Raise Your Own Chickens - At Home
Course Code: BAG208
Course Duration: 100 hours (approximation, self paced study, commonly 3 to 6 months, longer if you need)
Raise poultry on a large or small scale, at home or in the backyard. This can include raising poultry for meat, eggs, for breeding, or as pets. This course covers all aspects of poultry care and management including: Terminology, Breeds , Nutrition, Diseases In Poultry, Layers, Broilers, Incubation, Brooding, Record Keeping, Economics & Marketing. Suitable for commercial farmers, hobby farmers or enthusiasts.
What's Covered in this Course?
This course is broken down into eight lessons:
1. Introduction, Terminology and Breeds
- History of Poultry
- Terminology
- Contract Growing
- Regulations
- Management Factors
- Small Scale Production
- Breeds
- Classifying Fowls (Egg Laying Breeds, Meat or Table Birds, Dual Purpose Breeds)
- Cross Breed Poultry
- Sex Linkage
- Brooders
- Skeletal System
- Poultry Husbandry (Stock Selection, Feeding, Watering, Housing, Health)
- Turkeys
- Geese
- Ducks
2. Poultry Nutrition
- Digestive System (Gullet, Crop, Proventriculus, Gizzard, Intestine, Caecum, etc)
- Nutrient Sources (Carbohydrate, Protein, Minerals etc)
- Rationing
- Palatability
- The End Product
- Modern Feed Requirements
- Phase Feeding
- Limited Feeding
- Consumption Feeding
3. Diseases
- Avoiding Stress
- Viral diseases
- Bacterial diseases
- Mycoplasmosis, fungal and protozoan disease
- Non-infectious diseases
4. Layers
- Extensive (free-range) System
- Semi-Intensive System
- Intensive Systems
- Housing
- Deep Litter System
- Feeders
- Battery Units
- Feeding the Laying Hen
- Replacing the Flock
5. Broilers
- Caponising
- Brooding Period
- Feeding Broilers (Starter Period, Finisher Period)
- Housing
- Hygiene and Health
6. Incubation - The natural method
- The artificial method (using incubators)
- Selecting Eggs
- Storing Hatching Eggs
- Turning Eggs
- Managing a Incubator (Temperature, Humidity, Testing, Hatching)
- Reasons for Poor Hatchability
7. Brooding
- Heating
- The canopy brooder
- The infra-red lamp
- The battery brooder
- The hay box brooder
- Feeders
- Drinkers
- Floor Space
- Rearing
- Problems during rearing
8. Record Keeping, economics and Marketing
- Growth Records
- Egg Production records
- Small Scale Business
- Compatible Ventures (Manure, etc)
- Preparing a Farm Business plan
- Finance
- Land Management
- Analysing the Market place
- Developing a Marketing Plan
Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with comments, guidance, and if necessary, extra reading.