Chapter 1 - Egg production (2024)

PRODUCTION

Poultry enterprises may vary from basic backyard poultrykeeping to mechanized and automated production plants. Various types of poultryenterprises are illustrated in Table 1.

Table 1

Types of poultry enterprises

Backyard poultry production is at the subsistence levelof farming. Birds live free range and hatch their own eggs. Their diet issupplemented with crop waste or food leftovers. The labour involved in backyardpoultry production is part-time.

Farm flock production is slightly more specialized.Eggs are hatched at a separate location where the hatch and the sexing of thebirds are controlled.

Commercial poultry farm production involves full-timelabour and is geared toward producing on a sufficient scale for the sale of botheggs and poultry meat.

Specialized egg production consists of separatingpoultry for meat and egg production. In the egg producing plant, specializedemployees oversee specific aspects of egg production.

Integrated egg production is the most advancedenterprise and involves full mechanization and automation of the egg productioncycle including battery egg laying, temperature controls, scientific feeding andmechanized egg collection methods.

Types of brooders

Basket brooder

Oil barrel -charcoal

Source: Reid et al.,1990

All of the above poultry-keeping methods are used in thedeveloping world, but the majority of the enterprises are backyard poultry andfarm flock production. The poultry and egg sectors are highly fragmented. Mostof the production is carried out by a large number of farmers, each with a verysmall flock. The greater part of produce is sold in markets close to thefarms.

Day-old chicks are usually obtained from local hatcherieslicensed by international hybrid breeding companies. Farmers or cooperatives offarmers may choose between varieties of chickens for egg production and meatproduction.

The small chicks can be either naturally or artificiallybrooded. If artificially brooded, small chicks must be placed in a separatehouse from laying chickens and it is necessary to protect the chicks frompredators, diseases and catching colds. This stage of brooding lasts for eightweeks. In the first four weeks of life, small chicks need to be housed in abrooding box. Some typical types of brooders are shown below and on the previouspage.

Kerosene brooder

Storm lanternbrooder

After the first month, small chicks are removed from thebrooder box and placed in the brooder house. At two months of age, the chicksenter the grower stage which lasts until they are five months (20 weeks) old.Growers may either be housed separately from small chicks or continue to bereared in brooder-cum-grower houses. It is important to properly manage thegrowers as their reproductive organs develop during this period and this willaffect their egg production capacity in the future.

When the growers reach 18 weeks of age they are moved tolaying houses and begin to lay eggs, which are, however, small and unmarketable.It is not until they are 21 weeks old that the growers reach their commerciallaying stage. Layers may be placed in intensive, semi-intensive or free-rangetypes of housing.

The choice of housing is determined by climate, type ofproduction desired and the farmer’s financial resources. Some examples oflaying houses are shown on the next two pages.

Photographs 1 through 5 (see photograph section) are otherexamples of laying houses.

Factors affecting egg production

Typically, a layer’s production cycle lasts just over ayear (52-56 weeks). During the production cycle many factors influence eggproduction; therefore, the cycle must be managed effectively and efficiently inorder to provide maximum output and profitability. The following factorsinfluence egg production.

Breed. The breed of the laying bird influencesegg production. Management and feeding practices, however, are the keydetermining features for egg production.

Mortality rate. Mortality rate may rise due todisease, predation or high temperature. The mortality rate of small chicks (upto eight weeks of age) is about 4 percent; that of growers (between eight and 20weeks of age) is about 15 percent; and that of layers (between 20 and 72 weeksof age) is about 12 percent. The average mortality rate of a flock is from 20 to25 percent per year.

Types of laying houses

Housing for hot - aridclimates

Open house type

Moveable typehousing

Sources:Kekeocha, 1985; Oluyemi and Roberts, 1979

Age. Birds typically begin producing eggs intheir twentieth or twenty-first week and continue for slightly over a year. Thisis the best laying period and eggs tend to increase in size until the end of theegg production cycle.

Body weight. In general, optimum body weightduring the laying period should be around 1.5 kg, although this varies accordingto breed. Underweight as well as overweight birds lay eggs at a lower rate.Proper management and the correct amount of feed are necessary in order toachieve optimum body weight.

Laying house. The laying house should be builtaccording to local climatic conditions and the farmer’s finances. A goodhouse protects laying birds from theft, predation, direct sunlight, rain,excessive wind, heat and cold, as well as sudden changes in temperature andexcessive dust. If the climate is hot and humid, for example, the use of an openhouse construction will enable ventilation. The inside of the house should bearranged so that it requires minimum labour and time to care for thebirds.

Lighting schedule. Egg production is stimulatedby daylight; therefore, as the days grow longer production increases. In openhouses, found commonly in the tropics, artificial lighting may be used toincrease the laying period. When darkness falls artificial lighting can beintroduced for two to three hours, which may increase egg production by 20 to 30percent.

In closed houses, where layers are not exposed to naturallight, the length of the artificial day should be increased either in one step,or in a number of steps until the artificial day reaches 16 to 17 hours, whichwill ensure constant and maximized egg production. Effective day length shouldnever decrease during the laying period. An ideal artificial light schedule isshown in Figure 1.

Feed. Free-range hens will produce more meat andeggs with supplemental feed, but only if they are improved breeds orcrossbreeds. The selection of local hens is done on the basis of resistance andother criteria rather than feed utilisation for production.

Fresh and clean water should always be provided, as a layercan consume up to one-quarter of a litre a day.

Figure 1 - Lightingschedule

Source: Smith,1990

Culling. Culling is the removal of undesirable(sick and/or unproductive) birds, from the flock. There are two methods ofculling:

• mass culling, when the entire flock is removed and replaced at the end of the laying cycle; and
• selective culling, when the farmer removes individual unproductive or sick birds.

Culling enables a high level of egg production to bemaintained, prevents feed waste on unproductive birds and may avert thespreading of diseases.

Climate. The optimal laying temperature isbetween 11° and 26° C. A humidity level above 75 percent will cause areduction in egg laying. Figure 2 indicates the effect temperature has on eggproduction.

Figure 2

Temperature and its effects on egg production

Source:Kekeocha, 1985

When the temperature rises above 28° C the production andquality of eggs decrease. Seasonal temperature increases can reduce eggproduction by about 10 percent.

Management factors. Effective and efficientmanagement techniques are necessary to increase the productivity of the birdsand consequently increase income. This entails not only proper housing andfeeding, but also careful rearing and good treatment of the birds.

Vaccination and disease control. Diseases andparasites can cause losses in egg production.

Some of the diseases are as follows:

• bacterial: tuberculosis, fowl typhoid
• viral: Newcastle, fowl plague
• fungal: aspergillosis
• protozoan: coccidiosis
• nutritional: rickets, perosis

Some of the parasites are:

• external: lice, mites
• internal: roundworms, tapeworms

Vaccinations are administered to birds by injection, waterintake, eye drops and spraying. Clean and hygienic living quarters andsurroundings may eliminate up to 90 percent of all diseaseoccurrences.

Collection of eggs

Frequent egg collection will prevent hens from brooding eggsor trying to eat them and will also prevent the eggs from becoming damaged ordirty.

EGG PRODUCTION CYCLE

Birds usually start to lay at around five months (20-21 weeks)of age and continue to lay for 12 months (52 weeks) on average, laying fewereggs as they near the moulting period.

The typical production cycle lasts about 17 months (72 weeks)and involves three distinct phases, as follows.

· Phase 1: Small chicks or brooders. Thisphase lasts from 0 to 2 months (0-8 weeks) during which time small chicks arekept in facilities (brooder houses) separate from laying birds.

· Phase 2:Growers. This phase lasts about 3 months, from the ninth to thetwentieth week of age. Growers may be either housed separately from small chicksor continue to be reared in brooder-cum-grower houses. It is important toprovide appropriate care to the growers particularly between their seventeenthand twentieth week of age as their reproductive organs develop during thisperiod.

· Phase 3: Layers.Growers are transferred from the grower house to the layer house whenthey are 18 weeks old to prepare for the laying cycle. Birds typically lay for atwelve-month period starting when they are about 21 weeks old and lasting untilthey are about 72 weeks old.

Production planning

On average a bird produces one egg per day. Furthermore, notall birds start to lay exactly when they are 21 weeks old. Planning is thereforerequired for egg production to be constant so as to meet market demand. Aschedule similar to the one shown in Table 2, which indicates on averagesatisfactory levels of production for a flock of birds, can be used.

In areas where the climate is hot and humid, commercial hybridlaying birds produce on average between 180 and 200 eggs per year. In moretemperate climates birds can produce on average between 250 and 300 eggs peryear. The table below illustrates a typical production schedule in a hot andhumid climate.

In Table 2 the age of the flock is shown in the first columnand the percentage of birds that actually lay during that week of age is shownin the second column. Usually at 21 weeks of age only 5 percent of the flocklay.

As shown in the third column, for 100 birds at 21 weeks of ageonly five would actually be laying. In the fourth column the actual number ofeggs produced is shown. On average a bird produces 208 eggs over a twelve-monthperiod, which is a weekly production rate of four eggs per bird. At 21 weeks ofa*ge 20 eggs are produced (five birds produce four eggs each) and at 22 weeks 40eggs are produced, etc.

The graph in Figure 3 shows the actual percentage ofproductive laying flock over a period of time, and the graph in Figure 4 showsthe number of eggs produced over a period of time for 100 birds. Egg productionrises rapidly and then starts to fall after 31 weeks of age. When less than 65percent of the flock are laying eggs (71 weeks of age), it may becomeuneconomical to retain birds. Feed costs and sales of culled birds for meat mustbe considered as well as prices for eggs. In some instances when egg prices arehigh it may be viable to delay culling birds until only 45 percent of the flockis still laying eggs (78 weeks of age).

Table 2
Production schedule in temperate climate (100 birds)

Figure 3 - Percentage ofproductive laying flock over a period of time

Figure 4 - Number of eggsproduced over a period of time

Clearly, egg production requires planning for costs as well asfor profit generation and for meeting market demand. Planning involves not onlythe number of eggs laid by the flock over a period of time, but also when tohatch chicks to replace birds with diminishing laying capacity.

If production is to be kept constant, a simple chart as shownin Table 3, for example, will be needed to plan when new chicks must be hatchedso that they can be introduced to laying in time to pick up on diminishing eggproduction.

Table 3
Production planning

As indicated on the chart, the first layer flock was hatchedat 0 weeks to become productive after 21 weeks. The second flock of layers washatched at the 21st week to be ready to lay after the 41st week, as the firstlayer flock starts to diminish production. This type of production entailshaving flocks of birds of different age groups.

Clean and hygienic living quarters and surroundings areessential to control disease. There should be no more than three or fourdifferent flock age groups present at one time. The mortality rate on average isbetween 20 and 25 percent. This means that if one wants 100 birds to lay, it maybe necessary to buy between 120 and 125 small chicks.

PRODUCTION COSTS ANDPROFITS

Records should be kept of costs incurred during the operationand of proceeds from the sale of eggs. Costs must be covered by the sales ofeggs. The difference between the proceeds from the sales and costs incurredrepresents profit.

Brooder-grower stage

The costs to be considered are not only those concerned withthe birds during the laying period, but also those incurred in the brooder andgrower stage during which time no eggs are being produced. Thebrooder-cum-grower stage lasts about five months (0-20 weeks). The main costs toconsider during this stage can be seen in Table 4.

Laying birds

Once the costs for the brooder-cum-grower stage have beencalculated, it will be possible to calculate costs for the laying birds.Calculations may be made on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. However, the mostuseful calculations are made at the end of the laying cycle. Daily, weekly ormonthly calculations give approximate indications of costs and relative profitsor losses. The main concern for farmers during this period is probably whetheror not the proceeds from the sale of eggs cover feed and rearing costs. Feedcost is generally estimated to be about 75 percent of the production cost ofeggs.

Comparing feed and rearing costs and egg proceeds for a weekor a month may give an indication of profitability or loss. A farmer would haveto subtract the cost of feed for a week from the proceeds for the total numberof eggs sold that week. Furthermore, the rearing costs (expenses incurred beforethe birds start laying) should be amortized. This can be calculated by dividingthe total rearing costs by the laying period. If rearing costs are US$ 10 andthe laying period is 52 weeks, cost per week for rearing is US$ 0.19. Table 5shows a simple record of weekly costs and sales.

Costs and income for the laying cycle

Calculations for the laying cycle (52 weeks) are more accurateand enable the farmer to determine whether the egg laying enterprise is runningat a profit or a loss.

Table 4
Expenses for rearing

Table 5
Weekly costs and sales

Costs. When calculating costs for the layingcycle, the main expenditures to consider are:

• rearing - rearing brooders until they become layers;
• housing - building or maintaining laying house and brooder house;
• equipment - the cost of miscellaneous items such as feeders, buckets, etc.;
• feed - total feed used during the year;
• labour - labour costs incurred to manage birds;
• vaccinations - medicines and veterinary visits;
• mortality - loss of laying birds due to disease, etc.; and
• various expenses - lighting, water, etc.

Income. When calculating income for the layingcycle, the earnings to consider derive from:

• the sale of eggs;
• the sale of culled birds after the first cycle of production; and
• where applicable, manure sold as fertilizer.

Table 6 shows an example of record keeping for yearlyproduction costs and income.

Initially, capital is required to start an enterprise;proceeds from the sales of eggs should, however, provide funds to continue withthe business before the end of the first laying cycle. Indeed, three monthsafter point of lay (30 -31 weeks of age), when the birds should normally havereached peak production, the proceeds from the sale of eggs should be sufficientto operate the business on a revolving fund basis. The three-month period issufficiently long even for the low producing birds or those that peaklate.

Figure 5 shows the various factors that affect theprofitability of an egg enterprise.

Table 6
Costs and income for a production cycle*

* This table doesnot include marketing costs (see Chapter 5, Pricing and sales policy).

Figure 5 - Gross output andfactors affecting the profitability of an egg enterprise*

* Draft FarmManagement Training Manual, AGSF, Rome, 2002.

The following guidelines have been selected from the FAOSpecial Programme for Food Security (SPFS) Diversification Component, May1997.