Jotham79

if you were to get a female it would be brown my friend,

but they are handy i bought some and put them with our layers so now i breed my own layers,

i also pu them with our banties to get them bigger but will still go broody and make good mothers as the brown laying hens wont go broody, well saying that you might get the odd one that will sit, but they are few and far between,

you could ask round and get some ex battery brown hens, we call them warrens, f1 hybreds, put your whits males running with a dozen of them, get an incubator and hatch your own,

jake

Hi Jake,

I have seen hundreds of these male warrens and can assure you that there will be on rare occasions a female colored white with a small amount of red, just like the males. I know because we had one. The one we had was the best layer I ever had and so were her daughters.

I a hoping to find some more like this:

Thanks PJ I'll give you a shout when I can get home

Eventually I will want some, but it will be quite a while. I am hoping to find the strain that has the white ear lobes, but would be happy with any. BTW, how are your ducks doing?

Thanks for the info. My wife got them from friends & neighbours....we live in Buriram province. Got lots of chicks running round at the moment and between 40-50 eggs in nests. The hens are mainly the bog standard black Thai chickens that wouldn't look out of place in Jurassic Park.....LOL

Some day down the road I would like to get some RJF birds or eggs, but have no idea when.

Not sure about the first pair, but the black and silver is called a Permah (Bruma). The last ones do look like Red Jungle Fowl, but there are 3 strains in Thailand and it is rare to find a pure bloodline. They are all nice birds. Where did you get the RJF?

I have to be travelling for a while and would like to sell my rabbits. I have a buck and 2 does. I am posting on this forum as people are not likely to want to travel a long distance. Please PM me if interested.

Cheers

These guys are in Minburi, but ship anywhere. http://siamincubator.com/ Duck eggs require 28 days and 35 for Muscovy. They need a higher humidity and should be misted every couple of days.

Watership Down. And her favorite movie is Harvey.

If you are trying to make a profit, you really do not want your hens sitting on eggs. This will take them out of production for around 6 weeks or so and that is if you take the chicks away when they hatch. if you let her raise the chicks then she will be out of product for close to 3 months and is much more likely to become broody again. The chicks raised by the hen will tend to go broody more often than those hatched in an incubator. If you gather the eggs several times a day the hens will become broody less often.

If you want chicks, it is much better to get an incubator and make larger hatches. I have found that when 1 hen goes broody, other will follow. If you take the chicks away from the mother you will need to provide heat for a couple of weeks or so depending on the weather and will need to raise them separately from the adult birds and other young birds that are much different in size. If you want to have your hens do the hatching the nest can be several feet off the ground. when the chicks are about a day or two old the mother will jump down and call to them and they will all jump no problems. If 2 hens set a nest together usually the dominant hen will get all the chicks, but some may stay with each hen. They will sort this out. If you don't have abut 10 hens to each rooster or at the most 15 hens to a rooster, then many of the eggs may not be fertile and won't hatch. If you want the hens to set then take the eggs away and put 12-13 eggs all the same age under her so the eggs hatch closer together time wise. A mother hen with chicks will usually knock the crap out of any other chickens bothering her chicks.

If you do not want your hens setting then build a broody cage. Any wire cage with wire bottom and no nest. Put the chicken or chickens in the cage (above the ground) for abut 5 days with plenty of food and water. You can also get a spray bottle like you would use to mist plants and spray the hen's bottom. This will help cool her off. After about 5 days put back and see if she still wants to set eggs. If she is ok, then it will take her about 10 or so days to start laying again

If you are trying to make a profit, you really do not want your hens sitting on eggs. This will take them out of production for around 6 weeks or so and that is if you take the chicks away when they hatch. if you let her raise the chicks then she will be out of product for close to 3 months and is much more likely to become broody again. The chicks raised by the hen will tend to go broody more often than those hatched in an incubator. If you gather the eggs several times a day the hens will become broody less often.

If you want chicks, it is much better to get an incubator and make larger hatches. I have found that when 1 hen goes broody, other will follow. If you take the chicks away from the mother you will need to provide heat for a couple of weeks or so depending on the weather and will need to raise them separately from the adult birds and other young birds that are much different in size. If you want to have your hens do the hatching the nest can be several feet off the ground. when the chicks are about a day or two old the mother will jump down and call to them and they will all jump no problems. If 2 hens set a nest together usually the dominant hen will get all the chicks, but some may stay with each hen. They will sort this out. If you don't have abut 10 hens to each rooster or at the most 15 hens to a rooster, then many of the eggs may not be fertile and won't hatch. If you want the hens to set then take the eggs away and put 12-13 eggs all the same age under her so the eggs hatch closer together time wise. A mother hen with chicks will usually knock the crap out of any other chickens bothering her chicks.

If you do not want your hens setting then build a broody cage. Any wire cage with wire bottom and no nest. Put the chicken or chickens in the cage (above the ground) for abut 5 days with plenty of food and water. You can also get a spray bottle like you would use to mist plants and spray the hen's bottom. This will help cool her off. After about 5 days put back and see if she still wants to set eggs. If she is ok, then it will take her about 10 or so days to start laying again

The difference would be if the OP needs them to be Halal. Otherwise yes.

Hi All,

I have to do a bit of traveling for a while and would like to sell my rabbits. On Buck and 2 does. I have never tried the buck and one of the does, but the other doe has kindled twice. Have 2 cages as well and they are in Petchabun. PM if you are interested.

Cheers

Hi Jenigal,

There used to be an area between soi 3 and soi 5 on Sukumvit Rd behind the Grace hotel. There was a small middle-astern market and I did see goats hanging skinned, but this was a while back.

I am about 80% sure I will be making a trip to Ubon on the 21st of this month on a bus. If anyone down there wants fertile Jumbo Brown Quail eggs send me a PM.

Thanks

The lam that you have in your hand is called lam klang ( middle rice polishings). Thais love it because you can see some very little pieces of broken rice. It has little protean and energy and IMHO is next to worthless as a poultry feed. It is a very high fiber feed, if you need the fiber. What you want is lam on (fine rice polishings). Years ago, I sent a sample of lam on to a lab in the states and it had 15% protein and off the chart on fat. A poultry expert there said it was the closest thing he ever say as a single feed for chickens. It is much finer than the lam klang, almost like a flour, and is shown in the photo listed as rice bran. In my calculations in my spreadsheet I use 12% protein as I would rather err on the low side.

My guess is that your 31% protein mix as a concentrate poultry mix that is intended to be mixed with whatever is available locally. It will have all the vitamins and minerals (chemicals) needed. I used to use a concentrated mash for baby pigs with rum on and ground corn for my quail. Now I can get soybean meal.

Here is something to try to get the old hens to laying better. Take a cup of used cooking oil and mix it with some feed. You want the feed coated, but not soaked. You can actually just sprinkle it on their regular feed, but only what they will eat in a few minutes. After a few days they will be crazy for this. It is also a way to fatten birds to slaughter. Increased fat in their diet can help older birds lay a little better.

I use corn screenings, soybean meal (the same as you), fine rice bran, and a calcium mix with minerals in my feed mix and shoot for 16% protein. I occasionally supplement with greens, fruit,…ect and occasionally let them have a walk. Unless wheat is easily available and cheap, I would not worry about it. I wouldn’t use any whole grains that need to be ground. Fish meal may end up being a cheaper alternative to soybean meal, but I have heard that it can change the flavor of the egg. I think it is something like 70% protein and if I could get it easily at the fight price I would use it some.

For corn screenings find a corn meal and ask for kee kapoet. They should have a pile laying around and you bag it yourself. Corn screenings are a commodity in the states and I have seen it rated as 7.8% to 8.1%, but I use 7% in my calculations. It does not require grinding.

I recommend you give the hens all they can eat or at least 140-150 grams per bird.

If you still have hens laying on the ground (because they spent their lives laying in cages, put some nests very near the floor. When they start laying in the nests, slowly raising them. If you have a hen that breaks and eats a perfectly good egg you need to cull her.

Good Luck,

I will pm my email so you can reach me to get my spreadsheet for feed. If you will include the size of the bag/price/protein content my spreadsheet will show you the price per kg of protein content.

I finally got time to put down a few notes, and I understand everyone has their own way of doing things. I really like your coop. It is practical and doesn’t look expensive. I don’t see a problem with the birds roosting. I will PM answers to your PM questions shortly.

1. It is hard to see in the photos, but I don’t think all of your hens are pure Rhode Island Reds. All of your males are RIR and the hens with the dark tail feathers are too. The hens with the lighter color are most likely sex linked crosses which make op over 90% of the layers in Thailand. The crosses (called warrens) have a RIR male crossed with something like a White Plymouth Rock hen. All of the chicks will be red with a little white (females) or white with a little red and these will all be males. There is nothing wrong with the crosses as they are bred for Thailand and will outlay any pure breed. If you are really serious about making money, you should go with the warrens. Your neighbor with 3,00 hens might pay 160 baht for point of lay (pullets), but smaller numbers are likely to run around 225 baht.
2. I really don’t think you can get 100% production even in cages but keep good records and if you get close I will make a trip to see your set up. As egg production increase so will feed consumption.
3. I recommend 15-17 hours of light. It is said that it is best to turn the lights on early and let them go to roost naturally in the evening. I have done better with 24 hour light, but they will lay and make noise all night.
4. Move your roosters to another pen. You only need them if you want to hatch your own chicks. Other wise, when it gets hot, the eggs will start to incubate and need to be sold very quickly. If you keep them cool they will be ok, but 90% of Thais will leave them out in the heat and they will start to develop anyway. My hatch time drops by a day and a half in the hot season. If you want to hatch your own, I would go with your RIR males and your lighter females as they are different bloodline, will be ¾ RIR crosses, and should be good layers. Also, your hens will consume more feed if they are fooling around with the roosters.
5. It appears that you ae using rice hulls as litter. This is very common, but I really recommend against it. Your birds and develop respiratory problems from the dust. You could be bringing in diseases, and they carry enough nutrients that if they get wet you will have mold which is very bad. There are a number of pluses to rice hulls. I know someone will mention that millions of broilers are raised on rice hulls, but they live in barns with forced ventilation, the chicks are medicated, and only live 8 weeks so don’t have much time. If you can, take a fan and screen the rice hulls and use the fan to blow away dust.
6. You will need to dust for parasites. (DISCLAIMER; I sell DE on TV classifieds) I would dust the roosts, nests and litter with diatomaceous Earth (DE) about every 2-3 months. I would also treat their food about every 90 days to treat for parasites and coccidiosis.
7. I also recommend putting something under your roosts to catch the manure.
8. If you are going to mix your own feed and want port of it to be commercial layer feed, use crumbles (cheaper) and the hens won’t be able to pick out the pellets. I will M my email so I can send you a spreadsheet for making feed. I would use corn sweepings instead of cracked corn in your mix. Your feeders have the bottoms connected by hooks. Put the hooks in the top of the 3 holes and this will give the smallest space for feed to fall and will make it more difficult for the hens to waste the feed. You can build guards to put on them that will reduce waste. Also, raise your feeders so the hens have to stretch just a little and it will be more difficult for them to spill feed. If the front of their necks are chaffing the feeder is too high. Make catch basins to place under your feeders and water bottles. They will need to be around 75 cm square and 10 cm high. Put a few slats across the top and cover with 1 inch wire mesh. Any food or water which fall will be caught and reduce mold in your litter. When you empty the wasted feed you can give to fish.
9. I agree with RBH that it is all about stress. Your hens though will produce fewer eggs and or consume more feed if they are running around much. This is simple physiology, the more they move around, the more feed they burn. If you are truly letting the free range, they will consume enough feed to help you make a little more profit on fewer eggs. Their pasture requirements are quite large and you will need to be able to rotate and water it during the dry season. Your yard didn’t look to have much vegetation so won’t really help your birds assuming that there is sufficient floor space I would keep them inside. Without a lot of pasture and rotation and irrigation your chickens will have the yard reduced to dirt in a short time. Consider some Manilla Tamarind as they are low upkeep, produce a fair amount of fruit and chickens love them. Same goes for papayas. Dump water from your bottles on your trees when you give fresh water to your hens.
10. Inside your coop provide a dust bath of sand, wood ash, and DE.
11. You mentioned that some hens were missing some feathers. There are 2 common causes. The first is a low protein diet so the hens eat feathers . The other is because they are molting. If your lighter hens are molting you have probably bought spent hens. After about 10 to 12 months of laying the hens will go through a molt where they will lose some feathers and their laying will drop way off. In a few weeks they laying will pick back . The production the second year will be less than the first, but the egg size is usually as good or better.
12. Have an area where you put all of the supplemental feed like greens and fruit so it is easier to clean. They will tear the hell out of banana leaves.
13. Consider gutters to catch the rain into water jars as a good source of fresh water with the extra flowing out of the pen.

Well I think that is most of it.

Cheers

A chicken should have about 130 gram of feed per day. I hear that a chicken eats now. In 2 hours its come backsite out. This means there should eat every 2 hours.

15 kg is not to mutch.

150 chicken give you about 120 egg. 120 * 3 Bath = 360 Bath

15 kg chickenfeed cost ???

To safe on feed means you not get enough egg.

Be carefull. Not let wild bird eat from the chickenfeed

I used 130 gram as a guideline, but feed consumption will vary a little. There will be days when you get 120 eggs, but those will be good days. They will start off laying just a little and then will increase and you might get up to 85% or so on good days for a while. Eventually in 10 months to a year, production will decrease when your hens go through a molt. Of course if you have some males you factor those into the feed and out of the egg production. A big thunder storm, or people setting off fireworks will drop it sometimes. Also, if a hen goes broody you will lose production for a while. If your p0wer is out when you have your lights on, production will dip. I get Batagro layer pellets for 469 baht a kg which makes it 15.63 baht a kg. You can retail eggs for 3 baht, but wholesale will probably be a little less

I mix my own feed and get it down to 12-13 baht a kg and sometimes I supplement with greens PM me your email address and I will send you an excel spreadsheet.

Cheers.

If a Quailfarmer not breed his own bird. He must buy every Year new bird.

Who will buy the old female? And what is the price for them?

If i breed my own bird. 50% will be male. What i do with the male and again, what is the price for them.

Its not only the egg. Also many small thing who come after one by one.

The best is to sell them by the Farmer on the Market. The Profit ist there.

If you buy your hens, you will need to replace them about every 8 months. The spent layers can be slaughtered and sold. We get about 35 baht each. We hatch our own and I run about 60-65% males and make a profit on those too. I have mixed my own layer feed, but for the price and production I do as well with Betagro layer feed. I do mix my own grower ration as I run a larger breed of quail and need at least 28% protein. Now I only run a few hundred birds max and hatch chicks every 3 weeks so have males and spent layers to sell each 3 week period.

I like the cages WF made, but adequate cages could be build for a small fraction. It does require work, but a profit can be made.

Hi guys,

I'm planing to start chicken farm soon. I think to start with maybe 200 chicken (for eggs) on the beginning. Can anyone give some advice what I should be focused on first please ? I'm moving from BKK to Phayao so if anyone is in Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai area and is doing chicken breeding I would gladly visit and listen how to really do it. Well... I will look for some good breed to start with as well of course

Thanks a lot.

I am not trying to pee on anyone's campfire, but it will be nearly impossible to make money on a small scale (less that 1,000) with layers. I have a small hobby operation with up to 100 or so birds. I make my own feed and make a little money as a breeder. The price of eggs is down at the moment. If you really have to do it, get the sex link crosses either as chicks for about 40 baht a piece and raise them or Point of Lay (POL) hens (about 250 baht). The POL hens will need to be fed for 2-3 weeks until they get into production. They will out lay any single breed you can get for about 11-12 months and then you will need to sell them. The only better layers would be Khaki Campbell ducks.

I also have a small quail operation and make a fair profit from that. The start up and land requirement for quail is a very small fraction of what layers will cost. I'm in Petchabun and would be happy to show you my birds and a small layer farm nearby. PM me if you have any specific questions.

Cheers,

Hi,

I am in Petchabun and have bantams, rabbits, quail and chickens. PM me if you have any questions.

Cheers

It is a little hard to say without knowing the spacing, size and type of fruit trees, but there are several vegetables that would work. There is a chilli called Prik Kee Nu that does well partially shaded. They are small peppers, but usually have a good price. If there is room between the rows we do corn, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, okra and some others. If the trees are not that close together you can put a papaya inbetween or even guava.

Thanks for your reply, Jotham79.

I have found a useful stuff to read on Quail farming here.

I spent a couple of hundred hours researching on the internet some of which was on forums. after that, I visited 3 different farms here in Thailand and became friends with several quail farmers in the states. Lately I have viewed most of the videos on You-tube. I started with 100 layers for a trial and ended up with over a thousand layers. There was still a big learning curve. I am still researching, experimenting and keeping records.

If you wanted to maintain a laying flock of about 1100 hens you could make about 10,000 baht a month and probably more. My guess is that if you had the land it would cost you 130,000 baht or so to get completely up and running (less if you can do some of the work). It would also be possible for you to spend 500,000 baht to get started and make nothing. There are a thousand little things that can bit you in your behind. If you would like to get started then PM me and I can give you more information.

I am raising quail and making a fair profit. I could make a lot more if my health would allow me to have a bigger flock. Giving you all the details is not something I could do in a single post. Are you anywhere near Petchabun?

I'm currently haIving a tapeworm problem with my own chickens, and just last week likely lost a hen to tapeworms. I've discovered that the best medication is something with praziquantel in it. The only available meds I've been able to find in Thailand with this in is Drontal for dogs. 1/4 tablet per chicken. Dosed yesterday. Hope this helps.

Don't like to hijack a thread....but maybe someone could advise me? I want to use lime in the chicken coop and also make up a limewash. Can someone please tell me the Thai name for the CORRECT type of lime to use...not the stinging type. Many thanks

0

http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/disparas.htm#tape

http://poultrykeeper.com/digestive-system-problems/tapeworms-and-fluke-in-backyard-fowl

Here are a couple of websites that may help. Tapeworms usually do not require treatment and can be controlled when you treat for coccidiosis. Praziquantel is not licensed for poultry, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be effective. Wormers in general are very hard on the chickens. I would not use meds for other animals or humans as you just can't know what would be an effective dose or if it would work in a different digestive system. DE is effective against all internal and external parasites for poultry. I have been using it in Thailand for about 12 years with good results.

Are you going to use the lime wash to clean your coops between flocks? If you want to control external parasites with he poultry in place it would be better to use DE.

Also, any time you are using meds on poultry make sure you know how many days it is before you can eat the eggs or meat.