Village Poultry Production in the Sudan

VILLAGE POULTRY PRODUCTION IN THE SUDAN. A survey form provided by the Joint FAO/IAEA Division was used to collect data on village poultry production in the Sudan. The production system in the households was based on scavenging indigenous domestic chickens, at times accompanied by pigeons, guinea fowls, ducks or turkeys. The average flock size was 18.8 birds and included 44.3% hens, 10% cocks, 20% growers and 24.8% chicks. The hen to cock ratio was 4.4:1. Average egg production was 3.1 per hen per month, of which 76% were incubated by hens. About 78% of incubated eggs hatched of which 75% survived the brooding period. Approximately half of the households provided the chickens with housing. Around 25.7% of interviewed households used chicken manure as fertilizer. While scavenging, chickens fed on insects, grass, vegetables and kitchen wastes. Feed supplements included sorghum, millet and sometimes wheat bran and alfalfa. The ownership of village chickens was shared between all gender categories and all were involved in the management of the birds. The major constraints to village poultry production in the Sudan were identified and included inadequate health care, poor production, inappropriate housing and poor knowledge of poultry management.