockerels as it helps create a conducive environment for fertilization of eggs.

Chicken water nipples come in a few different types that you need to choose from. Here’s a brief rundown on the two types most commonly used:

How to Feed Kuroiler Chicken

Kuroiler chicken are feed on different types of feeds at different ages.

Here is a simple feeding guide to feed your chicken.

Recommended Vaccination Program

Find a good location to set up your chicken farm

A good location for your farm is important. You need to check for availability of water, feed, market for your chicken products, and availability of veterinary services, good security, transport and communication network, electricity or other sources of energy. When starting a broiler chicken farm, there are special considerations that one needs to put in mind in terms of looking for a good location.

These include the following:

Distance to the market for the finished product for kuroiler meat or live birds and eggs. This is important because transport costs money.
Availability of quality feeds. Feeds alone account for 70% of the production cost in a kuroiler enterprise hence the need to ensure quality at an affordable price.
Availability of information on basic management practices and animal health services especially for vaccines and drugs. Determine the market for your products. Before you start your kuroiler chicken farm, do determine where you will sell your products. One way of doing this is looking around your neighbourhood. Are there other kuroiler chicken farmers nearby? If there are, where do they sell their chicken and eggs?

The Kuroiler chickens offer a significant improvement in virtually all areas of breeding. While indigenous chickens lay just 30-40 eggs per year, the Kuroilers can easily produce five times that number or around 150-200. Kuroilers also grow to about double the body weight of their native counterparts, providing much more edible meat.

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