omare_kosipre

13/02/2026

Today I saw a lady walking, and the way she was walking made me remember one of my colleagues.
She is late now, died of Cancer. She was the one that taught me how to perfect my skills as a midwife when I came back from the university. I was posted to the labour ward and she was there to help. No one who worked with her ever complained that she didn't work. Even when on night duty, some senior nurses would leave you to monitor the women in labour and call them when they were fully dilated. Not this colleague, she was always active. I learnt a lot of things from her. I also got to learn circumcision from her.
Only remember for all we have done! May I also impart lives positively and be remembered for good when I are gone.

12/02/2026

Feed is one very important factor in poultry farming, especially in broiler farming. The type of feed given to the birds will determine their outcome.

We have different brands of feed in Nigeria. Every state or locality have the brand that they swear is the best. Some farmers up north swear that breed well is very good. Here in my state, we don't know breed well. The feed that gives us optimum result is New Hope. Lately CF feeds have also tried to give us good result.

Each of this brand usually produce the professional feeds and the commercial feeds. The professional feeds are nutrient dense. No matter the brand that you buy, you are able to get your birds to be up to between 2.5 kg and 3 kg by the 6th week if you feed them well.

08/02/2026

I have not taken time to check this set of birds. Tomorrow I'll do that and show us how to identify the male broiler from the female broiler.

When they are a day old, there are people that have mastered it. I'm only able to identify them when they are about a week old.

Have you been able to identify the male from the female? Pray tell if you can.

07/02/2026

Our birds are 5 days old today. No mortality so far. Yesterday, no fire was provided for them. The weather is not as cold as when they arrived, the room is warm when you enter and they are evenly spread in the space. Clove in water given to them.

05/02/2026

When I just started poultry farming, I was told to use tray for the chicks. This was what I was using and I observed that from the second day, the birds p**p in the tray and the feed becomes mixed. Invariably this results in feed wastage, the tray has to be scrapped new set of feed put at least 3 to 4 times a day.
I saw the flipping feeders and really desired to have them. Immediately I saw that they were available in my locality, I got them. These set of feeders reduce feed wastage to the barest minimum. On the first two days, I don't attach the covers. I allow the birds to gain access to the feeds. From the third day, I use the covers. Using the covers, prevents the birds from lying and p**ping into the feeds. Only their heads can enter. It's only very small birds that can freely enter and come out.
Invest in age appropriate feeders for your birds.
These other set of feeders seen are also good for day old chicks. The feed is easily accessible and they cannot comfortable lie in the feeder.

05/02/2026

Today is day 3. So far, no mortality. Still giving them fire. The nights are cold here. I make sure that I check their crops. This is to ensure that they are eating. I can't touch all, but I try to touch a considerable number of them. I also check to see how warm they are. I placed their feets on my cheek, if it is warm, that is good. If it is cold, then I need to make the brooding room warmer for them. Warmth makes them eat more, cold reduces their feeding rate. At this stage, they need to eat well.
I will be giving them ordinary water today.

03/02/2026

People use different types of materials as litter in the brooding room. Some use newspapers,some use cartons, others use wood shavings, some even use sand or sawdust, I also know that some people use rice husk. I use wood shavings. Why I prefer wood shavings is that it is a very comfortable litter for the chicks. The particles are big, so no fear that the birds might mistakenly eat it as their food.
In choosing litter, the most important factor is availability. What is readily available in your locality? The second factor to consider is that the material should be free from poisonous substance. Whether we like it or not, the birds would definitely peck the litter materials and if it has poisonous substance, then the birds are exposed to disease and could died at the end.

30/01/2026

30/01/2026

I remember two years ago. I had just learnt how to formulate feed. Bag of feed as at that time was between 25000 and 27000, depending on the type. I felt that I could get my feeds at a cheaper rate if I formulated.

I encountered the challenge of getting the raw materials for formulation. I was able to get corn from the market, which I crushed at the mill. To get wheat bran was a problem, I needed to go as far as Delta state to get wheat bran. I was to use rice bran, after many enquiries,I was told that the ministry of Agriculture had a lot of rice bran. On getting there, I was told that they could not be sold. The reason given was that the commissioner wanted to use them for a project. The man I met, gave me the number of another man that was involved in feed formulation. For more than 6 months, intermittently I was calling this man to be able to buy his formulated feeds.
After much enquiries, I got soya bean cake here. Finally, to get the lysine, methionine and other minor ingredients was also a problem. It took the intervention of a friend, who had to ask someone to get these from Ibadan to me.

I was doing all these in a bid to reduce feed cost. If one is able to reduce feed cost to an extent, you have also reduce the cost of production. This will in turn affect how the birds would be sold.

Eventually, after getting everything and formulating, the cost of production was way more than the cost of buying already prepared feeds. Secondly the birds did not turn out as expected. I would say that I got my fingers bitten. Never again would I think of processing feeds, especially since we don't have readily available raw materials in the state.

29/01/2026

I was talking about the loss that happens to poultry farmers. These birds were supplied as broilers, as they started growing, we realised that they were up to 15 cockerels out of 50 birds. Invariably, this is already a loss to me. What I ordered is not what I got.
I will always say that the breed of bird is a major determinant in how successful a cycle would be.

24/01/2026

I remembered last year when my birds started dieing at 3 weeks plus. The first one that die, I didn't take it as anything. By the time the second one died, I knew that something was wrong.
That was how I dissected the dead bird. What I said was something like white nylon covering the liver and the heart. I immediately snapped it and sent to one of my coach.
My coach was able to diagnose the cause and also give me a solution. The cause of the illness was bad water that I was giving to my birds. When I traced it, I realised that the rain water that I was giving to my birds was not clean. Unfortunately, the illness had affected them greatly before this time. All I do was to no avail. The birds were just dying anyhow. All remedies tried were not successful.
I have vowed never to give my birds rain water again after that time. Rain water, especially rain water in Bayelsa state has a lot of carbon in it. This is as a result of the excessive gas flaring in our region.
An important factor to consider in poultry farming is the water source. Ensure that the water is safe for human consumption before giving to the birds.

24/01/2026

Organic all the way