Free-range poultry and festive markets specialisation
Long flocks, free range, guinea fowl and ducks, festive calendar
Introduction
The coloured chicken reared for ten to fourteen weeks, let out on a range and sold for the festive season is a different trade from the six-week white broiler. This NEXTEKCI School specialisation, written from Agnibilékrou for the hot and humid climate of Côte d'Ivoire, extends the coloured chicken track without repeating it. You will learn to size a range that lasts twelve weeks without becoming a quagmire: square metres per chicken, fencing, shade, plot rotation, reading the traces of predators. You will follow a long flock week by week, with the weight-feed table, the weighing of 50 chickens and costs counted in bags, litres and working days, never in money. You will read the calendar of Ivorian demand peaks (Christmas and New Year, Easter, end of Ramadan, 7 August, ceremonies) and build the backward plan that sets the reservation date of the chicks. You will see what changes for guinea fowl, ducks and cockerels, starting from day-old young birds, and how to sell live or ready to cook while keeping your customers from one festivity to the next. Health on the range (worms, coccidiosis, predators) is described so that it can be prevented and watched; care remains with the veterinarian of the area. Ten lessons, each with a worked example on a flock of 1,000 Hubbard Premium chickens in an 8 m open-sided house, a field exercise and a Christmas case study. Open from free registration.
By the end of this specialisation, you will be able to
- ✓Size and manage a range: 2 m² per chicken, two plots in rotation, fencing, 1 m² of shade for every 8 chickens, predators, parasites
- ✓Manage a long flock of 10 to 14 weeks and count it in units: weight-feed table, weekly weighing, bags per 100 kg sold
- ✓Plan a flock backwards for a demand peak and sell it in lots, live or ready to cook, to loyal customers
- ✓Adapt management to guinea fowl, ducks and cockerels, and organise three flocks a year with a real sanitary break
10 lessons · a 5-question quiz after each lesson · an exam (20 questions, 80%) · verifiable specialisation certificate. Specialisation open to every registered student, in any order.
- 1The range: area, fencing, shade, rotation, predators, parasites
In the coloured chicken track, you learned that a range is possible from 4 to 5 weeks if the farm is fenced and protected. This specialisation goes further: how many square metres per chicken, what kind of fence, how much shade, how to rotate the plots so that the soil does not become a reservoir of worms and coccidia, and how to read the traces left by a predator. Everything is calculated on a flock of 1,000 Hubbard Premium coloured chickens from NEXTEKCI in Agnibilékrou, housed in an 8 m wide open-sided house.
What you will learn- ✓Size a range: area per chicken, number of plots, length of fencing, number of pop-holes
- ✓Install shade and water in the right place and in sufficient quantity for a hot climate
- ✓Organise the rotation of plots and the resting of the soil between two flocks
- ✓Recognise the signs of a predator or a parasite and apply the right preventive action
Lesson outline- What we call a range, and what it really brings
- The area: how many square metres per chicken
- The fence and the pop-holes
- Shade and water on the range
- Rotation: letting the soil rest
- Predators and parasites: reading the signs
- Going further
Key points- •Range: 2 m² per chicken minimum, 4 m² for comfort; for 1,000 chickens, two plots of 1,000 m² on either side of an 8 m by 25 m house.
- •House: manufacturers indicate 6 to 8 coloured chickens per m²; NEXTEKCI advises 5 to 6 per m² in the hot season.
- •Fence 1.8 to 2 m, fine mesh on the bottom 50 cm, foot buried 20 to 30 cm; one 1 m pop-hole for every 100 to 150 chickens.
- •Shade: 1 m² for every 8 chickens, far from the pop-holes; water: one 10 L drinker for every 80 to 100 chickens, in the shade.
- •Rotation every two weeks, three weeks' rest per plot, six weeks for the whole range between two flocks; bring in, count, close every evening.
14 min read · 5-question quiz
- 2Managing a long flock (10 to 14 weeks): feed, weight, health, costs in units
A white broiler is sold at 6 weeks; a festive coloured chicken is sold at 10, 12, sometimes 14 weeks. Twice as many days means twice as much feed to buy, twice as many weighings, twice as many opportunities for a disease or a predator to invite itself in, and cash tied up twice as long. This lesson follows the flock of 1,000 Hubbard Premium chickens from lesson 1, week after week: what we give, what we weigh, what we watch and what we count, in bags, litres and working days, never in money.
What you will learn- ✓Describe the three phases of a long flock and what changes at each transition
- ✓Read and use the weekly weight-feed table of a coloured chicken, in bags for 1,000 chickens
- ✓Weigh 50 chickens every week, calculate the gap to the target and decide
- ✓Count the costs of a flock in units and the cost of one more week
Lesson outline- A long flock is a different rhythm
- Brooding: the first three weeks decide everything
- Feed: which feed, how much, in bags
- Weight: weigh 50 chickens every week
- Health day by day
- Costs in units: counting without a single amount
- Going further
Key points- •Three phases: brooding (weeks 1 to 3), growing (4 to 8, range from week 5), finishing (9 to 14); at each transition, the feed changes, over three days.
- •Brooding for 1,000 chicks: 33 to 34 °C, 2 brooders, 15 to 20 drinkers, 20 trays; 7-day weight at least 4 times the initial weight; week 1 mortality under 1%.
- •Benchmarks at 12 weeks: 3.45 kg average in correct conditions (10 to 25% less in strong heat), 9.18 kg of feed per chicken, 184 bags for 1,000 chickens, 3 bags and 300 litres of water per day.
- •Weekly weighing of 50 chickens: normal gap down to −5%, watch down to −10%, look for the cause beyond; the mixed flock naturally gives a heavy lot (males) and a medium lot (females).
- •Count in units: actual feed conversion ratio and bags per 100 kg sold are compared from flock to flock; one more week at 12 weeks costs about 21 bags and 7 working days for 190 kg gained.
15 min read · 5-question quiz
- 3The festive chicken: calendar of demand peaks in Côte d'Ivoire and backward planning
The same 3.3 kg chicken sells in two hours on 20 December and drags on for two weeks on 10 January. Nothing has changed in the chicken; everything has changed in the calendar. Whoever rears coloured chickens for festive markets does not start with the chicks: he starts with the sale date, and goes back in time, week by week, to the day he must reserve his chicks at NEXTEKCI in Agnibilékrou. This lesson gives the calendar of demand peaks in Côte d'Ivoire and the backward planning method, with the worked example of Christmas for the flock of 1,000 chickens.
What you will learn- ✓Read the annual calendar of demand peaks and troughs for coloured chicken in Côte d'Ivoire
- ✓Choose the weight and sale age that suit each festivity
- ✓Build a complete backward plan, from the sale date to the reservation of the chicks
- ✓Organise the sale in lots around the festivity and avoid the calendar traps
Lesson outline- Why the calendar decides before the chicken
- The calendar of peaks in Côte d'Ivoire
- Which chicken for which festivity
- Backward planning: the method and the Christmas example
- Selling in lots around the festivity, and keeping nothing afterwards
- The calendar traps
- Going further
Key points- •Peaks in Côte d'Ivoire: Christmas and New Year (the strongest, from 15 December to 2 January), Easter, end of Ramadan, 7 August, dry-season ceremonies; troughs: back to school and 5 to 25 January; Tabaski week weak for chicken.
- •Mobile dates noted every year from the calendar, never from memory; sale 3 to 7 days before the festivity, never on the day itself.
- •Big festive chicken: 12 weeks, 13 in the hot season; meal chicken: 10 to 11 weeks; medium chicken: 8 to 9 weeks; males to families, females to maquis.
- •Christmas backward plan: sale 17-20 December, arrival 17 September (91 days), reservation between 23 July and 6 August, cleaning from 27 August, previous flock gone on 27 August.
- •Sale in three lots (heavy, medium, rest) in less than a week; 60% reserved three weeks before; nothing kept after the festivity.
14 min read · 5-question quiz
- 4Guinea fowl, ducks, cockerels: what changes, what stays
The families who buy a big coloured chicken from you for Christmas also ask for a guinea fowl for a festive meal, a duck for a New Year's Eve table, or one cockerel per guest for a restaurant. These birds are sold to the same customers, on the same dates, and are managed with the same tools: register, weighing, backward planning, veterinarian of the area. But each has its own requirements for brooding, water, fencing and market. This lesson always starts from day-old young birds bought from a supplier: keets, ducklings or chicks, and says for each what changes and what stays.
What you will learn- ✓Manage the brooding of a batch of day-old keets and a batch of day-old ducklings, with the differences from the chick
- ✓Adapt the house, the water and the range to the guinea fowl and the duck
- ✓Produce cockerels by early sorting of a coloured flock, and know for whom
- ✓Recognise the traps specific to each species and what never changes
Lesson outline- Why widen the range, and what never changes
- The guinea fowl: fragile for three weeks, sturdy afterwards
- The duck: water for drinking, not for swimming
- The cockerel: sell young, sell fast
- What changes, what stays: the table
- Going further
Key points- •Always day-old young birds bought from a supplier; a single species and a single age group per house and per range; register, weighing, biosecurity, rotation, planning and veterinarian of the area for all.
- •Guinea fowl: 35 to 36 °C and heating for 3 to 4 weeks, dry litter, rounded corners, starter feed richer in protein; flies from 5 to 6 weeks (net); sale at 12 to 16 weeks, 1.2 to 1.8 kg; 4 to 5 per m² in heat.
- •Duck: easy brooding, 32 to 33 °C; deep drinkers outside on a slab, never a pond; thick litter; 3 to 4 per m² in heat; Pekin about 3 kg at 7 to 8 weeks; narrow market, survey first.
- •Cockerel: 4 to 6 weeks, 1 to 1.6 kg, feed conversion ratio of 1.8 at 5 weeks; early sorting of the 200 lightest of a flock of 1,200; sale date set with the restaurateurs at ordering.
- •Densities at the end of the flock in the hot season: coloured chicken 5 to 6 per m² (manufacturers 6 to 8), guinea fowl 4 to 5, duck 3 to 4.
14 min read · 5-question quiz
- 5Selling live or processed: channels, markets, restaurants, loyalty
A successful festive flock is judged on the evening of the last lot sold, not on weighing day. Selling 1,000 coloured chickens in a week, at the right weight, to the right customers, without keeping a single one into January, takes as much method as rearing them. This lesson extends the coloured chicken track and level 12 without repeating them: it deals with the festive chicken in particular, the choice between selling live or ready to cook, the preparation of the lots, and above all loyalty, what makes a family come back to you every Christmas rather than to the first seller at the market.
What you will learn- ✓Choose between selling live and selling processed according to the channel, with carcass yield and the cold chain
- ✓Build the sales split of a festive flock between families, ceremonies, resellers, maquis and shops
- ✓Prepare live chickens for sale: fasting, sorting, crates, transport, scale
- ✓Measure and raise customer loyalty from one festivity to the next
Lesson outline- Live or processed: two products, two trades
- The channels of the festive chicken and the split
- Preparing live chickens for sale
- Processed: slaughterhouse as a service, cold, label
- Loyalty: making the customer come back, festivity after festivity
- The price: yours, never invented
- Going further
Key points- •Live for families, ceremonies and resellers; ready to cook for maquis, shops and city customers; carcass yield of a 12-week coloured chicken: about 70 to 72%; fresh between 0 and 4 °C within 48 h, frozen at −18 °C.
- •Split of 950 Christmas chickens: families 40%, ceremonies 20%, maquis 20%, resellers 15%, private individuals 5%; no channel above 40%.
- •Preparation: fasting of 8 to 10 h without cutting the water, calm catching by the legs, three weighed and marked lots, 8 chickens of 3.3 kg per crate, transport in the cool hours, scale checked and weighing in front of the customer.
- •Loyalty = customers who came back ÷ customers of the previous festivity; aim for more than 60%; contact calendar at 3 weeks, 2 weeks, 2 days, and thanks afterwards.
- •The price is yours: cost in units × your amounts, never below cost; per bird by weight lot for families, per kilo of carcass for maquis and shops.
14 min read · 5-question quiz
- 6Health on the range: worms, coccidiosis, predators, and when to call the veterinarian
A chicken that goes out on a range for two months swallows soil, insects, earthworms and puddle water; it meets wild birds, sometimes sleeps next to a rat hole and runs from a bird of prey. None of this happens to a white broiler shut in for six weeks. Health on the range is therefore a trade of its own: describing the enemies, seeing them coming in the register and the droppings before they damage the flock, and knowing at which precise moment to pick up the phone for the veterinarian of the area. This lesson gives no care and no product: that is not the farmer's role.
What you will learn- ✓Describe the worms of the free-range chicken, their cycle, their signs and the actions that break the cycle
- ✓Recognise coccidiosis, understand why damp soil favours it and prevent it through management
- ✓Spot external parasites, heat disorders and the aftermath of predator attacks
- ✓Apply the grid of thresholds for calling the veterinarian and prepare the visit
Lesson outline- Why health changes when the chickens go out
- Worms: describe, prevent, watch
- Coccidiosis: the disease of damp soil
- External parasites, heat and other troubles of the range
- The sick bay and the evening action
- When to call the veterinarian: the grid
- Going further
Key points- •Three sides of a disease: animal, agent, environment; on the range, the farmer acts on the environment and surveillance; we describe, we prevent, we watch, we call, we do not give care.
- •Worms (roundworms, heterakis, capillaria, tapeworms): cycle through the soil in 2 to 3 weeks, signs = chickens that eat and no longer grow, paleness, soft droppings; prevention = area, rotation, drainage, clean water; droppings examination by the veterinarian.
- •Coccidiosis: oocysts infective in 1 to 2 days in damp, warm soil or litter; liquid brownish-red or bloody droppings, prostrate chickens, drop in water; prevention = dry litter, 5 to 6 per m², gravel, no outing in the mud.
- •External parasites (lice, fleas, red mites, scaly leg), heat stroke, pecking, aftermath of predators: sand bath, smooth perches, shade, cool water, sick bay the same evening.
- •Calling grid for 1,000 chickens: more than 3 deaths per day two days in a row, 10% drop in water, blood in the droppings, 10% of chickens prostrate, nervous signs immediately; visit prepared with register, live sick birds, dead kept cool and droppings.
14 min read · 5-question quiz
- 7House and range: the 8 m open-sided house adapted to free range
The 8 m wide open-sided house is the School's reference house: it ventilates by itself, it is built with the country's materials, it houses 1,000 coloured chickens at 5 per m² over 25 m of length. But a house designed for chickens that never go out is not ready for chickens that go out and come back ten times a day for two months: it lacks the pop-holes, the threshold, the awning, the gravel, the drainage channel, the perches and the sick bay. This lesson says what does not change, what we add, and how to adapt an existing house, with the worked example of an 8 m by 30 m house.
What you will learn- ✓Recall the rules of the 8 m open-sided house that remain valid with a range: orientation, roof, low wall, density
- ✓Size and place the pop-holes, the threshold, the awning and the gravel of the exits
- ✓Organise drainage around the house and the interior: perches, feeders, drinkers, sick bay, store, water reserve
- ✓Adapt an existing house to free range with a complete calculation
Lesson outline- The 8 m open-sided house: what does not change
- What changes: pop-holes, threshold, awning
- The ground around the house: slope, drainage channel, gravel
- The interior: perches, equipment, sick bay, store, water
- Worked example: adapting an existing 8 m by 30 m house
- The house mistakes that are paid for on the range
- Going further
Key points- •8 m open-sided house: east-west axis, roof overhanging 1 to 1.2 m, low wall of 40 to 60 cm, floor raised 20 to 30 cm; 5 to 6 coloured chickens per m² in the hot season (manufacturers 6 to 8), that is 1,000 chickens on 8 m × 25 m.
- •Pop-holes: one for every 100 to 150 chickens, 1 m × 0.40 m, with a 15 to 20 cm threshold, lockable shutter, ramp and awning, in the central metres; closed and sealed during brooding.
- •Around: 2 to 3% slope, drainage channel at the foot of the overhang, 2 m strip of gravel 10 cm thick along the two long sides (10 m³ for 25 m), slabs under the outside drinkers.
- •Interior: removable perches (30 to 35 m for 1,000), 20 to 25 hoppers and 10 to 12 drinkers along the central axis, sick bay of 2 to 4 m², separate store, tank of at least 1,000 litres in the shade.
- •An existing 8 × 30 m house is adapted during an extended sanitary break: 1,200 chickens, 10 pop-holes, 12 m³ of gravel, 2,400 m² of range, 150 m² of shade, 236 m of fence.
14 min read · 5-question quiz
- 8Organising several coloured flocks in the year: cash flow in units, sanitary break
A successful festive flock is good; three flocks a year, placed on the right dates, separated by a real sanitary break, with cash that holds from one sale to the next, is a trade. This lesson answers the questions the entrepreneur asks as soon as the first flock is sold: how many flocks a year in one house? What exactly do we do during the three weeks without chickens? How do we pay for the 184 bags of the next flock before selling a single chicken? And is a second site needed? Everything is counted in chicks, bags, working days and weeks, never in money.
What you will learn- ✓Calculate the number of flocks possible per year in one house and place each on the festive calendar
- ✓Carry out a complete sanitary break of the house and the range, day by day
- ✓Build the cash flow curve of a flock in units and deduce the reserve to keep at each sale
- ✓Decide, with your figures, whether a second site or a better-run flock is needed
Lesson outline- How many flocks a year in one house
- The sanitary break: the three weeks, day by day
- Placing three flocks on the calendar
- Cash flow in units: the bag curve
- A second site, or a better-run flock?
- The end-of-flock sheet: comparing A, B and C
- Going further
Key points- •Cycle = 12 to 13 weeks of rearing + 1 of cleaning + 2 of break = 15 to 16 weeks; 3 flocks a year; sanitary break of 14 days that cannot be shortened, 3 weeks before Christmas; a single age group per site.
- •Sanitary break: days 1-2 litter out, 3-4 washing, 5 disinfection, 6-7 drying and repairs, 8-19 house empty and closed, 20 new litter, 21 heating; range resting 56 days.
- •Three flocks over the year: A Christmas (arrival 17 September), B spring (14 January, mobile festivity according to the calendar), C August (7 May, 7 August), 6-week break before Christmas; mobile dates and reservations added every January.
- •Bag curve: 184 bags and 1,000 chicks gone out before the first income at week 12; at each sale, reserve the equivalent of the next flock; cockerels and deposits soften the trough.
- •End-of-flock sheet: losses under 5%, bags per 100 kg to bring down, sale in less than 10 days, loyalty above 60%; a second site only after three good flocks in a row.
14 min read · 5-question quiz
- 9Field exercise: draw the plan of the range and the 12-month schedule
Until now, the flock of 1,000 coloured chickens was the School's. This exercise replaces it with yours: your land, your house, your calendar, your buyers. In half a day in the field and an evening at the table, you produce two documents that fit on two sheets and that decide the flock before the first chick: the plan of the range to scale, and the 12-month schedule. These are the two pieces the School expects at the case study of lesson 10, and those you will show to the mason, the veterinarian and the transporter.
What you will learn- ✓Survey a piece of land and draw it to scale with all the elements of the range
- ✓Check the plan with the range sheet: square metres per chicken, shade, pop-holes, fence, water, drainage
- ✓Build the 12-month schedule with three flocks, the festivities, the reservations, the sanitary breaks and the bags per month
- ✓Read the result and correct the plan or the flock before ordering the chicks
Lesson outline- What you are going to produce, and why two sheets are enough
- Equipment and time
- Step 1: survey the land
- Step 2: draw the plan to scale
- Step 3: build the 12-month schedule
- Read the result and correct
- Going further
Key points- •Plan to scale (1 cm = 2 m): outline, north and slope, house at the high point, pop-holes, gravel, drainage channel, plots, fence and gate, shade, drinkers, tank, store, footbath, legend.
- •Range sheet: 5 to 6 per m² in the house in heat (manufacturers 6 to 8), 2 m² of range per chicken, two plots, 1 pop-hole for every 100 to 150, 1 m² of shade for every 8, 1 drinker for every 80 to 100, 2 m gravel strip, 3-day tank.
- •12-month schedule: start from Christmas (sale 17-23 December, arrival 17 September, reservation end of July), place C then B, add the mobile dates, the plots and the bags per month (about 80 per month at the end of a flock for 1,000 chickens).
- •Six reading questions: area, shade, drainage, overlap, troughs, payable bags; each no is corrected before ordering, most often by reducing the flock.
- •The two sheets are pinned in the store and corrected every week; they are the pieces for the case study of lesson 10.
13 min read · 5-question quiz
- 10Case study: preparing a flock for the end-of-year festivities, from ordering the chicks to the sale
Mrs Akissi has been rearing white broilers for three years in Bongouanou, on route 2 from Agnibilékrou. In June, she decides to do her first long flock of coloured chickens for Christmas: 1,000 Hubbard Premium chicks, an 8 m by 25 m open-sided house that she adapts to free range, two plots of 1,000 m². This lesson tells her flock from the first call to NEXTEKCI to the last chicken sold on 24 December: the dates, the weighings, the bags, the three alerts, the decisions taken and those that should have been taken beforehand. It is the typical exercise of the specialisation exam: you will be given a flock like this one, and asked to read it.
What you will learn- ✓Reconstruct the backward plan of a real Christmas flock and check each date
- ✓Read the weekly table of a long flock (weight, gap, deaths, bags, events) and spot the alerts
- ✓Judge the decisions taken at each alert, with the grids of the specialisation
- ✓Draw up the unit count of the flock, name the causes of the gap and write what should have been done beforehand
Lesson outline- June and July: the decision and the backward plan
- The flock week by week
- The three alerts, and what she did
- The sale, day by day
- The unit count and the reading
- What should have been done beforehand, and the next flock
- Going further
Key points- •Christmas backward plan kept: sale 17-23 December, 91 days, arrival on 17 September, reservation at NEXTEKCI on 28 July, previous flock out on 20 August, 27-day break with works.
- •Three alerts well handled the same day with the grids: heat (week 3), bird of prey (week 7), drop to −11.3% with soft droppings (week 9, veterinarian and correction of the environment).
- •Successful sale: 953 chickens in 8 days, families 40%, ceremonies 20%, maquis 19%, resellers 16%, private individuals 5%; 74% reserved three weeks before; 3.4 kg males to families.
- •Unit count: 2,917 kg sold, 186 bags, actual ratio 3.19, 6.4 bags per 100 kg against 5.9 benchmark; 47 losses (4.7%); causes in order of weight: mud in front of the pop-holes and slow rotation, heat, insufficient shade, losses.
- •What should have been done beforehand: gravel to 2 m and 125 m² of shade during the break, weekly rotation from the rains, droppings examinations at weeks 6 and 8 planned with the veterinarian; done for flock B, which reached 5.9.
15 min read · 5-question quiz
Frequently asked questions
How many square metres of range are needed per coloured chicken?
The NEXTEKCI School (Agnibilékrou) uses 2 m² of range per chicken as a minimum, 4 m² for comfort, in at least two plots used in turn every two weeks. For 1,000 chickens, that makes 2,000 m², that is two plots of 1,000 m² on either side of the house. Below 1 m² per chicken, the grass disappears in two weeks, the soil becomes muddy at the first rain and worms and coccidia accumulate. The house is calculated separately: manufacturers indicate 6 to 8 coloured chickens per m², NEXTEKCI advises 5 to 6 per m² in the hot season, because at night all the chickens are inside.
At what age should a coloured chicken be sold for the end-of-year festivities?
For a big festive chicken of 3 kg and more, the mixed Hubbard Premium flock reaches in correct conditions about 3.45 kg on average at 12 weeks (84 days), males around 3.4 to 3.8 kg and females around 2.7 to 3 kg. In an open-sided house, in strong heat, the NEXTEKCI School advises adding one week of margin, that is 91 days. To sell from 17 to 20 December, the chicks therefore arrive around 17 September and are reserved at NEXTEKCI in Agnibilékrou between late July and early August, because all farmers want the same week. Families buy 3 to 7 days before Christmas, never on the day itself.
How do you rear guinea fowl in Côte d'Ivoire?
You always start from day-old keets bought from a specialised supplier. The first three weeks decide everything: 35 to 36 °C at keet level in the first week, heating for 3 to 4 weeks, perfectly dry litter, brooding rings with rounded corners against piling up, drinkers with pebbles against drowning, a starter feed richer in protein. From 5 to 6 weeks, the guinea fowl becomes sturdy and flies: a range under a net or short outings. It is sold between 12 and 16 weeks, at 1.2 to 1.8 kg depending on the strain, highly sought after for ceremony meals. The NEXTEKCI School details these benchmarks in lesson 4 of the specialisation.
When does chicken sell best in Côte d'Ivoire?
The peak of the year runs from 15 December to 2 January (Christmas and New Year): bonuses, returns to the village, festive meals. Then come Easter, the end of Ramadan, Independence Day on 7 August, and the season of weddings, baptisms and funerals in the dry season, especially from November to March. The troughs are back to school (September, early October) and the period from 5 to 25 January; Tabaski week is weak for chicken, sheep dominates. Religious festivals are mobile: the NEXTEKCI School (Agnibilékrou) teaches how to note their dates in January from the year's calendar and build the backward plan from the sale date.
How much feed does a coloured chicken reared for 12 weeks consume?
In correct conditions, a heavy coloured chicken of the Hubbard Premium type consumes about 9.2 kg of feed to reach 3.45 kg at 12 weeks, a feed conversion ratio of about 2.66. For 1,000 chickens, that represents about 184 bags of 50 kg, including 3 bags a day over the last weeks. The last two weeks are the most expensive: from week 10 to week 12, about 4.2 kg of feed is needed per kilo gained. The NEXTEKCI School counts in units, bags, litres and days, and each farmer puts in his prices; the benchmark to follow from flock to flock is the number of bags per 100 kg of chicken sold, around 6.
How do you protect a range against predators and parasites?
Against predators: a fence of 1.8 to 2 m with fine mesh on the bottom 50 cm and a foot buried 20 to 30 cm, because almost all get in from underneath; shade and hedges against birds of prey; pop-holes closed every evening after counting; bush cleared over 2 m against snakes. Against parasites: enough area, plot rotation every two weeks, drained soil, a 2 m strip of gravel in front of the pop-holes, clean drinkers on slabs, no backyard poultry nearby, six weeks of rest between two flocks. The NEXTEKCI School teaches how to read the traces and the signs of worms and coccidiosis; care remains with the veterinarian of the area.
How many flocks of coloured chickens can be done per year in one house?
Three. A complete cycle lasts 15 to 16 weeks: 12 to 13 weeks of rearing, one week of cleaning and disinfection, then at least two weeks of sanitary break, house empty, clean and dry, so that the surviving parasites die for lack of a host. There remain 5 to 6 weeks of margin in the year to set the sales on the festivities and lengthen the break before the Christmas flock. The NEXTEKCI School (Agnibilékrou) places the three flocks on Christmas, a spring festivity and 7 August or the ceremonies, avoiding back to school and the January trough, and teaches to set aside at each sale the equivalent of the next flock. The fourth flock does not exist.
Should festive chickens be sold live or ready to cook?
Both, depending on the customer. For festivities in Côte d'Ivoire, live dominates: the family wants to see the chicken, choose it and kill it at home on the day; ceremonies and resellers also buy live. Ready to cook serves maquis, restaurants, shops and city customers: it requires an approved slaughterhouse, cold between 0 and 4 °C for fresh sold within 48 hours, or freezing at −18 °C which allows selling in the troughs. The carcass yield of a 12-week coloured chicken is about 70 to 72%. The NEXTEKCI School advises starting by selling live well, in lots sorted by weight; this is the chain NEXTEKCI practises in Agnibilékrou with its slaughterhouse and its frozen chicken.
In conclusion
By the end, you know how to produce the chicken people ask for, at the weight asked for, on the date asked for, with a range that stays healthy from one flock to the next and cash that holds until the sale. You know how to read a long flock like a technician and decide like an entrepreneur. The exam goes through a case study from start to finish; success awards the 'Free-range poultry and festive markets' specialisation certificate, issued privately by NEXTEKCI.