Commercial Feeding of Improved Kienyeji Chicken

Feeding is one of the central areas covered in our Comprehensive Guide to Kienyeji Chicken Farming which now retails at Ksh.1000 per copy. This is because it is key to quality meat production as well as good production. Remember that with good feeding and poultry management, you can get your kienyeji chicken to lay as many as 250 eggs per year. In the free-range and semi-free range systems of poultry rearing, the feeding costs are significantly reduced because you can allow the chicken to scavenge in a big or limited area. This not only lowers the costs of production but also adds to very good meat quality.

Some farmers may however, prefer to give the Kienyeji chicken-whether Kuroiler or KARI Improved Kienyeji chicken-some commercial feeds that are generally fed to the broilers and layers of the exotic breeds. This is even better, particularly if you also combine it with a semi-free range rearing system to improve on the meat quality.  If you are one of those considering this as an option, here is a simple guide that you can use to feed your chicken on the commercial feeds:-

• For the 1-8week old chicks, provide the chick mash.
•  For the 8-19week old hens, provide the growers mash.
• After 19 weeks, you can provide the layers mash to boost your egg production.

 We highly recommend that you mix these with other innovative feeding methods that we have outlined in our comprehensive book and guide on kienyeji chicken feeding. These include the use of omena, bonemeal, ochong’a(very tiny fishes) , termites, sukuma wiki and other vegetables amongst others. Mixing with these makes both economical and nutritional sense.

Order our comprehensive kienyeji chicken farming book and guide today and equip yourself with the right knowledge to apply the best feeding techniques for the best poultry production. 

Model Poultry Housing for Kienyeji Chicken

Good shelter is an essential part of good kienyeji chicken farming and management. Your journey to Kienyeji chicken farming will begin with building an appropriate shelter for your flock.  The shelter will provide several functions. On the one hand, it helps protect your birds from the predators such as the hawks, wild dogs and wild cats. It also protects your flock from theft and poor weather which may adversely affect the health of the birds.

Your hens will not only need a good shelter for to protect them for the above hazards. They also need a good laying area inside the shelter and a good perching area.  The laying areas should be places with little disturbances.  It is always recommended that you use locally available materials so as to lower the costs of construction. Some of the most popular materials used in constructing the shelter include the timber off-cuts, old iron sheets, mud, bricks and stones. The walls can be cemented for ease of cleaning but if you are strained financially, you can as well use clay mud that is mixed with cow dung for maximum durability.

There are several materials that you can opt for to build the walls depending on your budget and preferences. These include stones, bricks, iron sheets and timber off-cuts. The off-cuts offer the more desirable option for most small-scale or low income farmers because they are affordable and also highly durable, especially if use the wood preservatives. During our construction of chicken houses for various farmers, we purchased very large off-cuts for between Ksh.50 and Ksh.80. Clay is free but you may pay a fee of between Ksh.500 ($6) to Ksh.1500 ($18) to a lady or group of ladies who will mold the clay into the structure.

Orientation
The poultry house should be constructed in an East-West orientation.  This will significantly reduce or block the sunlight, draught and even rain in the house.  The North-West sides of the house should be aerated with the use of chicken wire. A roll of chicken wire costs Ksh.1500 although some hardware stores sell it for as high as Ksh.2000.  The house should take a rectangular shape. Common house configurations include 40ftX20ft, 30ftX20ft, 30ftx15ft, 30ftx10ft, 25ftx15ft etc. The size of the house will depend on how ambitious your project is and the amount of the resources that you have allocated for the project. Your target number of hens to rear will most likely determine the size of the housing that you plan to build.

The stocking density
The model stocking density should be I bird per square feet in a ground profile or two birds per square feet in a raised profile. Check out our Improved  Kienyeji Chicken Farming Manual to differentiate between the two kinds of housing profiles. For example, a 40ftx20ft house can accommodate as many as 800 birds in a ground profile or 1600 birds in a raised profile. If you are planning to rear a maximum of 200 birds in a ground profile, a 20ftx10ft chicken housing will be adequate.

Management Practice
Construct the house far from the house and fence it using the chain link fencing wire. You can purchase the six feet chain link cables which can keep the chicken from jumping over the fence.  The chain link fencing will keep away other wild birds as well as animals that may wander into the chicken enclosure. It also keeps off unauthorized people from getting into the chicken enclosure thus minimizing the risks of contamination that could potentially wipe off your flock.

The entrance of the chicken house should have a foot path with a disinfectant where one can dip the sole of their feet before entering the enclosure to prevent disease transmission.  In addition, the entrance to the closure should be fitted with a door that is locked with a padlock when the enclosure is not in use.  Keep birds of the same age at any given time. When these mature, you can clear the stock and bring new birds which are about the same age.

Regulation of the conditions inside the poultry house

Proper heat regulation is very important in the tropical African conditions. The top three sevenths of the house should be sealed with a wire mesh and chicken wire in order to eliminate excess heat and help in maintaining optimal temperatures inside.  The bottom four sevenths of the chicken house should be made of solid material such as mud, wooden planks, bricks or iron sheet. Fit curtains which are made of sacks on the top part of the structure which is made of wire mesh. The curtains should be drawn at night when the temperatures drop. By opening and closing the curtains, you can control the ventilation of the house and ensure optimal temperatures inside.

Model Poultry Housing for Kienyeji Chicken

Good shelter is an essential part of good kienyeji chicken farming and management. Your journey to Kienyeji chicken farming chicken farming and management. Your journey to Kienyeji chicken farming will begin with building an appropriate shelter for your flock.  The shelter will provide several functions. On the one hand, it helps protect your birds from the predators such as the hawks, wild dogs and wild cats. It also protects your flock from theft and poor weather which may adversely affect the health of the birds.

Your hens will not only need a good shelter for to protect them for the above hazards. They also need a good laying area inside the shelter and a good perching area.  The laying areas should be places with little disturbances.  It is always recommended that you use locally available materials so as to lower the costs of construction. Some of the most popular materials used in constructing the shelter include the timber off-cuts, old iron sheets, mud, bricks and stones. The walls can be cemented for ease of cleaning but if you are strained financially, you can as well use clay mud that is mixed with cow dung for maximum durability.

 There are several materials that you can opt for to build the walls depending on your budget and preferences. These include stones, bricks, iron sheets and timber off-cuts. The off-cuts offer the more desirable option for most small-scale or low income farmers because they are affordable and also highly durable, especially if use the wood preservatives. During our construction of chicken houses for various farmers, we purchased very large off-cuts for between Ksh.50 and Ksh.80. Clay is free but you may pay a fee of between Ksh.500 ($6) to Ksh.1500 ($18) to a lady or group of ladies who will mold the clay into the structure.

Orientation
The poultry house should be constructed in an East-West orientation.  This will significantly reduce or block the sunlight, draught and even rain in the house.  The North-West sides of the house should be aerated with the use of chicken wire. A roll of chicken wire costs Ksh.1500 although some hardware stores sell it for as high as Ksh.2000.  The house should take a rectangular shape. Common house configurations include 40ftX20ft, 30ftX20ft, 30ftx15ft, 30ftx10ft, 25ftx15ft etc. The size of the house will depend on how ambitious your project is and the amount of the resources that you have allocated for the project. Your target number of hens to rear will most likely determine the size of the housing that you plan to build.

The stocking density
The model stocking density should be I bird per square feet in a ground profile or two birds per square feet in a raised profile. Check out our Improved Kienyeji Chicken Farming Manual to differentiate between the two kinds of housing profiles. For example, a 40ftx20ft house can accommodate as many as 800 birds in a ground profile or 1600 birds in a raised profile. If you are planning to rear a maximum of 200 birds in a ground profile, a 20ftx10ft chicken housing will be adequate.

Management Practice
Construct the house far from the house and fence it using the chain link fencing wire. You can purchase the six feet chain link cables which can keep the chicken from jumping over the fence.  The chain link fencing will keep away other wild birds as well as animals that may wander into the chicken enclosure. It also keeps off unauthorized people from getting into the chicken enclosure thus minimizing the risks of contamination that could potentially wipe off your flock.  The entrance of the chicken house should have a foot path with a disinfectant where one can dip the sole of their feet before entering the enclosure to prevent disease transmission.  In addition, the entrance to the closure should be fitted with a door that is locked with a padlock when the enclosure is not in use.  Keep birds of the same age at any given time. When these mature, you can clear the stock and bring new birds which are about the same age.

Regulation of the conditions inside the poultry house
Proper heat regulation is very important in the tropical African conditions. The top three sevenths of the house should be sealed with a wire mesh and chicken wire in order to eliminate excess heat and help in maintaining optimal temperatures inside.  The bottom four sevenths of the chicken house should be made of solid material such as mud, wooden planks, bricks or iron sheet. Fit curtains which are made of sacks on the top part of the structure which is made of wire mesh. The curtains should be drawn at night when the temperatures drop. By opening and closing the curtains, you can control the ventilation of the house and ensure optimal temperatures inside.

Place an order today for our Improved Kienyeji Chicken Farming Manual Online which covers this in great detail alongside all the other aspects and steps involved in kienyeji chicken farming. The manual is over 60 pages long and comes with rich illustrations on almost every page to help you in clearly visualizing what needs to be done to make your kienyeji chicken farming enterprise a reality. The book costs Ksh.1000 inclusive of the shipping costs to anywhere in the world.

Farmers Get Better Returns with Indigenous Chicken

Small scale farmers typically keep hardy indigenous chicken for home consumption. But improvements in the breeds now make it possible for low-income farmers to carefully select highly productive breeds that produce more meat and more eggs at relatively low feeding and maintenance costs. In the Kenyan market, two of the most admired breeds are the kuroiler and the KARI Improved Kienyeji Chicken which was locally developed by the researchers at the KARI Naivasha.  The improved kienyeji chicken has low costs of production and premium market prices thus putting more money in the hands of farmers.  Here are some of the top advantages why farmers are increasingly adopting the improved kienyeji varieties:-

• They can easily be fed on home-made rations or be allowed to scavenge in a free-range or semi-free range system which brings costs of production almost to zero. 
• The veterinary costs are reduced significantly because the chicken are hardy and resistant to most tropical diseases. 
• The improved kienyeji varieties are increasingly approaching the egg and meat yield levels of the exotic varieties with lower production costs. With KARI Improved Kienyeji Chicken for example, it is now possible to get between 200 and 250 eggs per year with proper poultry management.

The fact that the improved kienyeji chicken lay more eggs than the ordinary kienyeji is particularly an important boost to poultry farming in Kenya and Africa. The incentive to make big investments in exotic breeds which are beyond the reach of poor farmers is removed. Now even the poorest farmers can invest in commercial poultry rearing and get good yields. 

All these is covered in our Comprehensive Improved Kienyeji Chicken Farming Manual which is now available for Ksh.1000. Give us a call today at 0717444786 or drop us an email at improvedkienyeji@gmail.com to reserve your copy.

Chick Management in Kienyeji Chicken Farming

The chicks that have been separated from the mother are usually put in a artificial brooder which offers favorable conditions similar to those that are provided by the mother. One of the most important conditions that should be placed inside the brooder is warmth. This can be provided by several heating mechanisms including specially designed charcoal stoves, kerosene lamps and recently, electric bulb heaters.

The chicks in the brooder are fed with chick mash which has been mixed with glucose. Clean drinking water must also be provided at all times so as to ensure fast growth of the chicks.  It is important to carefully monitor the temperatures in the brooder so as to ensure that it is optimal. Excessively high temperatures or low temperatures may lead to high mortality levels.

You can either use the thermometer to ensure the temperature inside the brooder is just at the right level. Alternatively, you can observe the chick behavior inside the brooder so as to determine if the temperature provided is optimal. In our KARI Improved Kienyeji Chicken Farming Manual, we have used a host of illustrations that show the chick behavior or reaction to different temperature levels.

Purchase our KARI Improved Kienyeji Chicken Farming Manual for guidelines and tips on how to carry out kienyeji chicken farming from scratch. To place an order, give us a call on 0717444786 or drop us an email at improvedkienyeji[at]gmail[dot]com.

Kienyeji Chicken: Improving Yields through Improved Management

Proper chicken management is one of the core topics covered in our Improved Kienyeji chicken Farming Manual (you can order a copy for Ksh.1000) and feeding is very central to this. You will be keeping the KARI Improved Kienyeji Chicken or the Kuroiler chicken breeds either for meat or egg production and good feeding will directly lead to improved yields for both.

Improved chicken can be reared in the free-range or semi-free range systems and this can lead to a drain of energy hence low yields unless proper feeding management is instituted.  Even as they scavenge for food and lower your feeding costs, it is important to provide supplementary feeding in order to increase their weight and ensure they lay more eggs. The KARI improved kienyeji chicken breeds can lay up between 200 and 250 eggs with proper feeding. That is almost 67%-75% of the output of the exotic breeds with minimal feeding costs! For farmers, this means greater profit margins.

The kienyeji chicks will need food with high protein content like the balanced starter feeds.  You may also purchase simple supplementary starter feeds such as omena  in order tom lower costs.  One of the most popular protein-rich starter foods is called ochong’a and can be purchased from the fish vendors. They are much smaller than the popular omena and are very rich in proteins. Termites are also a rich source of proteins. In our Improved Kienyeji Chicken Farming Manual, we have even covered how you can “grow” termites through very simple methods so that you chicken has very rich access to proteins in the free-range or semi-free range system of the kienyeji chicken rearing.

By controlling these dietary conditions as well as the health conditions carefully, your chicken will begin laying eggs as early as after 22 weeks. Indigenous chicken typically begin laying eggs after 28 weeks so the improved varieties also offer you significant advantage as you begin harvesting eggs earlier. With poor health, diet and development, you may have to wait up to 32 weeks before the indigenous chicken begin laying eggs. So there is a strong economic imperative for small scale farmers to upgrade their breeds to the KARI Improved Kienyeji Chicken and the Kuroiler chicken and also incorporate good management practices in the rearing of the indigenous chicken.

During the laying stage, you will need to introduce calcium rich dietary sources.  Some of the options for supplementing the calcium in the chicken diet include the crushed egg shells, limestone and the bonemeal.  The egg shells to be crushed must be dried properly before in the sunshine before being fed to the chicken to avoid transmission of diseases.

You can purchase feeders and drinkers for feeding purposes. These are relatively cheap nowadays and you can buy them for a bargain in Nairobi and other major urban centres.  One of the best places to purchase these for a bargain is the Gikomba market.  Provide feeding every morning and evening.  You must also provide clean drinking water at all times.

Ensure the housing is ultra spacious and well aerated. You will need to build in perches and put in place a proper waste disposal routine. Our Improved Kienyeji Chicken Farming Manual contains various housing models that you can incorporate including tips on how you can save on costs and the number of hens that you can accommodate in a house of a particular size for sustainable chicken rearing.

  You can use several methods to control parasites in the poultry housing and all these are covered in our Improved Kienyeji Chicken Farming Manual.   For additional information or to place an order today, give us a call on 0717444786 or drop us an email at improvedkienyeji[at]gmail[dot]com. The guide costs Ksh.1000 and includes comprehensive guidelines and tips on every aspect of kienyeji chicken rearing.

The Improved Kienyeji Chicken Intervention

An Opportunity for Small Scale Farmers to Build Sustainable Livelihoods

Farmers in rural Kenya are grappling with a dangerous sense of resignation that they will be unable to break away from poverty and build wealth into the future. This is more so due to challenges such as weather patterns and falling prices of commodities in the marketplace. Every year, many low income Kenyan families wind up another year without significant savings or growth in wealth.  It is difficult to improve your earnings by doing the same thing each and every year but with certain interventions, it is possible for farmers to generate wealth and increase value significantly without massive capital investments. Such is the case with the improved kienyeji chicken rearing and management techniques.

By incorporating certain ideas and low cost technologies in the house construction and feeding as well as overall poultry management practices, many Kenyan farmers could be on the road to wealth through kienyeji chicken rearing.  One of the ubiquitous sights in many rural households in Kenya and indeed much of Africa and the developing world is the roaming or free range chicken.  It is a symbol of poverty as much as a small safety net for the poor rural families.

The chicken will be slaughtered during special occasions such as when a visitor comes to the home or to celebrate the success of a family member. It is usually a small brood, typically no more than 20 hens. They rarely multiply past this. Apart from domestic consumption and the occasional sale to offset small emergencies, the growth of the flock is limited by many other factors such diseases, theft, and chicken which wander away from home never to return.  Even the hawks and other predators take a huge toll on the flock numbers. As a result, the rural farmer hits a plateau every year when it comes to multiplying their flock with the growth being limited by factors seemingly beyond their control.

Hidden wealth
But the roaming indigenous or kienyeji chicken is a potential goldmine that could potentially make farmers exceedingly rich when proper management practices are put in place. Unlike the exotic breeds in the market, the indigenous breeds or kienyeji chicken breeds offer certain advantages that make them ideally suited for the poor resource-starved rural farmers.

For example, unlike the exotic breeds, they are well adapted to the local rearing conditions and are very disease resistant so the farmer is unlikely to face massive losses from a disease epidemic.  They consume less and eat a variety of locally available food thus significantly lower the feeding costs for the low-income rural families looking to invest in profitable poultry farming.

Also, they do not require very “sophisticated” housing and poultry management and farmers can even rear them in houses made of mud as long as there is an allowance for proper aeration of the building.  Poor farmers can easily rear them in small pieces of land as they take very little space. A little strip of land measuring 40 feet by 20feet can accommodate up to 800-850 kienyeji hens if you adopt innovative and low-cost building approaches.Such are discussed in our poultry rearing manual.

In Kenya, rural farmers can now get an even better deal through the KARI Improved Kienyeji chicken which are even more disease resistant, consume less and produce eggs and meat on a level almost comparable to the exotic breeds. This combined with the fact that the kienyeji chicken, even without interventions, always fetch a premium price in the marketplace make this one of the surest ways for poor/economically depressed farmers to grow their wealth through low cost poultry rearing techniques that they can incorporate at very minimal cost.

The KARI improved kienyeji chicken breeds along with an exotic breed from India called Kuroiler are already changing the fortunes of many small scale or low income farmers in both rural and urban Kenya who are seeing their fortunes grow tremendously through proper poultry rearing and management techniques.

We have covered all this in great detail in our comprehensive but easy to follow Improved Kienyeji Chicken Farming Manual which is now available at only Ksh.1000. Give us a call today 0717444786 or email us at to place your order on improvedkienyeji[at]gmail[dot]com.

This comprehensive kienyeji chicken manual comes with all the information that you would need to turn a small scale poultry farming business into a success including the information on how to choose your poultry breeds,  how to carry out brood management, how to build a kienyeji chicken house, how to feed your kienyeji chicken, managing the health and diseases in your flock, farm management and record keeping amongst others

Rearing Kienyeji Chicken in Urban Areas in Kenya: Is it Practical?

Entrepreneurial Kenyans have long ventured into rearing the exotic breeds of chicken in their urban estate homes in Nairobi and met with a great degree of success. The labour intensive exercise can be easy if you have a house-help looking after your side venture as you grapple with professional work. But what of Kienyeji chicken farming which is growing in popularity and fetching a tidy sum for many farmers?

Rural farmers may not have the best infrastructure and funding to launch highly profitable Kienyeji chicken farming enterprises but they have vast open spaces, a luxury that most urban farmers, particularly in Nairobi, do not have.  Here are some tips on how you can succeed in kienyeji chicken rearing in a place like Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru or Eldoret:-

The value of spaces
It all depends on spaces. If you have a backyard as a small as 30ft by 10 feet, you can comfortably rear up to 300 Kienyeji hens through innovative construction of the chicken house. If you are not utilizing your backyard as an “extension”, as common in many middle class Nairobi neighborhoods, you can use this for Kienyeji chicken rearing and earn superb profits every year.  The restricted spaces, however, mean you will have to put up plenty of perches in order to minimize antisocial behavior in your brood. This is covered in our kienyeji chicken farming manual.

Earn money through incubation
The best way to earn money from kienyeji chicken in an urban setting in Kenya is by investing in an incubator and then selling the kienyeji chicks to farmers in the city and the surrounding areas.  There is an unfulfilled demand for Kienyeji chicks in the country right now so marketing your chicks will not be a problem at all. You can begin sourcing for market a few days before you hatch the chicks.

Easy Brooding
The urban infrastructure in Kenya makes the brooding process relatively easy.  You can achieve the ideal structure for your kienyeji chicks by following the chicken house construction model that is recommended in our Improved Kienyeji Chicken Farming Manual.  Regular electricity supply also means that you can keep your hens in properly regulated conditions until they have developed some wings.

Feeding
It is easy to access affordable and good quality feed in an urban setting like Nairobi which lowers the cost of production for your kienyeji chicken in your backyard.

Disease-resistant
The disease resistance of the Kienyeji chicken breeds means you can carry out urban farming in fairly restricted spaces without worrying about high mortality rates for your stock.

Marketing
Marketing of the Kienyeji chicken is a relatively easy process in the urban environment. There is a market right outside your doorstep and you can easily finish your stock at any time of the year and bring in new stock.

Get a copy of our comprehensive kienyeji chicken manual and get started on a dream kienyeji chicken business from a more informed position. Our manual is guaranteed to put more money in your pockets through efficient and best-practice kienyeji chicken farming and management.  Our comprehensive manual is available for only Ksh.1000 and comes with illustrations to help you understand the process a lot faster. For more information, drop us an email at improvedkienyeji[at]gmail[dot]com or give us a call at 0717444786.

Kienyeji Chicken Farming Manual in Vernacular Kenyan Languages

Working in a rural Kenyan community as a business analyst, extension officer or marketing officer on kienyeji chicken farming and rearing techniques? We now make it easy to pass your message across through comprehensive kienyeji chicken rearing manuals available in vernacular languages. You can now give us a call and place orders for your Kienyeji chicken manual in multiple languages including Kikuyu, Dholuo, Maragoli, Bukusu, Kisii, Maasai, Nandi, Swahili and many more. Whatever the language you want to work with, you can place a call with us to discuss the quote and we will commission the publishing and delivery to you in the shortest time possible.

Pass the knowledge of modern and efficient improved kienyeji chicken rearing techniques to your self-help groups and farmer groups in a language that they can understand and apply with ease. Give us a call today on 0717444786 or drop us an email at improvedkienyeji[at]gmail[dot]com and let us help you improve the quality of your training programs and the quality of poultry yields amongst your farmer groups.

You can order the Kienyeji Chicken Manual today on our website address http://www.kienyejichicken.com/

Improved Kienyeji Chicken Farming Manual: The Best Way Investment You Can Ever Make

Planning to venture into the kienyeji chicken farming business? Venturing into any new business can be a daunting task for any individual and this especially true of the poultry business which can carry certain risks.  If you have not tried poultry farming before, this can be an especially daunting task to be sure.

We are team of poultry investors who have tried, tested and succeeded in the poultry farming business for two years and have developed, with the help of a poultry researcher, a comprehensive but simple manual and how you can start and build a successful poultry business on your own without any prior knowledge and experience in the industry. Our Kienyeji Chicken Farming Manual is the most comprehensive in the industry and covers the most important and even most minute aspects when it comes to poultry farming.

We offer simple to follow guides on the kienyeji chicken rearing systems, how to build kienyeji chicken house, kienyeji chicken feeding, brooding techniques, chicken feeding and how to lower the feeding costs, marketing and much more.  The booklet provides the ultimate information portal for anyone planning to invest in Kienyeji chicken farming.  We also make it easy for farmers who may not understand English to get the useful tips on Kienyeji chicken rearing by providing booklets in many other Kenyan languages such as Luo, Kikuyu, Swahili, Somali, Maragoli, Bukusu, Kisii, Maasai, Nandi, Kipsigis, Pokot, Turkana, Kuria and many other Kenyan languages.

If you have just procured some funds for your kienyeji chicken farming business, our detailed but easy to understand booklet would be the best investment that you can make before plunging into the actual business. Minimize your losses by arming yourself with the best knowledge on how to go about rearing your kienyeji chicken for maximum profitability.

If you are looking for a booklet for your needs or for your farmer groups or self-help groups, Place an order online today for our Improved Kienyeji Chicken Farming Manual today on our website http://www.kienyejichicken.com/.  For more information on our manuals, drop us an email at improvedkienyeji[at]gmail[dot]com or call us on 0717444786.

Kienyeji Chicken Manual Out in One Week

We have received several inquiries from our readers regarding our comprehensive Kienyeji chicken rearing manual and now we are proud to announce that the editing of the document is complete. We will send the final copy to the printers and the booklets will be out in less than a week. That is before the August 3, 2014. Each copy will go for Ksh. 1000 inclusive of the postal or shipping fee.

Our Complete KARI Improved Kienyeji Chicken Farming Manual will cover a very broad range to assist budding farmers in producing top quality eggs as well as top quality meat from their Kienyeji Chicken stock. We cover in minute detail, and from first-hand experience, the processes involved in setting up and running a Kienyeji chicken business for both small-scale and large scale businesses.

The manual is recommended for individual farmers and farmer groups, youth groups, self-help groups, women groups and many others that may coalesce to invest in Kienyeji chicken farming. Our manual is in English but we are working on producing a Swahili manual on Kienyeji chicken farming which will be out in less than two months. We can also translate the manual into local languages to suit training in particular settings particularly in the rural areas.

 If you are looking for a comprehensive rearing chicken manual in Luo, Maasai, Kikuyu, Bukusu, Maragoli, Samia, Somali, Nandi, Pokot, Turkana, Borana and other Kenyan languages, drop as an email on improvedkienyeji[at]gmail[dot]com or call us at 0717444786 and we will commission a quick translation and printing job for your group. You can reserve your copies of the English version of the Kienyeji chicken manual now and begin your journey to Kienyeji chicken rearing from a more informed perspective.

The Advantages of Kienyeji Chicken Farming

Kienyeji Chicken farming is the new buzz amongst the poultry farmers in Kenya. While the exotic breeds produce more eggs and meat compared to the indigenous breeds, they require more tasking management during the production and consume a massive amount of food. That means the farming of the exotic breeds mostly leaves out the poor farmers who may not afford the costs incurred in feeding, vaccination and other expenses. The most popular Kienyeji breed-the KARI Improved Kienyeji was developed over a period of 10 years by studying the characteristics of the indigenous chicken breeds throughout Kenya.

Through years of interbreeding, the researchers at KARI Naivasha have come up with the perfect compromise between the indigenous breeds and the exotic breeds. It produces 200-250 eggs per year, compared to the 300 for the exotic breeds but with minimal overheads. It also produces better meat quality and has greater disease resistance. That means more money in the pockets of the farmers.

The new Improved Kienyeji breeds also fetch more from the market compared to the broilers. A hen is likely to fetch Ksh.600-Ksh750 while the cocks fetch anything from Ksh.1000 to Ksh.1200. The trend towards health conscious products and a market that is increasingly appreciating organically produced products has also driven up the demand for the kienyeji chicken. Here are four main reasons why farmers across Kenya are now opting for the KARI Improved kienyeji chicken breeds:

Low Cost of Production
If you are worried about the big nightmare of feeding your broilers, especially when they have hit 8 weeks and you cannot find a ready market for your birds, then the improved kienyeji breed is the answer. These can be reared in a free-range or semi free range system where the cost of feeding is drastically minimized. You can make small investments in commercial feed but also let them scavenge for food without diminishing your egg or meat production. The hens are also disease resistant so your losses due to disease outbreaks are largely minimized.

More nutritious eggs and meat
Rearing your chicken in the free range or semi-free range systems, where chicken are allowed to roam unrestricted or in a restricted environment results in eggs which are more nutritious. The scavenging chickens scratch the ground to unearth more diverse and nutritious food sources such as termites. From these numerous nutrients, consumers are assured of excellent and more nutritious egg and poultry production. In the semi free range system, farmers can use several techniques to increase the number of termites in the enclosure.

These are covered in our KARI Improved Chicken Farming manual which goes for Ksh.500. This is not simply  a cliché but has been verified through research by the US Department of Agriculture or the USDA which found that eggs produced by chicken under a free range system are a lot more nutritious than those produced under commercial conditions with commercial feeding. If you are into ethical farming practices, then the kienyeji chicken farming is the way to go.

Fetch higher market prices for your poultry products
Both the meat and egg products from the kienyeji chicken fetch twice as much as those from the caged birds. If there was ever any motivation for starting a business, then here is a powerful one! Maximum profits with minimal overheads.

Get started today with your organic poultry farming with our KARI Improved Kienyeji Chicken farming manualGet started today with your organic poultry farming with our KARI Improved Kienyeji Chicken farming manual. Developed by some of the leading poultry farming researchers in the industry, the manual contains all the information that you will need for your poultry rearing venture including information on the poultry breeds, brooding management, kienyeji chicken housing, feeding of kienyeji chicken, health and disease management of the poultry, record keeping and farm management amongst others. Drop us an email at improvedkienyeji[at]gmail[dot]com and reserve your copy today.

The Importance of Perching in Kienyeji Chicken Farming

One of our key recommendations in our KARI Improved Kienyeji Chicken Farming ManualOne of our key recommendations in our KARI Improved Kienyeji Chicken Farming Manual is that you establish perches when you are building the kienyeji chicken house. This can be fixed on the sides of the poultry house or at the extreme ends of the poultry house. While the chicken has been domesticated for thousands of years, it has never lost the “wild” urge to roost.

The roosting behavior will most likely occur at night since the birds are most likely feeding or scavenging inside the free-range system during the day. The perches are mostly used by the layers when you are rearing the exotic breeds. The broilers of the exotic variety will not need the perches due to their sheer weight. When it comes to the KARI Improved Kienyeji Chicken, the perches are certainly a must have when building the Kienyeji chicken house.

Research into the poultry production methods shows that chicken prefer using perches. This is why it is very important to include these in the housing plan. As we will show later, there are numerous other benefits associated with the use of the perches in the chicken production.

The Benefits of Perches
 In the layers, perches help in relieving stress and also prevent untoward behavior such as cannibalism. When the hens are unable to roost at night, they display a frustrated behavior and this can degenerate into other “antisocial” behavior such as fighting. They also help in reducing certain injuries particularly where chicken are overcrowded.

The hens in your brood which are lower in the pecking order will make use of the perches to escape pecking from the aggressive and dominant hens. They will usually take the higher perches in order to keep safe. This ability to escape from the more aggressive hens will reduce incidences of injuries and even fatalities in the brood which are usually inflicted by aggressive pecking on the head and the neck or through cannibalism which occurs when there is severe feather pecking.  Perches also help in building stronger and healthier bones in the chicken.

There is another important benefit of the perches which will become apparent when you are cleaning the poultry house. Because the perching keeps the birds off the floor at night, the droppings tend to accumulate in one place under the roost area while the other parts of the kienyeji chicken house remain relatively cleaner. This makes the cleaning process a lot easier.

Standards for installing the perches in the poultry house
It is recommended that you allow at least 15cm or 6 inches of perch space per hen when it comes to installing the perches for the regular hens.  When it comes to the KARI improved Kienyeji chicken, allow 18cm or 7 inches of perch space per hen. Allow a horizontal space of up to 30cm between the perches when you are installing them side by side. Give an allowance of 20cm or 8 inches between the perches and the walls. The perches must be round and with smooth edges and not too broad so as to accommodate the chicken feet.

Perches Installation Guidance
If you are planning to use the perches in your poultry production, it is important that these are introduced at an early age when they are still young as late introduction can impair their ability to use them.
The perches should be located in areas of the poultry house where they will not interfere with movement and daily care for the chicken such as the feeding, watering, cleaning, or the gathering of eggs. These should be in the corners or the extreme ends of the house.

The perches should be removable or portable which allows you to remove the manure which has accumulated under them. You can have the lowest perch at least 3 feet above the ground. This reduces the chances of the other chicken on the ground feather-pecking those above the ground. The vertical distance between the perches should not be too large otherwise the chicken might misjudge this during their landings and collide with the perches thus leading to more injuries. Learn more about these on our KARI Improved Kienyeji Chicken Farming Manual that you can now order online in less than 5 minutes.

Ultra Low Cost Kienyeji Chicken House

In a previous post, we touched on the economics of building a Kienyeji chicken house and determined that it could cost you about between Ksh.50,000 to Ksh.80,000 to build a chicken house housing about 450-500 chicken. Here is a simple chicken house made of mud that could cost you even less. For a comprehensive manual on chicken farming, contact us for a KARI Improved Kienyeji chicken farming manual with all details from chicken housing to chicken commercialization.

Simple Kienyeji Chicken Housing

You do not have to break the bank when it comes to building your Kienyeji Chicken house, particularly if you are low on capital. It is advisable to use simple locally available materials such as off-cuts, mabati or even mud in order to save on costs. A simple KARI Improved Chicken house measuring 300 by 15 feet –capable of accommodating 450 chicken or more-is likely to cost you anywhere from Ksh.60,000 to Ksh.80,000 when you make use of mabati for roofing,  off-cuts,  wire-mesh, chicken wire amongst other materials. 

Typically, the cost of labour will amount to 30% of the material cost. So if you are building a kienyeji chicken house where the materials cost you Ksh50,000, then the labour should cost you Ksh.15,000. In reality, this actually not the case and if you are building a chicken house in the rural areas, you will incur very low construction costs.

Under the semi-free range system, it is possible to cut costs drastically by making use of the most locally available materials such as mud. Ideally, this should halve the cost of the construction of the chicken house drastically. Here is a simple low cost kienyeji chicken house which you can construct for less than Ksh.30,000. 

For more information on the appropriate chicken house dimensions and guidelines on the construction of the Kienyeji chicken house, order our KARI Improved Kienyeji chicken rearing manual for Ksh.1000. 

You can also order a soft copy of our Improved Kienyeji Chicken Farming Manual for only Ksh.350. For additional information, drop us an email on improvedkienyeji@gmail.com