Here is an essay on ‘Poultry’ for class 11 and 12. Find paragraphs, long and short essays on ‘Poultry’ especially written for school and college students.
Essay on Poultry
Essay contents:
- Essay on the Introduction to Poultry
- Essay on the Birds found in Poultry
- Essay on the Selection and Culling of the Birds in Poultry
- Essay on the Fowl-House and Its Characteristics
- Essay on the Breeding of Poultry Birds
- Essay on the Importance of Poultry Manure
- Essay on the Collecting, Preservation, Grading and Marketing the Eggs
Essay # 1. Introduction to Poultry:
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Poultry breeding needs a personnel care and attention. In India it is mostly in the hand of those who are economically poor or illiterate. So the rate and quality of egg is not up to the mark hence profit is also marginal. Now the Government is also taking interest and financial programming is there to improve it. A good poultry farmer should have proper knowledge about the breed profit and loss, principles of mating, and systems of breeding and culling of poultry birds.
Habitat of Fowl:
For fowls, soil should be sandy, gravelly and abounding in kunkar along with good amount of lime. The stony soil is not suitable for fowls because stones cause damage to feet of the fowl. The heavy soil with high percentage of moisture is harmful. The marshy, dirty and drained grounds are fatal to the animals. The poultry should be protected from the cold winds and heavy rains.
They should not be allowed to walk in water. The poultry should be well-protected from hot sun and hot wind in summer season, so the site for the poultry ground should be such as to have a number of shrubs and trees. In summer season the west side of the poultry house should be closed in the daytime otherwise they will die due to westerly wind.
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The places where trees are not found, a shed of 10 to 15 square feet should be made with bamboo and straw. The shed should be kept 3 feet above the ground surface with the help of bamboo posts. The ground where such shades are not possible, it may be constructed with metal and raised 2 feet from the ground on stone pillars. The ground beneath the shed should be raised about 3 inches from general surface for good drainage.
Essay # 2. Birds found in Poultry:
Generally two types of birds are found in poultry:
(i) Chickens:
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The egg laying farms are kept in this category and are reared in smaller groups. They are provided a measured space for their development and the quality of feed is also different. They are reared in groups of 200-500 per farms but big farms containing 1000 or more birds are also reported but only few.
(ii) Broilers:
These are the specially reared birds particularly for meat and flesh. They are developed for 8-16 weeks and attain a particular size and weight. The quality of meat produced is much different than that of the chicken or other variety of fowls. This is a comparatively new and more popular industry. They measure about 1.5 kg., within a period of 8-10 weeks and are reared with minimum labour and space.
Selecting a Breed:
A large number of fowls are found in India but they are nondescript and are called Desi. The Desi fowls are small and show great variation in shape, size, colour and their quality of meat and rate of egg production. The egg rate is much low and they are small slow growing with a variety of drawbacks. These are produced due to in breeding so the hens produced are not of good quality. Even then some of the breeds are common in India.
Breeds of Fowls:
The whole poultry industry is centered round the fowls so the selection of good breed of birds for particular area is essential. It is well known that the original home of the jungle fowl has been the countries of South East Asia viz., India, Burma and Sri Lanka and common species of jungle fowls are Gallus gallus, G. lafayettii and G. Sonneratii.
The selection of the fowl breed should be based on the object with which fowls are kept. The best layers are Langshan, Rock, Brahma, Australorp, Rhode, Sussex, and Chittagong among the layer breeds. The Leghorn, Ancona, Monorca and Campine are the best layers among the smaller breeds. If fowls are bred by the best layers, year after year with proper care, the good quality breeds are established.
The largest and most weighty fowls are Brahma, Australorps, Rock, Orpington, Langshan, Game, Sussex and Cochin. The black Minorca’s are very well known as best layer of very large white eggs. It is also notable that all hens of the same breed will not lay eggs of the same size or colour. The fowls famous as the best sitter and mother are Silkies, Wyandotte’s and Bantams. The common hen is known as the Pati or Desi and is the best mother amongst all the fowls.
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The origin and evolution of various breeds and their varieties are due to selective breeding for producing the fowl of different shape, size, colour, comb structure, ear lobes etc. Domestic fowls may be categorized into two groups like Desi or the indigenous and the exotic or the improved.
Essay # 3. Selection and Culling of the Birds in Poultry:
Poultry feed is a costly item and a major part of finance is always involved in the feed; so it becomes necessary to cull the sick and non- laying birds. This on one hand reduces the cost of feed as well as provides much more space to the rest of the bird which starts laying more eggs. The sick and weak birds, if allowed to stay with the healthy birds, make them weak and sick.
Culling can be made from the very first day and after .every seven days it should be repeated. This will save the money as well as will introduce uniformity amongst the birds. It has been calculated that for a profitable poultry every bird of the flock must lay 160 eggs or more. The birds laying an average of 200 eggs are supposed to be the best. Sortening of crippled, weak, rusty, diseased, deformed, undersized and non-laying bird always pays the farmer in the long run.
Selection of Good Layers:
Selection and culling of the birds can be done on certain physical and biological condition of the health and morphology of the bird. This can be done by practice and constant watch of the flock.
Even then the following points can help a farmer in selecting good and healthy birds:
1. Comb and Wattle:
The comb of a non-laying bird shinks in size becomes pale and scaly. It generally looks dry where as in a laying bird it is always full, worm, glossy and blood red in colour.
2. Eyes:
A good and healthy layer possesses bright, large and prominent eyes as against the shrunken, small and dull eyes of non-laying birds. Some of the sick birds have grey eyes and irregular pupil.
3. Body:
A good layer requires much energy so she always feeds upon the feed and possess a large abdominal cavity, swollen abdomen, heavy body built but such things are not seen in sick birds. The healthy birds have 3-4 fingers dilation in between the pin or pubic bones. The space between ribs and keels is always much more than that in the sick birds.
4. Vent:
The condition of the vent tells much about the laying condition of the bird. The layer possess as large, moist and oblong vent against the dry, small and rounded shrunken vent of the non- laying birds.
5. Handling Quality:
The non-layer birds are shrunken and hard the pubic bones is thickened and have fat deposition but the laying birds are soft, piable, thin pubic and little amount of fat is found in them.
6. Pigment:
The laying birds usually have yellow coloured legs, body, beak, earlobes, fingers, and vent and round the eyes. This pigmentation is due to xanthophyll present in the poultry feed. The xanthophyll is used in making the yellow part of the egg so it is always consumed in the laying birds. A close examination of these parts of body can tell the condition of the bird whether laying or not.
7. Moulting:
A layer of good quality moults rapidly in the end of the egg laying and keep new feathers whereas the non-laying birds moult slowly in the middle of June of May and do not lay eggs. The period is also much more than that of the layer birds.
8. Activity:
A good layer is much active, brightly coloured, smart whereas these things are absent in non-layer birds.
Essay # 4. Fowl-House and Its Characteristics:
Fowls can be reared in the hills of India without houses but in plains the specially constructed houses are essential for fresh and cool air in the early morning and evening. One adult fowl needs twenty- five cubic feet of space. A house of 6 × 5 × 5 feet has sufficient accommodation for six fowls. An open shed or verandah must be attached to this house as run way to the fowls for exercise. It is recommended that for six fowls a run of 40 × 30 feet is sufficient.
The fowl house may be either of wood or brick or metaled but the house of ‘all metal’ is best. The outdoor of houses must be towards south. It is advisable to construct a number of small houses rather than a single large one. The roof of poultry houses should be of either corrugated iron sheets, thatch, or wood. For the proper ventilation, the south side of the house should be enclosed with half inch mesh wire netting and other 3 sides have openings (12″×6″) and covered with wire-netting.
The door of the house should be made up of an angle iron frame covered with mesh (½”) wire netting. The floor of the house should be pucca cemented and covered with coarse sand or dry earth sprayed with kerosene oil or phenyl. The sand layer must be changed after one month. The tick-proof perches of strong wood (3″ in width) should be placed inside the house above 1.5 feet from the ground running parallel at 1.5 feet from the wall.
The laying nets made up of 9 inch earthen gumlas (1.5 feet diameter, 9 inch depth), provided with dry ashes, sand or earth, should be kept in the corners of the poultry house for egg laying. A small gumla filled with old lime and mortar and the other gumla filled with coarse shell grits should be placed in the shed to supply the necessary grit and lime essential for the formation of egg shell.
Light is also essential for the well-being of poultry, so these houses should always be constructed where natural light is possible without which fowls will die due to cold. Near the shed door or in the yard, a vessel filled with clean and freshwater should also be placed. Care should be taken against sun-warmed water, which causes cholera in the fowls.
The house and shed should be cleaned daily and water should be changed twice a day. All wood work must be cleaned and painted with a mixture of tar and kerosene oil. The fowl house must be rat-proof because they destroy the eggs of chickens and carry diseases into the fowl house. The broken glass should be spread on the floor under the bricks to make a pucca floor because rats cannot burrow due to pieces of glass.
Other enemy is snake which enters into the fowl-houses through the holes made by rats. Fowls also attack small snakes, kill and eat them but if snakes are cobra, krait or Russell’s viper the fowls are killed due to snake biting. One way to check the rats and snakes is to fill up the holes of poultry house regularly.
Essay # 5. Breeding of Poultry Birds:
For successful poultry keeping, systematic breeding of fowls must be practiced.
The following care should be taken and kept in mind:
1. The largest and best farm fowls should be selected.
2. The weak, sick and stunt birds should not be taken for breeding.
3. Hens should always be best layers.
4. Two years old hens should be selected to breed with the cocks of one year age.
5. The male fowl should be of different family from the hen with which mated.
6. The hen must be mated with a cock superior to her.
7. For successful breeding nutritive food and intelligent management is essential.
For the breeding purpose the cock, selected, should have good size bone flesh, broad chest and colour. He should be active, healthy, energetic, young and of one year in age. The hen chosen for breeding should be equally good having almost the same qualities as the cock. If she is active and young she can lay a good number of large eggs. The number of hens allowed to mate with one cock should be limited and in no case be more than four.
Methods of Mating:
There are few selected methods of mating in the fowls. The method depends upon the breeders’ economy and space provided for poultry.
(a) Pan Mating:
This is done with in a cage where 8-10 hens are kept with a single male. The health of the hen plays a vital role in mating e.g., in leg horn species 15-16 females can be kept with male while in heavy breeds only 8-10 females should be allowed. In big forms where there is no shortage of space, to minimize the expenditure more males are kept in a flock for mating purposes. In such a case on robust male can be sufficient for 18-20 light breed females or 12-13 heavy breed females.
Such a process is called Flock mating. Besides this Stud mating and alternate mating processes are also in use. In stud method females are keep in the cage and one hen is allowed male with the cock only once. This is the best way to improve the flock and keeps the health of the cock good whereas in alternate mating one male can fertilize a pair of hens at a time alternating with each other or alternate days. But this is not a good process as one cannot be sure about the race, quality and breed of the progeny.
Systems of Breeding:
To develop a poultry in scientific and technical way for earning good profit one must know the system of breeding.
(a) Inbreeding:
When the male and females of the same breed are crossed together, it is called inbreeding. This helps in establishing good quality and desired quality of characters in the breed.
(b) Out Crossing:
The birds of the same species are crossed together keeping the qualities in mind, e.g., the white Leghorn has two varieties -one has high fecundity but the eggs are smaller in size but the other possesses bigger eggs but the fecundity is less. So such a crossing is called out crossing.
(c) Cross Breeding:
For cross breeding purpose a good knowledge of the characteristics of different breeds is essential because all crosses are not good. The first cross of both, the pure hen and pure cock, is the best egg laying but should never be used for further breeding.
For cottage industry of the rapid production of eggs and fowls for human consumption, the breeding of cross-breed fowls can be made. The birds of different qualities are crossed with each other, e.g., white Leghorn with Rhode Island Red or light Sussex with white Lehorn, Such a progeny will give an improved chicken having qualities of both the birds.
Essay # 6. Importance of Poultry Manure:
Poultry manure is supposed to be the best amongst all the manures use in India. The cow dung or sheep’s fecal matter is used in general but these have a little economic value as compared with the poultry manure. Poultry manure is very rich in Potassium, Phosphorus, and Nitrogen contents which are generally not found in soil. The total water content in poultry manure is about 75% of the total weight and this helps in fixing the water content in the soil as well as can be easily absorbed by the plants.
A bird produces almost twice as much fresh dropping as the feed eaten. The increase in weight is due to the water present in the forces. The poultry feed can easily be converted into compost. The production and fertilizer value of fresh dropping is much higher in all the respects as far as its soil conditioning ability, increased moisture holding capacity is considered.
Essay # 7. Collecting, Preservation, Grading and Marketing the Eggs:
The hens usually start egg laying from October to February or February to July and after that they undergo moulting. The time usually depends up on the climatic conditions of that region. To gain maximum profit poultry should be raised in such a way that laying must start in the last week of September or first week of October and should be maintained up to the end of winter season. The chickens be developed during rainy season with all precautions.
The eggs should be selected thrice or twice daily. This helps in keeping them cool and unbreakable. They should be collected in cool places. The poultry must not have a cock. This will help in getting unfertilized eggs. In some parts where the temperature is generally higher, the eggs are preserved in cold places and the pores are blocked by dipping the eggs in oil, or lime water.
The eggs are graded and valuation is done on the basis of their grades, e.g., AA Grade, A Grade, B and C Grade. The weight of egg should be more than 60 gm, 53-59 gm, 45-52 gms, 38-44 gms respectively. The eggs should be clean, normal in shape and air space not more than 10 cm.
Packing of Eggs should be done in particular vessels made for packing the eggs. The broad portion is always kept on the upper side and narrower end on the lower side.