Many people who have their own houses or cottages are seriously thinking about breeding poultry at home. This allows you not only to supply yourself with safe and healthy products, but also to earn a certain amount of money if you approach the issue correctly. Of course, for this you need to first decide which bird is suitable for a particular breeder.
Which bird to choose?
Of course, if we talk about breeding poultry, then most breeders will immediately think about chickens. No wonder - they are the most common in our country. Therefore, hens are usually associated with poultry. Well, this is a really good choice. We will talk more about him a little later.
However, the choice is not limited to chickens at all. Quail is also very popular, bringing very valuable meat, which is highly regarded among gourmets.
Do not forget about geese, ducks and turkeys - these birds have been successfully bred and cultivated in our country for many centuries.
In the end, if you want something more interesting and exotic, you can always choose guinea fowl, pheasants, even parrots and ostriches.
Now let's talk in more detail about different birds, their pros and cons.
A few words about chickens
Perhaps the chickens are the simplest and most unpretentious birds. Therefore, when breeding birds, beginners are recommended to choose them.
When planting chickens, you can provide yourself first of all with eggs and meat - of high quality, clean and without impurities of antibiotics and other "chemistry", which birds generously treat in large poultry farms. In addition, you can also get fluff from them - an excellent material for stuffing pillows, highly appreciated by connoisseurs especially today, when mainly products filled with synthetic fibers are found on sale.
An additional plus is the comparative unpretentiousness and resistance to disease, cold.
What is interesting quail
If you are interested in profitable breeding of birds, then it is worth taking a closer look at quails. They give not only the most tender meat, but also eggs, which are highly valued. And, despite the smaller size, quail eggs are much more expensive than chicken.
In addition, trotting quails begin surprisingly quickly. At the age of 35-45 days, when the chickens of the chickens still run the tab for their mother and only know the world, tiny quails are already starting to give eggs. And they do it very actively, bringing up to three hundred eggs in the first year of life! Given that a dozen costs about 30-40 rubles, it is easy to calculate that each small bird in only a year will bring about 800-900 rubles of net income.
An additional advantage is the small amount of feed consumed - instead of one chicken, you can safely contain three or four quails. Yes, and a lot of space for maintenance is also not necessary.
Who should get turkeys
Also worth mentioning are turkeys. True, they are suitable mainly for those people who not only consider poultry farming as a business, but also have a significant plot of land. Still, a turkey carcass at the age of one year may well weigh 8-12 kilograms. Really serious indicator. Alas, turkeys carry few eggs, and they cannot boast of high taste. Therefore, you will primarily have to focus on the meat component. Well, if you are interested in breeding poultry for meat, then this is a very good option.
However, one should be prepared for the fact that turkeys really need a lot of place to live - both during walks and when living indoors on cold winter days. You can’t keep them in a tight chicken coop - it will quickly lead to illness and death. Therefore, seriously weigh the pros and cons before starting them. An additional minus is the following: mortality among turkeys is higher than, for example, among chickens or geese. Moreover, even if ideal conditions are ensured, still part of the bird will die before it reaches adulthood.
The advantages of geese
Talking about breeding birds, you should definitely mention the geese. Who can they like? People who are interested in breeding birds as a business will especially like them. Geese are not deprived of their minds and all the warm season can do without feeding, eating mainly pasture. A flock may well go out for a walk in the early morning and pick grass all day, pick algae, peck bugs in order to return home in the evening, lightly eat a meal prepared by the owner and get to sleep. So the maintenance costs will be minimal. But only if it is possible to provide them with a large area of grazing.
But already at the age of six months, geese reach a weight of 6-7 kilograms and are quite suitable for slaughter. The meat is simply excellent - tender and tasty. It is no coincidence that goose with apples is one of the most popular traditional dishes in many countries of Europe.
Exciting exotic
Or maybe ordinary birds like chickens, turkeys and quails do not seem interesting or are already on your farm? Then you can pay attention to more exotic birds. For example, on a guinea fowl. They are not only beautiful, but also give high-quality meat. They also bring considerable practical benefits - for example, they are one of the few birds that eat Colorado beetles with pleasure. Therefore, they may well become assistants in the cultivation of potatoes, ruthlessly destroying a malicious pest.
Pheasants are rightfully considered one of the most beautiful birds raised in captivity. Their feathers can easily be handed over to collectors and connoisseurs, as well as fond of needlework - they can make exquisite jewelry from such raw materials. And the taste of their tender meat at the height - it is no coincidence that in the homeland, in China, pheasants are almost completely exterminated.
Ostriches have been and remain especially exotic birds. Huge flightless birds can become an ornament of any economy. Their meat is highly appreciated by connoisseurs, as it tastes great and almost does not contain cholesterol. Feathers can also be implemented by craftsmen. And one egg can have a cost from 300 to 500 rubles - a very good bonus to the budget.
Of course, getting exotic birds is a risky activity. Above is the danger that the business will fail and bring only losses instead of the expected profit. On the other hand, if everything goes as planned, then profit will break all records. Still, the lack of competition has a positive effect on the development of any business. And ostrich meat is found on the market much less often than chickens and turkeys, which means that it is much appreciated.
Choose the right breed
For beginners, as mentioned above, who decided to engage in breeding and keeping poultry, it is best to focus on chickens. Nevertheless, they are not only easy to breed, but also universal - they give first of all demanded eggs and meat. Therefore, problems with the sale of goods certainly will not arise.
It is because of this that it is first of all necessary to consider in more detail chickens as poultry.
It all starts, of course, with the selection of a suitable breed. Here, the novice kurovod has a large selection. He can decide for himself what to orient the economy. There are meat breeds, egg-laying and universal. Their features can easily be judged by the names.
The meat includes pomfret and kokinhin. The most common eggs are Russian white and leghorn. A wide selection of meat and egg breeds: Wyandotte, Amrox, Kuchin anniversary, New Hampshire and many others.
There are also decorative, fighting and vociferous, but they are of less interest to a novice breeder.
Create perfect conditions
Best of all, if in summer the chickens walk freely on the street, pick grass, peck worms. The main thing is to provide them with protection from birds of prey and animals, and at the same time to provide shelter from rain, wind and direct sunlight. There are no problems here.
But in winter it is very important to protect birds from the cold and especially drafts. The temperature in the chicken coop should be at least +10 degrees Celsius - otherwise the egg production will be significantly reduced. Excessive crowding should be avoided - no more than three chickens per square meter. Otherwise, serious diseases that can mow the entire population cannot be avoided.
Making a balanced diet
First, let’s tell you how to feed and drink chickens. It is advisable to use special feeders and drinkers. Pouring food directly onto the floor is not a good idea. Chickens just trample it, mix it with droppings. And then they eat and become infected with infectious diseases that are of great danger.
This is exactly the case with water. Chickens either knock over cups or stain water in them. You have to regularly wash the containers and change the water 2-3 times a day. When using special drinking bowls, birds get clean water at any time, and the owner does not have to spend extra time.
Now we turn to the preparation of the diet.
In summer, the situation is much simpler. Free-range chickens eat a large number of greens and insects, worms. Therefore, it is enough to feed them morning and evening with grain and mineral additives.
In winter, everything is much more complicated. Chickens do not get vitamins from grain and mineral supplements. Therefore, either silage or brooms prepared in advance must also be added to the diet. Also, a special supplement will be a special compound feed or vegetables - carrots, pumpkins, potatoes. Of course, we must not forget about fish or meat and bone meal, as well as mineral supplements (unless you use compound feed containing everything you need).
A month before slaughter, you can also add corn to the diet. Thanks to her, chickens quickly gain weight, their meat becomes more tender.
Product sales
A very important point in breeding animals and birds as a business is the sale of goods. Therefore, you should look for a sales market even before the product itself has appeared. Still, it would be better to bring fresh eggs or a recently slaughtered and chopped bird to the final consumer than to start looking for it when the product is ready, and the quality decreases every day.
In addition, by concluding a contract or simply agreeing orally, it will be easier to calculate the approximate profit and, if necessary, plan the expansion of the economy or change of its specialization.
Conclusion
On this article comes to an end. Now you know more about which birds can be raised in a normal household. So, you can make a choice that you will not regret later.