Farmers need not keep chickens just for their own home consumption in terms of eggs and meat. They need to rear them as a source to generate a reasonable income to improve their income.
For a long time now, farmers with an eye on the market believe that one can only keep hybrid or exotic breeds for this purpose. Indigenous chickens, if well selected in terms of breed can bring much more income, if not better than the exotic breeds.
One of the factors a farmer should look at when going into poultry production of either indigenous or exotic chickens is the cost of production and the market including prices of each of these breeds.
Advantages of indigenous breeds
Indigenous chickens have many advantages over exotic breeds.
i) Indigenous chickens can be fed on home-made feed rations
ii) They can also be allowed to free range, therefore cutting down the amount of feed that the farmer has to give them.
iii) Unlike exotic breeds, indigenous are tolerant to many diseases, this reduces the veterinary costs.
iv) Although exotic breeds are highly productive in terms of eggs and meat, the cost of keeping them including management is a big challenge to farmers. This makes indigenous chickens much more attractive to keep.
Recently, researchers at Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) Poultry unit at Naivasha came up with more productive indigenous breeds, which lay more eggs than ordinary indigenous breeds.
An exotic breed such as the Leghorn can lay up to 300 eggs in a year, but under good management, the improved indigenous breed from KARI can produce 220 – 250 eggs under good management.
Below are the guidelines for booking the KARI one day Kienyeji chicks;
The poultry unit at KARI Naivasha offers the following products for sale:-
1. Day-old chicks @ Kshs. 100.00
2. Fertile Eggs per tray @ Kshs. 1,000.00
3. Breeding cocks @ Kshs. 1,000.00
NOTE:
a) Interested customers should make a non-refundable commitment fee of 25% of the total
cost of the chicks order.
b) Customers are required to clear the balance (75%) on or before the collection date c) Customers are notified a week before their chicks order is due for collection.
d) Prices are subject to change without further reference to the customer
e) All payments are made through:-
KARI Naivasha
KCB NAIVASHA BRANCH A/C. No. 1105271145
f) A scanned copy of the bank slip MUST be sent via karinaivasha@gmail.com or karipoultry@gmail.com.
g) The bank slip should have your full names, mobile-phone contacts and product booked
h) Failure to collect the chicks within the stipulated time will attract a 15 % penalty daily. i) Minimum booking is 50 chicks.
j) Personal cheques will NOT be accepted.
***SALES ARE SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY***
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