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

Kienyeji Chicken Commercialization Project in Kenya

Kienyeji Chicken Initiative aims to provide poultry farmers with information and support on KARI Improved Kienyeji chicken rearing in various parts of Kenya. Our focus will be on the improved kienyeji varieties and our breadth of support covers the entire value chain of kienyeji chicken rearing including advice on the business plan development, building of the poultry house, procurement of the day old chicks and others at various stages based on the farmer preference, advice on production techniques and assistance with the market for the chicken.

We have developed a detailed manual on KARI Improved Kienyeji Chicken farming that prospective farmers will find useful and which they can use to get started on the venture. This manual will be available for sale from 10th August, 2014 at a cost of Ksh.1000 and will be delivered by post to farmers who make payment via MPESA.

Other support resources that we are developing for Kienyeji chicken farmers include a web information portal that farmers can use to access all the information that they will need for their ventures. This will be available on www.Kienyeji.org.

Our commercial portal at www.kienyejichicken.com will be used for commercialization purposes to help farmers in marketing their produce. We will add additional tips and tidbits on kienyeji chicken farming to assist farmers in getting started on this venture. For more information or to make inquiries, contact us on improvedkienyeji[at]gmail[dot]com.

You can also get in touch on Twitter @KienyejiChicken.