POULTRY FARMERS URGED TO TAKE PRECAUTIONS DURING RAINY SEASON

WE urge the poultry farmers to understand that we are in a different season and rearing chickens during this season comes with numerous challenges, Poultry Association of Zambia (PAZ) Executive Manager Dominic Chanda has said.

Speaking to The Scoop, Mr. Chanda advised poultry farmers to ensure that they learnt how to maintain their poultries and manage their chickens during rainy seasons adding that it was during the rainy season and the cold season when maintaining the chickens became crucial as their mortality rate was high.

“Poultry farmers should be aware of the rainy season, especially those doing the poultry business for the first time. Rearing chickens in this type of weather is totally different from the hot season because the rainy season comes with numerous challenges and may lead to great losses,’’ Mr. Chanda said.

He disclosed that some of the measures that a poultry farmer needed to take into serious consideration during this time of the year was to take extreme precaution on the movement of the chickens and not to keep them overcrowded.

He explained that poultry farmers who reared chickens for sale should avoid buying them from different sources making them more vulnerable to diseases.

“When one does not take precautions, he or she can transmit the disease into the many disease-free chickens. It is important to ensure that proper sanitation of the bird cages is done carefully and restriction in the poultry is enhanced,” he said.

He added that poultry farmers must also ensure that they keep the birds away from other domestic animals such as house dogs, cats, goats, and sheep among others.

He stressed the need for business poultry framers to consider strict quarantine of the sick birds and introduce movement controls to other places or yards to prevent further spread or contracting diseases, emphasizing that the cages should be kept dry by preventing any water spillages within the poultry.

“We are in the rainy season and because most farmers build their poultry with big windows which can easily allow the rains inside, should make sure they do not close the windows completely as it can suffocate the chickens. Allow ventilation in the poultry and also add heaters but monitor the temperature so that it does not become too hot as it is not safe for the chickens,” he said.

He reminded the farmers that too much heat or cold allowed in the poultry might not be good enough for the chickens and that they needed to be monitored all the time to ensure that no mortality was recorded.

“Rainy season comes as a challenging season for poultry farmers which could be very tormenting because the rainy season brings changes in temperature and weather conditions, it leaves a deep impact on the poultry farmer,” he said.

He stated that weather conditions played a vital role in poultry farming adding that poultry production was generally affected by climatic changes.