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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Chicken broiler production is one of the most progressive animal enterprises in
the Philippines today. The poultry industry began as a backyard enterprise but h
as shifted to the formation of very large integrated contract farming operations
. As we know, that one of the best way to counteract the effect of global crisis
is putting up a business substantially. But as a first timer in the field of bu
siness, you need a guide and techniques on how to operate it with less expenses
and more profit.
As your guide, we, the BSIT 3-B, proposed this project entitled Chicken Poultry R
aising Guide and Tips . To guide you and give you techniques on how to raise broil
er chicken properly. In this project, we will teach you the proper way of feedin
g and what feeds you are going to give to your stocks in order to grow healthy a
nd with a less mortality rate. We also included the kinds of feeds and the amoun
t to be given from the very first day of your stocks until harvest. This project
is very essential to you as a first timer in the field of farm business since t
his will serve you as a guide or manual in making your plan come true.
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Project Purpose
Due to the global crisis nowadays, most of the farmers felt unsatisfied
with their income which lead them to shift to farm business. But with no enough
knowledge as a first timer in the field of farm business. This will help them to
put up their business wisely with less time, money and effort.
The following are the specific objectives of the project:
1.
To give you tips and ideas on how to select the best stocks to raise
Choosing the best chicks to raise is very difficult. You need to be observant an
d vigilant in order to obtain a less mortality rate in your stocks. This will he
lp you to choose chicks wisely as we provide you the tips and characteristics of
a healthy chicks to raise.
2.
To teach you the correct way of building a house for your stocks includi
ng its best location.
Correct building of your broiler house is also important since it has a big effe
ct in the entire period of business. This project will help you in choosing the
best place to build your farm business and the proper way of building your broil
er house. Chicken broiler needs a proper care and maintenance since it is highly
susceptible to the various diseases. The correct building of your broiler house
will apply.
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3.
To guide you the proper feeding of your stocks including the amount and
the kind of feeds to be given
Proper procedure of giving feeds to your broiler stocks will help you maintain a
healthy stocks and a good profit. Chickens are also like human being which need
to be taken care of and to be given the right feeds in order to grow healthy. T
his project provides you the correct sequence of the feeds to be given from the
very first day of your stocks until harvest.
Project Scope
This project entitled Chicken Poultry Raising Guide and Tips is an applica
tion which will guide you as a first timer in poultry business. This will serve
as your manual in the entire period of business. This application provides you t
he tips and techniques in choosing the best stocks to raise. We also included in
this module the proper sequence of feeding to your stocks and the exact amount
of feeds to be given. The best site and location where your farm business must b

e located is also provided. Techniques in selling your harvested stocks are not
included in this project.
Interface Design
The interface design of this app uses colored pictures of chickens to increase t
he interest of the businessmen and businesswomen. The proponents decided to use
this colored pictures to attract the attention of others to use this interesting
app for business.
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Users, Range and Source of Information
The target users of this application are those interested businessmen and busine
sswomen in the field of farm business. This will give them more knowledge and te
chniques in raising broiler chickens. This application is intended primarily for
the first timer businessmen and businesswomen in poultry raising. This will ser
ve as their guide or manual in the entire business life.
Definition of terms
Technique - a way of doing something by using special knowledge or skills.
Stocks
refers specifically to chickens.
Poultry
birds such as chickens that are raised on farms.
Tips a way of giving ideas on a certain topic.

Page
Chapter II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND SYSTEMS
10 Tips on Raising Backyard Chickens (http://www.alternet.org/10-tips-raising-ba
ckyard-chickens)
Raising backyard chickens is very trendy these days. With news of arsenic in our
chicken and the U.S. Department of Agriculture s move to allow the sale in the U.
S. of chickens processed in China, many people are choosing to raise their own c
hickens. Businesses around the country are catering to this growing demand among
urbanites and suburbanites who want to have their own fresh daily eggs or raise
their own chickens for meat by offering chicks, feed, coop design plans and eve
n prebuilt coops.
But raising chickens definitely has its challenges that first-timers might not b
e aware of before they begin. Jason Price at The Hungry Dog Blog offers thefollo
wing tips that he has learned through trial and error while raising his own back
yard chickens in Seattle, Washington.
1. Go into it with a design plan or buy a pre-built coop:This may seem obvious,
but Price wanted to use as much recycled material as possible and do it on the c
heap, which you certainly can do. But you should have designs to go off of if yo
u want your coop to be structurally sound. If you want to raise chickens but don t
think you can build your own chicken coop, Modern Farmer has found some very co
ol, modernist, pre-built chicken coops.
2. Seek out neighbors and chicken farmers in the area: Yes, the internet is full
of useful sites for raising backyard chickens, but nothing beats the advice and
knowledge of someone with whom you can talk in your area. Seeing other people s s
etups will help you troubleshoot your own, and you can have people actually come
see your operation and your chickens when you are having problems.
3. Be prepared to stumble upon some horrible chicken deaths: Harsh, but true. Pr
ice had a horror story of dog sitting for a demon dog that took out three of his
baby chicks. Dogs, weasels, coyotes, raccoons and foxes are just some of the co
mmon predators of chickens. This is another reason that it s best to follow a desi
gn plan for a chicken coop so that your hens are well protected.
4. It s possible you will have a rooster in the brood: Determining the sex of chic

kens when they are young enough to sell is only about 90 percent accurate, so oc
casionally you will get a rooster or two in with your hens. It s illegal (and anno
ying) to have a rooster in most urban and suburban areas, so you ll either have to
eat the little guy or find him a new home.
5. Don t expect your chickens to lay eggs on a consistent schedule: The breed help
s determines when your chickens should lay eggs, but chickens will often take lo
nger than standard estimates and egg laying will vary with the seasons. Making s
ure they have good, whole grain food with at least 17 percent protein, a healthy
amount of water and ample light will help, but Price warns your hens might lay
every day for a month, take a break for a few days, and then lay every other day
.
6. Plan to spend lot of time on chicken blogs : Much like how parents pore over blo
gs and books about what s ailing their sick children, when backyard chicken farmer
s hens get sick, they spend lots of time perusing sites like The Chicken Chick, B
ackyard Poultry Magazine, Backyard Chickens.com,Oh Lardy s Backyard Chicken Series
and Pam s Backyard Chickens. Sadly it s inevitable that you may lose some chickens
to disease.
7. Farm life is not all roses: Materials such as straw and Diatomaceous Earth he
lp keep the odor down, but chickens still produce lots of waste, which attracts
flies. Price says the best thing to do is to clean and replace your straw weekly
and use fly traps.
8. You can t beat the taste: Before you begin to think this is a list of 10 reason
s why not to raise backyard chickens, let s not forget that fresh, organic eggs an
d the meat from chickens that you raise yourself taste amazing. Taking ownership
of your food by growing and raising it yourself is an empowering feeling.
9. The zen of watching chickens: Price said this surprised him, but he really en
joys watching the chickens express their innate behavior. They all have differen
t personalities, and he gets a kick out of watching them play together.
10. Chickens come and go: Chickens have about two good years of laying before th
eir production declines, and the feed costs more than you save in eggs. You can
either eat them or keep them as pets and let them die of old age. And then you c
an buy more chicks to start the cycle anew. As mentioned previously, you should
be prepared to lose a few chickens along the way. Price started with 11 and ende
d up with 6 due to predators (the evil dog he watched), disease and one being a
rooster.
Advice and Tips on Raising Chickens
By Fronefield Crawford (http://venus.fandm.edu/~fcrawfor/coop.html)
Here is some advice about raising chickens in a suburban environment and some im
portant elements to include when making a chicken coop. I gained this wisdom thr
ough much trial and error, so maybe it will help someone else avoid some of the
common pitfalls experienced by this novice chicken owner. There is no particular
order to this.
Three ways to keep chickens
First, there are three ways in which you can keep chickens:
1.
Free range
Advantages: It's fun and you get to see the chickens run all around. They also e
at healthy stuff (and bugs) in the yard.
Disadvantages: The mess (droppings plus scratched up plants/grass/yard) is not c
ontained, and the droppings can end up in places like your driveway. They are vu
lnerable to predators during the day (particularly foxes and hawks). They can wa
nder into your neighbor's yard and annoy them with droppings and damaging the ya
rd.
2.
Limited range
You can make up a fence (see fence section below) which will contain them.
Advantages: You still get the free range aspect without a big risk of having the
m run around all over (though this can still happen if your fence isn't super hi
gh).
Disadvantages: Still susceptible to predators (foxes and hawks) during the day.

Fence can be a bit ugly unless a lot of effort is made to make it look nice. Fen
ce supplies can add up in cost. Whatever land you put within the fence will be d
estroyed eventually by the chickens, so consider it a barren wasteland.
The predator problem can be alleviated with a covered fenced-in run.
3.
Completely housed (in a coop)
Advantages: Safety. No worries about chickens roaming into neighbor's yard. Easi
er to handle larger numbers of birds without making a neighborhood spectacle of
yourself chasing after your chickens all the time.
Disadvantages: No free range diet, dirt baths, etc. In short, not as much fun fo
r chickens and for you to watch.
What breed of bird should you get?
I prefer the egg layers since they are generally docile and produce nice eggs. Y
ou can get a wide variety of chickens, but some are flighty, and some don't prod
uce a lot of eggs. A rooster is only necessary if you want a fight every time yo
u approach the coop (don't underestimate the nastiness of a rooster with sharp c
laws). It also makes a racket, which can annoy the neighbors. You don't need a r
ooster to get eggs. Remember that. Hens are much quieter. My favorite breeds are
:
Rhode Island Red. Great layer of brown eggs. Good looking chicken. Good disposit
ion.
Buff Orpington. Fat yellow chicken which lays brown eggs. Very docile.
Barred Rock. Interesting black and white striped pattern. Decent layer of brown
eggs and good disposition.
Americauna. Fuzzy face, large chicken. Lays blue eggs! Good disposition, general
ly friendly.
White Leghorn. Prolific white egg layer. Very nervous/flighty, though. So not as
docile.
Fence?
For a fence (for limited range chickens), standard hexagonal chicken wire (poult
ry netting) is good for the fence wall (and cheap). You can go with stiffer stuf
f but I don't think it is necessary. My fence was about 4 feet high and the post
s were green metal garden stakes. I connected the tops of the posts with 2x3 woo
den beams, which looked a little better and allowed me to tie the hex fencing to
the cross beams with cable ties. I used cable ties for almost all fence ties (v
ery handy) and small drywall screws to attach the wooden beams to the garden sta
kes (the stakes have several holes in which a screw can be put). I used 48-inch
high hex netting and had a bit of fence at the bottom left over which I could cu
rl inward into the pen. After putting some rocks on this flat part of the nettin
g, it was hard for animals to dig under. The chickens certainly can't get throug
h it. That was all fine, but the chickens can actually hop up onto and over a 4
foot fence, especially if they learn how to do it one time (or watch a fellow ch
icken do it). They will eventually come back after foraging away from the pen, b
ut they won't be contained. Also, predators like foxes can easily get over a fen
ce like that, and they will do so even during the day if you live in a forested
or wild area. Don't forget to make a gate so you can get in and out of the pen.
I used a baby gate (previously mounted at top of the stairs in the house) for th
is purpose and it worked well. It attaches easily to the garden stakes as posts.
Coop Design
The coop must be secure! The coop must be secure! The coop must be secure! If no
t, all your chickens will be attacked at night and gone in a matter of days (onc
e the predators figure out they are there). For mesh, use hardware cloth not the
hex netting (not strong enough). Any slit wider then about an inch (or maybe a
bit less) is asking for trouble.
You can usually gauge when the chickens are miserable and when they are content.
If they are miserable (from being too wet or cold, for instance), consider chan
ging these things to make them a little happier.
Chickens need a bit of space or else they will peck each other, and this can be
quite gruesome if left to continue. Don't stack them up too closely for this rea

son, plus they'll be miserable. Make doors with latches (deadbolts are what I us
e). Raccoons and other clever animals can defeat simple locks. Ideally, your coo
p should be large enough to house the birds and their food and water, which is b
etter kept inside the coop if you can manage it. A hanging feeder is best so the
y don't step in the food and make a mess. A water font is best since it prevents
the same messiness as with the feeder and stores a lot of water. Try to make ea
ch of these available at the height of the chicken's back so they don't climb on
it and make droppings in it. I hang an orange rubber cone directly over the wat
er font so that they don't hop on it to roost (and make a droppings mess in thei
r water).
The coop should have plenty of roosting space (a roosting bar or two) for all bi
rds since that is where they like to sleep (on such bars). An inch width or a bi
t wider is fine for this. Keep it away from the food and water. Some ventilation
is nice, but if it gets cold in the winter, remember that they'll need a tarp o
r wooden board or some such thing to prevent freezing wind from blowing through.
Make the roof slanted to that snow and rain will roll off and not accumulate, w
hich can ruin the roof (makes it rot and leak). Even a small slant will do, just
not flat. If your coop is more like chicken house (not just a glorified box), t
ry to get some straw or pine shavings for the floor. It'll smell better and be m
uch easier to clean when the time comes.
Try to keep the coop dry, so make the roof extend beyond the wall of the coop a
bit so the rain doesn't drip into the coop. A good roof material to use is tar p
aper (essentially a big shingle which can be rolled out on the roof). It is good
in weather, easy to install, and not too expensive. If your coop gets significa
ntly wet inside, your chickens will be miserable plus it makes the coop a real h
assle to clean and makes it reek. A dry coop won't smell too bad, so that's one
way to can tell if it is getting too dirty and wet.
Cleaning the coop
From time to time you'll have to clean the coop. I find that an ice scraper is v
ery useful for clearing the droppings off a smooth surface (usually the dropping
s are dry unless your coop is getting rain in it) and works just like it does cl
earing ice from your windshield. If you have a removable floor, that's good, but
that is really only feasible for the small coop (glorified box). For the larger
coop, you'll have to shovel. In any case, unless things get really wet and you
wait beyond the time you should to clean it out, it is not too offensive.
Automatic Door Option
How about an automatic door?
This option is expensive but very handy, especially if you plan to have your chi
ckens outside for any length of time. It basically frees you from having to open
the coop door in the morning and close it up at night. I have used the Wells Po
ultry VSB automatic door with light sensitive opener (opens at dawn, closes at d
usk). It works great and hasn't run out of battery power in a couple of years. I
built a little wooden roof over the sensor piece so it wouldn't get rained on,
and I added a plexiglass front cover over the sensor so rain and snow wouldn't g
et in there either.
If the chickens are outside during the day, the chickens will automatically come
home to the coop to roost for the night when it gets dark. So you won't have to
track them down and catch them every night. It might be a good idea to keep the
m inside the coop for a couple of days if possible or manually put them into the
coop if they don't get the picture on the first few nights until they realize t
hat this is home. They may start roosting in the trees when they first start liv
ing in the coop.
If you need to catch a chicken and get it into the coop at night, it is better t
o wait until it is dark out. While it is light, the chicken will run around and
away from you and can be quite difficult to catch (unless it is used to being he
ld a lot and then is easy to catch and hold). Once it is dark, it won't run arou
nd but will sit there hoping it won't be seen. You can approach the chicken with
a flashlight quietly and it will stare at you while you shine it in its face. T
hen when you are ready to get hold of it, make the grab fast and tight (secure).
It'll freak out when you grab it, but just hold tight for a second and it will

pass. Then you can put the chicken in the coop.

Cold Weather
Most of the usual chicken breeds do pretty well in the cold weather (below freez
ing, even), but expect egg production to dramatically decrease or stop while it
is cold and dark. As long as the fowls are protected from excessive wind and exp
osure, they'll be OK (for instance, don't leave lots of open wire mesh windows i
n the coop -- cover them with plywood or plexiglass or something). Plexigass is
nice as a window cover because it is durable and allows sunlight to enter, givin
g some solar gain during the day (but it is a bit more expensive).
One other important item concerning cold weather: frozen water. The water in th
e waterer will freeze into a block of ice when it drops below freezing. One solu
tion to this is to get a heated base for metal water heaters. This is essentiall
y an upside-down metal pan with a cord that plugs into a standard socket. Place
the metal waterer on top of the base and it will keep the water unfrozen. Unfort
unately, you have run an extension cord out to the coop to provide power during
the winter months. This kind of heater works great, but a a metal waterer if pre
ferred owing to its better thermal conductivity. I have used both plastic and me
tal, and the plastic container does have iced-over water in the trough if it get
s very cold, but not enough to keep the chickens from having any water at all. T
he metal never has these issues. More evidence that a plastic waterer will work
is seen in pictures taken by chicken expert Terry Golson of her coop which shows
a plastic waterer on top of what appears to be the heater. If, on the other han
d, you have a smaller waterer and want use a canning jar with a screw-on plastic
base (and forget the heater), be sure not to use a glass jar (use a plastic one
instead). The glass will crack when the water freezes and expands, and then you
have shards of glass in your coop.