Farmers’ questions

For a first flock, choose a number you can supervise and finance until sale: the School recommends 200 to 500 birds, preferably coloured chickens or cockerels, which are more forgiving of beginners’ mistakes. Work out the space needed at selling age, not at the start, and set aside the money for all the feed of the cycle. The minimum order is 50 chicks for collection at the hatchery and 200 for delivery.

Each type of chick is a different trade. White broilers are sold at around 35 to 45 days but need a buyer ready on the right day; coloured chickens stay 8 to 14 weeks, are hardier and are sold when the farmer chooses; layers need several months of feed before the first egg, then bring in regular income. Decide with three questions: your market, your money and your time.

It can be, provided you do the sums before ordering. Feed makes up 60 to 70% of the cost of a flock; mortality, feed conversion ratio and selling price then decide the margin. Find your buyer before you order, calculate with the day’s price and your own figures, then review the results after the sale: the NEXTEKCI profitability calculator does this with your prices.

We do not give an amount: it depends on your local prices, the number of chicks and the type chosen. Count the chicks, but above all the feed for the whole cycle before the first income: about 6 weeks for white broilers, 8 to 14 weeks for coloured chickens, 4 to 5 months for a layer. Add litter, energy, the vet and a reserve for the unexpected, then test a scenario where everything goes wrong.

Almost every failed first flock fails for the same ten reasons: house not ready, house overstocked, no back-up for heat and water, nobody there at night, ice-cold or missing water, random treatments, wet litter, visitors, no records kept, late sale or no buyer. Each one is prevented in advance with a checklist, a rule or a named person.

A white broiler flock lasts about 6 weeks, plus 2 weeks of cleaning and the empty period: a full cycle is therefore about 8 weeks, or roughly 6 flocks per house per year. With three staggered houses, you sell every 2 to 3 weeks. For coloured chickens the cycle is longer (up to 14 weeks of rearing plus the empty period).

The total to finance covers the building, the equipment, working capital (chicks, all the feed and wages until the first sale) and 10 to 15% for contingencies. A building is financed over several years, from your own funds or an investment loan, never with a short-term loan. A good application shows your flock results, records, quotes, buyers and training certificates.

From the NEXTEKCI hatchery in Agnibilékrou: day-old white broiler, red broiler, barred grey, hybrid, cockerel and brown layer chicks. They are available throughout Côte d’Ivoire: collection at the hatchery, delivery by professional carriers on three routes (towards Bouaké, towards Daloa via Yamoussoukro, towards Abidjan via Abengourou and Adzopé), pick-up where a route arrives, or by your own carrier. Order on WhatsApp at +225 07 07 72 78 67.

Six types of day-old chicks: the white broiler (fast growth, sold at around 35 to 45 days), the red broiler, the barred grey and the hybrid (hardy coloured chickens, 8 to 14 weeks), the white cockerel and the brown layer (brown-shelled eggs). They make up three trades: short-cycle meat, medium-cycle coloured birds and long-cycle laying.

On WhatsApp at +225 07 07 72 78 67, with four details: the type of chick, the quantity in boxes of 50, your town (or the collection point) and the date you want. An adviser confirms availability and the day’s price, and payment in advance secures your place. Pre-order early, especially before festivals; the team answers Monday to Saturday from 9 am to 12 noon and 2 pm to 6 pm, and on Sunday from 9 am to 12 noon.

The minimum is 50 chicks (one box) for collection at the hatchery in Agnibilékrou, and 200 chicks (four boxes) for delivery by our partner carriers. Chicks are counted by the box, each box holding 50 chicks.

Yes, chicks are available throughout Côte d’Ivoire. NEXTEKCI does not transport them itself: professional carriers run three routes from Agnibilékrou, leaving on Monday and Thursday evenings and arriving on Tuesday and Friday mornings. If your town is not on a route, you pick up where a route arrives, collect at the hatchery, or send your own carrier; the carrier quotes you their rate, which you pay to them directly.

Chick prices change with the seasons and demand (end-of-year festivities, Easter, Tabaski), so we do not publish a fixed price. Ask for the day’s price on WhatsApp at +225 07 07 72 78 67, then do your sums with that figure in the profitability calculator.

Brown layers are vaccinated against Marek’s disease at the hatchery (certificate on request). The other chicks (white broiler, red broiler, barred grey, hybrid, cockerel) receive no vaccine at the hatchery: vaccination is done on the farm, following the protocol of your area’s veterinarian.

A good day-old chick is lively and dry, with clean down, and quickly starts drinking and eating. Three checks never lie: 4 to 6 hours after arrival, its feet are warm; at 24 hours, 95% of crops are full and soft; at 7 days, a broiler chick weighs 4 to 5 times its day-old weight. If in doubt on arrival, send photos and a video on WhatsApp to +225 05 44 83 27 79.

The house must be heated in advance (at least 48 hours before for broilers), with drinkers filled and feed trays ready. During the journey the chick lives on its yolk reserves: on arrival, open the boxes calmly, count, record the dead and the weak, and give water first, at room temperature, then feed. Then watch how they spread out under the heat for two to three hours.

The white cockerel is the male of a laying strain: it stays lighter than a broiler, so you need to target the right customer. It is a good way in to learn the trade with limited risk. Like all chicks other than the brown layer, it receives no vaccine at the hatchery: vaccination is done on the farm, following your area’s veterinarian.

Stocking density is calculated at selling weight, not at the start. In a naturally ventilated open-sided house, do not exceed 30 kg of birds per m², or 10 to 12 white broilers per m²; in the hot season, stay at 8 to 10. Allow 6 to 8 coloured chickens per m², and 5 to 7 layers on the floor (4 to 5 when it is 30 °C).

Orient the house east–west so that the long sides are out of the sun, and keep the width to 10 to 12 m so the wind can pass through. Plan a light-coloured roof with an overhang of about 1 to 1.25 m, a low wall of about 0.50 m topped with mesh and curtains, a concrete floor, a footbath and a separate feed store. Leave clear space all around.

You need a reliable heat source with a back-up, a floor-level thermometer, a brooder ring (40 to 60 cm high, 2.5 to 3 m across for 300 to 500 chicks) and dry litter. For 1,000 broiler chicks, allow 14 to 16 drinkers, including mini-drinkers for the first days, and 20 feed trays or paper sheets. Equipment is raised every week to the height of the birds’ backs.

On day one, 32 to 33 °C in the brooding area (floor at least 32 °C), then about 29 to 30 °C at 7 days, 27 to 28 °C at 14 days and 24 to 26 °C at 21 days. The chicks are the best thermometer: huddled under the heat, they are cold; pressed against the edges with beaks open, they are too hot; all on one side, there is a draught. No draught on them before 14 days.

Rice husks or white wood shavings, 5 to 10 cm deep, on a dry, disinfected floor; never fine sawdust or treated wood. Do the hand test: the litter should stick together slightly, then crumble; if it stays in a ball, it is too wet. Remove wet patches around the drinkers every day, as damp litter brings ammonia and coccidiosis.

For broilers: almost continuous light on day one (23 to 24 hours) so that they find water and feed, then a single dark period every 24 hours, always at the same time. When the chicks weigh 100 to 160 g, the night is lengthened to about 6 continuous hours, which strengthens their defences. Layers follow a different programme, set by their age and weight.

At least 10 to 14 days, and 21 to 30 days after a disease outbreak. The order matters: empty, dry-clean, wash with detergent, let it dry, disinfect, then leave the house empty, clean and closed. A disinfectant only works on a clean, dry surface; insects are treated on the day the birds leave, rodents during the empty period.

On the floor, the investment is lower, but you must watch the litter, the nest boxes and eggs laid on the ground. In cages, the investment is higher, eggs are cleaner and supervision is easier, but the equipment must be checked every day. Either way, pullets are moved in at around 16 to 17 weeks, before the first eggs.

Before the rains, repair the roof and drainage channels, store dry litter and feed under cover, and keep spare curtains. During the season, use deeper litter and give chicks more heat at night; after every storm, walk round, remove wet feed and damp litter. Humidity encourages coccidiosis and mould.

A chicken drinks about 1.6 to 2 times the weight of feed it eats, and up to 3 times in great heat. Benchmarks: about 320 ml a day for a 35-day-old broiler, or 250 to 350 litres a day for 1,000 birds at the end of the flock; a layer drinks about 205 ml at 20 °C and 320 ml at 30 °C. Keep a reserve of at least two days and record consumption daily: a drop is often the first sign of disease.

The School’s benchmark for costing a flock: 3 to 3.5 kg of feed per bird sold at around 6 weeks. The strain suppliers’ performance tables (Efficiency Plus) give about 550 g cumulative at 14 days, 2.15 kg at 28 days, 3.4 kg at 35 days and 4.8 kg at 42 days, for birds raised in very good conditions. The longer you keep a bird, the more feed each kilo gained costs.

For white broilers: starter crumbs from 0 to 10–14 days, grower from 15 to 28 days, then finisher until sale. Each change is made gradually, over three days, without changing supplier in the middle of a phase. For layers, phases are counted in weeks, with calcium-rich layer feed from the first eggs.

In full production, a brown layer eats about 111 to 119 g of layer feed per day. During rearing, the pullet goes from about 11 g a day in the first week to 85 g at 18 weeks. There must be enough feeders for all birds to eat at the same time, and in hot weather part of the feed is given in the cooler hours.

Never, not even a little: moulds produce aflatoxins that kill or ruin growth. Store feed in a separate, dry room, with bags on pallets, using the oldest bags first, and keep a safety stock of about one week. Keep a sample of every delivery until the birds are sold.

Never iced water: chicks will not drink it and they get chilled. On arrival, water should be at room temperature; after that, aim for water between 18 and 25 °C, with tanks and pipes in the shade, because warm water makes birds drink less. Drinkers are washed every day.

At the start, 14 to 16 drinkers and 20 feed trays per 1,000 broiler chicks. After that: one bell drinker per 80 to 100 birds, with the rim at back height, or one nipple per 10 to 12 birds; one 33 cm pan feeder per 60 to 70 birds. A bird should never have to walk more than 3 m to drink.

It is the number of kilos of feed eaten to produce one kilo of live weight: FCR = feed eaten ÷ live weight sold. In an open-sided house, a good FCR is 1.6 to 1.8 for white broilers and 2.6 to 3.0 for coloured chickens; for layers, allow 2.0 to 2.3 kg of feed per kilo of eggs. Waste, heat, disease and late selling push it up.

Usually because of the start: cold or draughts at night (dead in heaps under the heat), too much heat, water or feed not found (empty crops at 24 hours), or boxes left in the sun during the journey. Mortality of 1 to 1.5% over the first week is normal; above 1% in a single day after day one, or 2% cumulative at 7 days, call your area’s veterinarian. Having someone on site for the first three nights prevents most of these losses.

For white broilers: 1 to 1.5% in the first week, then 0.1 to 0.2% a day, or 3 to 5% over the whole flock; above 7%, something has gone wrong. For laying hens, less than 1% a month. The warning sign is more than 0.5% a day on two days running, or a sudden peak: collect and count the dead morning and evening.

The vaccination schedule is set by your area’s veterinarian, according to the diseases present, the type of bird and the length of the flock: the School gives neither programmes nor doses. Brown layers are vaccinated against Marek’s disease at the hatchery (certificate on request); the other chicks receive no vaccine at the hatchery. Choose your vet before the chicks arrive, respect the cold chain and never vaccinate a sick or stressed flock.

Coccidiosis mostly strikes between 3 and 6 weeks, in warm, damp litter. The signs: birds eat less, huddle with ruffled feathers, droppings become soft then red or brown, and mortality rises. Call the vet the same day for treatment, dry the litter and isolate weak birds; dry litter remains the best prevention.

Newcastle disease has three faces: lightning mortality in young birds, nervous signs (twisted neck, paralysis) in pullets, and a drop in laying with abnormal eggs in layers. There is no treatment: only vaccination, decided by the vet, and biosecurity protect the flock. At the slightest suspicion, isolate, call the vet, and neither sell nor move anything: the disease must be reported.

Gumboro affects chickens between 3 and 6 weeks: birds are listless and sitting, with whitish diarrhoea, and mortality rises then falls over about a week. The virus destroys the organ that builds immunity, so survivors fall ill more easily. There is no treatment for the virus; the vaccination date is set by your area’s veterinarian, and an empty period of 3 to 4 weeks follows an outbreak.

It is usually heat stroke: above 30 to 32 °C with humidity, the bird can no longer cool down and the heaviest die first. Signs: open beak, wings held out, birds lying down and rushing to the water. Open the curtains, move air over the birds, give unlimited cool water, raise the feeders in the hottest hours and reduce stocking density in the hot season.

A respiratory disease is almost always a building problem (ammonia, dust, night draughts, overcrowding) plus a germ: both must be dealt with. Improve ventilation without draughts, dry the litter, close the curtains at night, and call your area’s veterinarian. An antibiotic is given only on prescription, respecting the withdrawal period before sale.

No. No antibiotics “just in case” and nothing in the water without the advice of your area’s veterinarian: random treatment is one of the ten beginner’s mistakes. Real prevention is a good start, clean water, dry litter and biosecurity. Every prescribed treatment is written on the record sheet with its withdrawal period.

As soon as a threshold is crossed: more than 1% deaths in a day in the first week, more than 0.5% a day on two days running or a sudden peak, water intake down by 10 to 15%, blood or diarrhoea, rattling breathing, a drop in laying of more than 5 points, and immediately for nervous signs. Have the record sheet, photos and a freshly dead bird (not frozen) ready. NEXTEKCI can also help on +225 05 44 83 27 79.

With simple barriers: a single entrance, a footbath refreshed every 1 to 2 days, dedicated boots and clothing, few visitors, a single age group, rat control and carcasses disposed of away from the house. The most rewarding decision: no backyard poultry on the site. Visits go from the youngest birds to the oldest, and buyers do not come in with their crates.

Feather pecking comes from overcrowding, light that is too bright, heat, unsuitable feed, lack of space or boredom. Blood attracts beaks: remove an injured hen at once. For egg eating, collect at least 2 to 3 times a day and keep nest boxes in dim light; any treatment or beak trimming is decided with your area’s veterinarian.

White broilers are sold at around 35 to 45 days, most often at about 6 weeks. Coloured chickens (red broiler, barred grey, hybrids) stay 8 to 14 weeks on the farm. Add about 2 weeks of cleaning and empty period before the next flock.

The strain suppliers’ targets, achieved in very good conditions, are about 2.5 kg (Cobb 500) and 2.3 kg (Efficiency Plus) at 35 days. In an open-sided house in hot weather, reaching 70 to 85% of these weights is a good result; the School uses a cautious target of about 2 kg at 35 days. Weigh every week to compare.

At 7 days, a well-started broiler chick weighs 4 to 5 times its day-old weight: for 40 g chicks, 160 to 200 g. It is the best indicator of how well the start went, because a delay at 7 days is almost never made up. The School’s next benchmarks: about 430 g at 14 days and 900 g at 21 days.

The white broiler grows very fast and is sold at around 35 to 45 days, but it needs a well-run house and a buyer ready on the right day. Coloured chickens (red broiler, barred grey, hybrids) grow more slowly and stay 8 to 14 weeks, but they are hardier, cope better with heat and have firmer meat, close to village chicken. They often sell for more, per bird or by weight.

Targets in good conditions: the red broiler reaches about 2.4 kg at 56 days and 3 kg at 70 days; the barred grey and naked-neck red broiler about 2.3 kg at 56 days; hybrids about 1.6 kg at 56 days and 2 kg at 70 days. In an open-sided house in hot weather, expect 10 to 25% less. For a 2 to 2.5 kg bird, sell at around 56 to 63 days; for a large festive bird, at around 70 to 84 days.

The first eggs come at around 19 to 20 weeks, and half the hens are laying at around 20 to 21 weeks; peak laying is expected at about 30 weeks. For this, the pullet must weigh 1,480 to 1,580 g at 18 weeks and be moved into the laying house at around 16 to 17 weeks. Light is never increased before that weight is reached.

A good, well-managed layer produces around 300 eggs a year. The reference strain’s target, in very good conditions, is about 318 eggs per hen at 72 weeks. In an open-sided house in hot weather, the average laying rate over the year is often around 75%: follow your curve every week.

The brown layer starts laying at around 20 weeks of age and produces for about a year, until it is culled at around 72 to 80 weeks. Laying falls slowly after the peak: about 85% at 72 weeks and 81% at 80 weeks according to the strain’s targets. Spent hens are sold and are part of the flock’s income.

Check, in order, the water (never cut off, cool), the light (a steady 16 hours, never reduced during lay), the layer feed, the heat and the birds’ health; stress can also trigger a moult. A drop of more than 5 points in a week is a warning sign. If you cannot find the cause, call your area’s veterinarian.

A strong shell needs calcium-rich layer feed from the first eggs, and cool water (below 20 °C if possible) in hot weather. Soft-shelled or misshapen eggs can also signal disease: count them every day, as they are a warning sign. Collect at least 2 to 3 times a day and set aside cracked eggs.

Weigh every week, on the same day and at the same time, before feeding, about 100 birds taken from three places in the house. A flock is uniform when at least 80% of birds are within 10% either side of the average weight. An uneven flock often comes from a lack of feeder and drinker space, heat or a health problem.

It depends entirely on your own prices: what you pay for chicks and feed locally, mortality, selling weight and selling price. The margin is worked out as sales income minus all costs (chicks, feed, litter, energy, health care, labour, a share of the building). Enter your figures in the NEXTEKCI profitability calculator, with the day’s prices, to get your own result.

When the target weight is reached, the growth curve is slowing and the buyer is confirmed: do not keep white broilers beyond six weeks “to fatten them up”, because every extra kilo costs more feed. Remove feed 8 to 12 hours before slaughter while leaving water, and catch the birds at night, calmly. Check that all treatment withdrawal periods are over.

A heavy, uniform flock sells better by the kilo; a light or uneven flock is better negotiated per bird, by size group (large, medium, small). Either way, never sell below your cost per kilo. Have two or three different buyers and sell the whole flock within one to two weeks.

Find the buyer before ordering the chicks: market traders, restaurants and “maquis”, markets, slaughterhouses, festive-season customers. Keep a buyers’ notebook, alert them on WhatsApp a week before the sale and ask for a deposit; no credit without a track record. The selling date is written on the record sheet from day one.

Count backwards: selling date minus rearing time gives the chicks’ arrival date. Allow about 6 weeks for a white broiler and 10 to 12 weeks for a large festive red broiler. Pre-order at least 15 days ahead, even earlier before festivals, and remember that the end of Ramadan and Tabaski come about 11 days earlier each year.

Collect 3 to 4 times a day, grade by size and sell in trays of 30. Store eggs somewhere cool and shaded, pointed end down, never in the sun, and do not wash them; set aside broken, cracked or dirty eggs. Reliable deliveries keep buyers coming back.

For sale, slaughter must take place in an approved slaughterhouse, under veterinary inspection: work with an approved slaughterhouse, as a service or by selling your birds live. Carcass yield is about 70 to 72% of live weight. After that, the cold chain is never broken: 0 to 4 °C for fresh, −18 °C for frozen, and never refreeze.

Yes, the NEXTEKCI School is a completely free online poultry training course, designed for mobile phones. It is aimed at poultry entrepreneurs and technicians in Côte d’Ivoire, from beginner to expert, and awards a certificate that can be verified online.

Lessons can be read freely on the website. To take the quizzes and exams and earn a certificate, create your student account from the School page: you sign up with a code received on WhatsApp. You can then take the placement test (20 questions) to start at the right level.

Five progressive levels (Getting started, Running a flock, Health and prevention, Performance and management, Expert) and three tracks by type of bird: white broilers, coloured chickens and hybrids, brown layers. There are also technical guides (housing, health and biosecurity…) and a glossary explaining poultry terms such as feed conversion ratio or empty period.

Each level and each track ends with an exam: you need 80% correct answers to pass, with three attempts per day. The certificate is issued automatically when you pass, and anyone can check that it is genuine online. It can support a financing application.

Yes, provided you start small and train before your first flock: the NEXTEKCI School is free and designed for mobile phones. Almost every failed first flock fails because of the same ten well-known mistakes (house not ready, nobody there at night, ice-cold water, wet litter, random treatments, selling without a buyer…): learn them before you order. To learn with limited risk, many farmers start with coloured chickens or cockerels. An adviser answers your questions on WhatsApp at +225 05 44 83 27 79.

It is possible, provided the two are kept well apart: separate sites, or at least distant houses, with boots for each house and a strict visiting order. Layers live on the farm for more than a year and build up germs that young broiler chicks have never met. Always visit the youngest birds before the oldest, and keep a single age group per house. Many farmers choose one site per production: it is simpler and safer.

It is not advisable. White broilers are sold at around 35 to 45 days, whereas coloured chickens stay 8 to 14 weeks: the house can then neither be emptied in one go, nor cleaned, nor left for its empty period. The two also differ in stocking density (8 to 10 white broilers per m², 6 to 8 coloured chickens) and in feed quantities. And never place new chicks next to a flock already in progress: older birds pass their germs on to younger ones. The rule remains one age group per house, all in, all out.

The School’s benchmark is one farm worker for 2,000 to 3,000 broilers, more for layers because of egg collection. You also need someone present at night, essential during the first nights of brooding and against theft, and a person in charge who keeps the daily record sheet and calls the vet. Write down everyone’s tasks, plan a trained stand-in for the day off, and count the feed bags yourself every week.

Each box holds exactly 50 chicks, so orders are placed by the box, not by the chick. Boxes are ventilated and labelled with the type of chick and the date. The minimum is one box (50 chicks) for collection at the hatchery in Agnibilékrou, and four boxes (200 chicks) for delivery by carrier.

Just before hatching, the chick absorbs the rest of its yolk: this reserve feeds it during its first hours and is enough for the journey, as long as it suffers neither heat, cold nor lack of air. So no water or feed goes into the boxes during transport. But every hour lost delays the first drink: go straight to the farm and let the chicks drink as soon as they arrive, before giving them feed.

In a covered, ventilated vehicle, never in a closed boot, never in the sun or on the roof: without air the chicks suffocate, and the sun heats the boxes within minutes. Leave space between the boxes, wedge them flat, with no closed tarpaulin over them, and travel in the cool hours without long stops. Listen to them: if they cheep loudly and huddle, they are cold; if they are silent with beaks open, they are too hot and need air at once.

Down that is stuck or soiled around the vent is a sign to watch: put the chick apart in a small warm area, with water and feed within reach, and note it on the record sheet. Then check the conditions for the whole flock: heat (look at how the chicks are spread out), clean water at room temperature and never ice-cold, and fresh starter feed within reach. If many chicks have very runny or red droppings, call your area’s veterinarian the same day: no treatment without a prescription.

Chicks huddled in a ball under the heat and cheeping loudly are cold: lower the brooder or raise the heat, close the curtains and stop draughts. If they are all bunched on one side, a draught is coming from the other side. Night is the most dangerous time: a heating failure at 2 a.m. discovered at 6 a.m. costs chicks smothered in piles. A healthy flock is evenly spread and cheeps softly.

A little sugar dissolved in the water for the first few hours (about two tablespoons per litre) helps chicks recover from the journey. Vitamins or anti-stress products, however, are only given on the advice of your vet or adviser, never at random, and never an antibiotic “as prevention”. What matters most is clean water at room temperature, changed several times a day.

Count and record straight away the chicks received, those dead on arrival and the weak ones. Weak chicks (small, not moving, splayed leg) go into a small separate area, kept warm, with water and feed within reach; some recover, the others should not stay in the flock. If anything worries you, send photos and a short video the same day on WhatsApp to +225 05 44 83 27 79: NEXTEKCI technical follow-up covers the 72 hours after delivery.

Yes, from 50 chicks (one box), after ordering on WhatsApp at +225 07 07 72 78 67. Opening hours are Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 noon and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Come with a covered, ventilated vehicle ready to leave, and plan a shaded spot for the boxes: never leave them in the sun while you look for transport.

At the start, allow 10 trays (one per 50 chicks) and 7 to 8 chick drinkers (14 to 16 per 1,000). After that: 10 to 13 hanging feeders of 10 to 15 kg (one per 40 to 50 birds), or 8 to 9 automatic pans of 33 cm (60 to 70 birds per pan). For drinking, 5 to 7 bell drinkers (one per 80 to 100 birds) or 42 to 50 nipples (one per 10 to 12). Alternate them so that no bird has to walk more than 3 m to drink.

Calculate with the birds at selling age, not with the chicks. In an open-sided house, 500 white broilers need 50 to 63 m² of usable floor space (for example 6 m × 10 m), and 1,000 broilers need 100 to 125 m² (for example 8 m × 15 m). For coloured chickens, allow 63 to 83 m² for 500 and 125 to 167 m² for 1,000; for 1,000 floor-reared layers, 143 to 200 m² (for example 10 m × 20 m). Do not exceed 10 to 12 m in width: to expand, make the house longer.

Ammonia comes from droppings, especially when the litter is wet, so the first step is dry litter: remove wet patches every day and set the drinkers correctly (too low or at too high a pressure, they wet the litter). Crouch down to bird height: if the smell stings your nose or eyes, the air is already bad (the benchmark is below 10 ppm). Ventilate at every age, even in hot weather, and respect the stocking density. Chicks are the most sensitive: ammonia that hardly bothers a 7-week-old bird can cut the growth of a 7-day-old chick by 20%.

A gas brooder (radiant) is the standard: it warms the litter, lets chicks choose their spot and does not depend on electricity; always keep a full spare cylinder. Infrared lamps are simple but depend on power: plan a generator or a back-up solution. Charcoal must only be used in a closed burner, away from the litter, with an outlet for the fumes: carbon monoxide kills without any smell. Whatever the method, never close the house completely, and switch on at least 48 hours before arrival.

No, except on the very first day, when almost continuous light helps chicks find water and feed. After that, give a single dark period every 24 hours, always at the same time, then about 6 hours of unbroken darkness once the chicks weigh 100 to 160 g: darkness strengthens their defences. An hour of darkness from the start also gets them used to power cuts. In very hot weather, a little light at night lets the birds eat while it is cool.

Curtains are lowered at night and during brooding to keep the heat in, and raised during the day to let air through: they are adjusted several times a day. Up to 14 days, refresh the air by opening from the top, never with a draught at chick level. In the morning, open the downwind side first; in very hot weather, after 14 days, open both sides equally, as low as possible. On rainy days, close the exposed side without cutting off the air.

They are very useful in hot weather, because moving air cools: at 35 °C and 70% humidity, a bird over 28 days old feels 38.3 °C in still air, but only 25 °C with air moving at 2.5 m/s. Choose fans at least 90 cm in diameter, placed about 1 m above the floor, about 12 m apart and pointing in the direction of the prevailing wind. Never any draught on chicks before 14 days; after 28 days, aim for 1.75 to 2.5 m/s over the birds.

For a beginner, no: used litter goes completely out of the house at the end of the flock, away from the birds, before cleaning, disinfection and the empty period. It keeps the germs of the previous flock, such as coccidia. If litter is reused all the same, every damp or caked part must be removed and the house heated for at least 48 hours before arrival to drive off the ammonia. New litter is spread 5 to 10 cm deep on a clean, disinfected, dry floor.

Allow one individual nest per 5 to 6 hens, or 1 m² of communal nest per 80 to 100 hens: for 1,000 hens, about 170 to 200 individual nests, or 10 to 13 m² of communal nests. Place them 40 to 50 cm above the floor, in the quietest, darkest part of the house, lined with clean wood shavings or rice husks. They must be in place before the first eggs: a hen that gets used to laying on the floor keeps the habit.

In the cool hours: early morning and evening. Digestion produces heat, so feeders are raised about 6 hours before the hottest time of day, and no feed is given between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. A little light at night lets the birds eat while it is cool. Water, on the other hand, never stops: fresh, unlimited, with extra drinkers in the hot hours. For layers, give part of the feed in the cool hours.

No. Maize mainly provides energy but lacks protein, minerals and vitamins: poorly fed birds grow badly, develop leg problems or lay poorly. A complete feed supplies all of these together, notably through the premix. Cracked maize can only top up the finishing feed of coloured chickens, never at the start and never on its own.

It is possible, but it is a trade in itself. Use a formula drawn up by a nutritionist for the age and type of bird (not your neighbour’s), weigh every raw material, and mix long enough to spread the premix and minerals evenly. Never replace one raw material with another without reworking the formula, and only use ingredients that are dry, clean and free of mould and insects. A poorly balanced feed costs you in growth, weak legs and egg production.

Using the School’s benchmark (3 to 3.5 kg of feed per bird sold at around 6 weeks, for a live weight of about 1.8 to 2.2 kg), allow 60 to 70 bags of 50 kg for 1,000 broilers. The reference tables, achieved in very good conditions with heavier birds, give about 4.8 tonnes up to 42 days: roughly 11 bags of starter, 32 of grower and 53 of finisher. Track your actual consumption every day, keep a safety stock of about a week, and adjust your next order.

It depends mostly on selling age. Sold at 70 days, 500 red broilers eat about 3,850 kg (77 bags of 50 kg), and 500 hybrids about 2,500 kg (50 bags). For starter feed given up to 21 days, plan about 445 kg (9 bags) for 500 red broilers. These are targets for good conditions: delaying the sale from 70 to 84 days adds about another 2.9 kg of feed per red broiler.

No more than 4 to 6 weeks, and less in the rainy season: beyond that, the feed loses its vitamins and mould takes hold. Store bags in a separate, dry, ventilated room, on pallets about 20 cm from the floor and walls, and write the delivery date on them so that the oldest are used first. In the rainy season, limit stock to 2 to 3 weeks, but never less than one week. A mouldy, warm or lumpy bag is never fed.

Birds’ water should be fit for human consumption: clear water is not necessarily clean. A properly built borehole is the best source; a well is acceptable if it is covered, away from latrines and pits, and watched during the rainy season. Rivers, ponds and rainwater should be avoided without treatment. Have the water tested at least once a year, at the source and at the end of a drinker line.

Open drinkers (fountains, bells) are scrubbed with a brush every day: the slimy deposit inside, the biofilm, is a layer of bacteria. Nipple lines are flushed at high pressure, ideally daily and at least 3 times a week, and the filter is cleaned weekly. Between flocks, empty the system and the tank, scrub the tank, leave a cleaning solution for at least 12 hours following the label, then rinse thoroughly before the chicks arrive.

Chlorine can disinfect water, but it works much better in slightly acidic water: at pH 8 only 21% of the chlorine really disinfects, against 72% at pH 7 and 90% at pH 6.5. So know your water’s pH before treating it, and ask the vet or technician for the dosage: never improvise. And never chlorine or bleach in the water on a vaccination day: the disinfectant kills the vaccine.

Every eggshell needs calcium: layers get a calcium-rich layer feed from the first eggs, and you can add oyster shell or coarse limestone in a separate feeder, served in the afternoon, because the shell forms at night. Do not give layer feed too early: its calcium damages the pullet’s kidneys; given too late, it leads to fragile shells.

The most common causes are heat (above 20 °C, each extra degree reduces feed intake by about 1.2%), too little or too warm water (above 30 °C, they drink less), a new feed being refused, a spoiled bag or a disease starting. Check water and heat first, then open and smell the bag in use. If the drop lasts, or if water intake also falls with no drop in temperature, call your area’s veterinarian.

Look at the colour and the age: loose, then red, brown or orange droppings at around 3 to 6 weeks suggest coccidiosis; whitish, watery diarrhoea with prostrate birds suggests Gumboro; greenish diarrhoea with breathing or nervous signs suggests Newcastle. Very wet droppings throughout the flock can also come from too much salt in the feed or water. In every case, call your area’s veterinarian the same day, keep a feed sample and put nothing in the water without their advice.

First look under the feet: brown, crusty or burnt foot pads point to litter that has been too wet for several days. Slippery litter, a mineral or vitamin imbalance, too-rapid growth or a disease can also cause lameness. Fix the litter and the drinkers, cull birds that can no longer walk, and call the vet if lameness spreads; report it to the feed supplier too, with the sample from the delivery.

A twisted neck, trembling, paralysis or birds turning in circles are nervous signs: they may point to Newcastle disease, especially if deaths are rising fast. Call your area’s veterinarian immediately, isolate the house, and do not sell or move any bird, alive or dead. No antibiotic “just in case”: it does not act on a virus. Newcastle is a notifiable disease, and only vaccination decided by the vet and biosecurity protect against it.

Scabs on the comb, wattles or around the eyes suggest fowl pox, spread by mosquitoes and wounds, sometimes with yellow patches in the beak and breathing difficulty. Small dark dots attached in the same places may be sticktight fleas. Call your area’s veterinarian, isolate the worst-affected birds and fight mosquitoes, which are plentiful in the rainy season: the vet decides on prevention and treatment.

Once a week, catch a few birds: part the feathers under the wings and around the vent (lice), and check the comb and legs. Red mites hide by day in cracks, perches and nests and bite at night: pale comb, restless hens at night, a drop in laying. Worms are suspected with weight loss, slow growth, falling egg production and dull feathers. The vet chooses the product, the method and the withdrawal period before birds and eggs are sold.

Collect them twice a day, count them and note what you saw. Dispose of them in a closed pit with a lid, away from buildings and water points, covering them with lime, or by composting, or by incineration in case of serious disease. Never in a field, a river, at the market or as food for other animals. If you are calling the vet, keep a bird that died that day cool (never frozen), and wash your hands after every handling.

Warning signs: sudden mass deaths, very depressed birds, swollen or bluish heads, combs and wattles, reddened legs and a sharp drop in laying. Close the farm at once (nothing and nobody leaves), call your area’s veterinarian or the veterinary services, and report it: this is compulsory. Do not sell, give away or eat anything from sick or dead birds, and protect yourself (gloves, mask, hand washing), because the disease can affect humans.

Most poultry vaccines are live and fragile: they are kept between 2 and 8 °C, in a cool box with ice packs (not in direct contact), never frozen or in the sun, and an opened vial is used immediately. No chlorine or bleach in the water on vaccination day, and a sick or stressed flock is never vaccinated. Brown layers are vaccinated against Marek’s disease at the hatchery (certificate on request). The other chicks (white broiler, red broiler, barred grey, hybrid, cockerel) receive no vaccine at the hatchery: vaccination is done on the farm, following the protocol of your area’s veterinarian.

No: it is the most rewarding biosecurity decision. A village hen scratching around the house can carry Newcastle without being ill, a backyard duck can harbour flu viruses, and wild birds leave droppings in the feeders. No other poultry on the site (no village hens, ducks, guinea fowl or caged birds), fine mesh over the openings, and never bring unsold birds back from the market.

Rats eat and soil the feed and spread diseases: control must be constant. Put bait in closed boxes around the houses, block holes, clear weeds and rubbish for 3 m around, and never leave an open bag or spilt feed. Store feed in a separate, closed room, and keep up control throughout the empty period: an empty, clean house where rats remain is not a clean house.

It is the number of days between the end of a treatment and the moment when birds or eggs can be sold for consumption. It appears on the label and on the vet’s prescription. Write the end date of the withdrawal period for each treatment on the record sheet: no bird or egg leaves before then. It is a public health obligation, and the first thing an abattoir or a serious buyer checks.

First check the weighing (same day, same time, about 100 birds taken from 3 places) and compare with the table for the right type of bird: a hybrid is never compared with a red broiler. Work out measured weight ÷ target weight × 100: in an open-sided house, 75 to 90% is normal; below 75%, look for the cause. A gap already there at 14 days usually comes from brooding; a sudden gap points to a recent event (disease, lack of water, heat, feed change). If water intake drops at the same time, call your area’s veterinarian.

In very good conditions, the reference tables give about 3.3 kg (Cobb 500) and 2.9 kg (Efficiency Plus) at 42 days. In an open-sided house in a hot climate, the School’s benchmark is 2.3 to 2.6 kg at 42 days. Beyond 6 weeks, each extra kilo costs more and more feed (over 2 kg of feed per kilo gained after 42 days), and heavy birds suffer more from the heat.

Laying rate = eggs collected in the day ÷ hens present × 100. Example: 750 eggs from 1,000 hens present is 75%. Count only the hens present (remove dead hens and those taken out), calculate every day, then take the weekly average and plot the curve. In an open-sided house in hot weather, an average of around 75% over the year is common; what should alarm you is a sudden drop from one week to the next.

Count the soft-shelled or shell-less eggs every day: if their number rises, it is a warning sign. First check the feed (is it really the calcium-rich layer feed? has a new batch just been delivered?), then the water, which must stay cool, and the heat. If shell-less, misshapen or pale eggs come with a sudden drop in laying, a disease such as Newcastle or infectious bronchitis is possible: call your area’s veterinarian within 24 hours.

Hens are usually culled and sold at around 72 to 80 weeks, when laying falls below 60 to 65% and shells weaken. To choose the date, compare what the flock still brings in with what it costs: according to the strain’s targets, a hen still lays about 44 eggs between 72 and 80 weeks. Do the sums with your own feed and egg prices, and find buyers for the spent hens several weeks ahead: they are part of the flock’s income.

It is often a moult: the hen renews her feathers and lays little or not at all. In full lay, it is almost always triggered by stress: shorter lighting (power cut, blown bulb, faulty timer), a water cut, lack of feed or a sudden feed change, intense heat, moving the birds, building work or disease. Keep the light steady at 16 hours, never cut the water and always keep feed available. If feathers are pulled out on the back and around the tail, it is more likely feather pecking.

A non-layer often has a pale, dry comb and a narrow abdomen, and does not go to the nest. Spot them every week and remove them from the flock: they eat without producing. If many hens seem to stop at the same time, it is no longer a problem of a few birds: check the water, light, feed and heat, then call your area’s veterinarian if nothing explains it.

At the start of lay it is normal: the egg weighs about 48 g at 20 weeks, then grows to 57.6 g at 25 weeks and about 65 g at the end of the cycle. If eggs stay small, look for two causes: pullets brought into lay too early or too light (the benchmark is 1,480 to 1,580 g at 18 weeks), or hens eating too little (the benchmark in full lay is 111 to 119 g of feed per day). Check the amount given, the heat and the feeder space.

Install the nests, clean and lined, before the first eggs, in a quiet, dark place, with one nest per 5 to 6 hens. Pick up floor eggs several times a day, very early, so that the other hens do not pick up the habit, and close off the dark corners where they go to lay. The aim is fewer than 2% floor eggs.

In Côte d’Ivoire, natural daylight lasts about 12 hours all year round; in lay, the aim is a steady 16 hours of light. So about 4 hours of extra lighting are added, split between before sunrise and after sunset, with a timer. Stimulation starts at 19 weeks, one hour a week, and only if the pullets have reached 1,480 to 1,580 g at 18 weeks. During lay, the day length never decreases: plan a back-up for power cuts.

Reference strain benchmarks: 65 to 70 g at 1 week, 270 to 285 g at 4 weeks, 470 to 495 g at 6 weeks, 840 to 900 g at 10 weeks, 1,350 to 1,425 g at 16 weeks and 1,480 to 1,580 g at 18 weeks. Weigh about a hundred pullets every week, taken at random throughout the house, and compare. The 18-week weight is the most important: it is what allows the increase in light that starts laying.

Keep them cool and in the shade, ideally between 10 and 15 °C, never in the sun, in a clean, airy room away from strong-smelling products (fuel, disinfectants, fertiliser). Place them pointed end down in clean trays, note the laying date and sell the oldest first, within the week. Do not wash them with water: it removes the shell’s natural protection; a dirty egg is brushed dry or sold separately.

Divide the costs for the period by the number of saleable eggs (removing broken, cracked and dirty ones), then multiply by 30 for a tray, adding the empty tray. The pullet costs money before she lays: the chick and all the feed until the start of lay are spread over the whole laying period, and the sale of spent hens is deducted. The higher the laying rate, the more eggs share the costs. The NEXTEKCI calculator does this with your own prices.

Add up all the costs of the flock: chicks, feed, energy, water, health, litter, labour, transport, and the share of the house and equipment. Divide by the kilos sold (if selling by weight) or by the number of birds sold (if selling per head): that is your threshold, below which you lose money. Feed often makes up 60 to 70% of this cost: that is where a one per cent improvement pays most. Redo the sum as soon as a price changes, with the NEXTEKCI calculator.

At the end of the flock, the litter goes completely out of the house, in covered vehicles, away from the birds. Composted for a few weeks, it makes an excellent fertiliser that market gardeners and planters buy: one more income line to record in the flock’s accounts. Never store it near the houses or a water point, and do not put it back under the next flock.

The last 10 to 15% of the flock, the smallest birds, raise a simple question: sell them at once at a lower price, or keep them one to two weeks to reach weight. Work out the feed they will eat in that time and compare it with the price difference. Selling quickly is often the right choice: freeing the house for cleaning and the next flock is worth more than a few grams. When selling per head, sell by category (large, medium, small).

Yes: feed is removed 8 to 12 hours before slaughter, leaving water until catching begins. Fasting empties the gut without weakening it, avoids soiling the carcasses and has little effect on live weight. The hours are counted up to slaughter, not up to catching: for slaughter at 6 a.m., feed is removed between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. the evening before. No more than 12 hours, or the birds lose weight.

A fresh chicken keeps 3 to 5 days between 0 and 4 °C; frozen at −18 °C, several months (6 to 12 depending on the packaging). The carcass must be cooled below 4 °C at the core within a few hours of slaughter, and the cold chain is never broken until it reaches the customer. A thawed product is never refrozen. For sale, slaughter takes place in an approved abattoir, under veterinary inspection.

NEXTEKCI offers a ready-to-print flock book (broilers) and laying book: ask for them on WhatsApp at +225 05 44 83 27 79. A school exercise book ruled into columns also works, with one line per day: date and age, temperatures, water drunk, feed given and stock, deaths and culls, observations, treatments, plus the average weight every week. Fill it in every day and keep your records for at least two years.

They are everyday poultry terms. FCR (feed conversion ratio) is the number of kilos of feed needed to produce one kilo of live weight; the empty period is the time when the house stays empty, clean and dry between two flocks; uniformity is the share of birds whose weight is within plus or minus 10% of the average. The NEXTEKCI School glossary explains these words and many others simply, free of charge.

Eight free guides: white broilers, coloured chickens and hybrids, brown layers, the day-old chick from hatchery to farm, health and biosecurity, housing and equipment, feed and water, management and profitability. Each one brings together the key figures for its subject, with its sources. They complement the School’s lessons, and the profitability calculator lets you do your sums with your own prices.

Write on WhatsApp to +225 05 44 83 27 79, with photos and a short video if you have a problem: an adviser will reply, and technical follow-up covers the 72 hours after the chicks are delivered. Maria, the online assistant, also answers at any time on www.nextekci.com. This support does not replace your area’s veterinarian: it helps you know when and how to call them.