Many chicken farmers in several parts of the country are benefitting from the results of a simple artificial insemination protocol. The technology is being employed by the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization. The focus is to speed up the multiplication of the Kalro-improved indigenous chicken.
Loise Waithaka and her son James Waithaka are some of the farmers reaping from the chicken multiplication technology. They live in north Kinangop and have been raising the Kalro-improved indigenous chicken for two years. Raising chicken became their fallback following the business slump that set in at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
One of the Kalro centres where the improved indigenous chicken multiplication technology is being implemented is the Poultry Research Unit at the Dairy Research Institute in Naivasha. The manifold number of chickens is for dissemination to different parts of the country and beyond.
“We’ve come to pick chicks to take to the farm so that we can continue rearing them,” James says. “This is what we do for a living. We’ve been coming here since Covid struck.”
His mother Loise says, “I love these chickens because raising them doesn’t involve a lot of work. I feed them only in the morning and evening.”
Even though the Covid-19 pandemic devastated multiple spheres of life, it fostered fertile ground for experimenting with new ideas. “After our businesses collapsed, I switched to this business to survive,” the younger Waithaka says. “It’s been very profitable. We cannot complain.”
He further says, “We’ve gotten money from the sale of eggs and also chicken for meat.”
Mother and son prefer cocks to hens. Once their chickens mature, they sell them at a minimum of Sh800 each and acquire new two-week-old chicks.
“I come here after selling what I would have raised,” Loise says. “I took 60 last time, but now I’ll take less, 24.”
She laments that chicken feed is expensive but is hopeful that her next batch will be a higher number.
The two farmers simply drive to the centre to pick the chicks of their choice. However, prior to their arrival, what goes on behind the scenes to ensure an endless count of eggs and subsequent chicks is labour-intensive. This is necessary if the nation’s food security dream is partly to be realised.
ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION
The DRI teems with more than 50,000 birds in a number of flock houses in the vast compound. Each house has a different flock age.
For the hatchery to assimilate the eggs, they have to be fertile. This is where artificial insemination fits in.
In one building, 240 birds are caged for research purposes. On one side of the room, the birds are black and white spotted. On the other, they are black. “These are different breed lines that we have been developing and refining over time,” says research assistant Ochieng’ Ouko.
In every chicken cage, there is a number that corresponds to a tag number pinned on the bird.
“The hens and cocks are brought here when they start laying and they stay here for three months. The aim is to identify the hens that begin producing eggs at the earliest opportunity,” Ouko says.
“Those that are first in laying will serve as a clue that they’ll have a longer laying duration than those that take long to lay their first egg.”
“These cocks have been trained to give semen,” Ouko says as a cock is handed to him. “For them to be efficiently trained, they should not have mounted a hen in the past.”
Ouko’s assistant holds a spatula by the cloaca of the cock to collect the semen. As soon as the spatula is well-positioned, semen is thrust onto it. A hen is then grabbed and the semen is implanted in its cloaca. The cock’s unique identification number will be marked on the eggs that will be laid.
“For a hen to take semen, it has to be in lay. For the next five or six days the eggs produced will be fertile and so daily insemination isn’t necessary,” Says Ouko.
This technology, Ouko explains, is not meant for small-holder farmers but rather for breeding interventions or large-scale systems. If genetic resources for multiplication are required to be ferried to another country, it’s easier to transport semen than live birds.
THE HATCHERY
Once these eggs have been laid, they have potential to hatch. Sorting begins. This is done merely by eye examination as a preliminary. Broken or cracked eggs are sifted out. The rest are taken to the hatchery.
In the hatchery is an egg storage room. The hatchery manager is Asaph Ngana. He says, “Here we keep eggs at a conducive temperature of 18-21 degrees Celsius for a period of five days. This makes the embryo stable and ready for incubation.”
If the eggs are to be stored for more than five days, the temperature ought to be reduced to 16 degrees Celsius.
The Kalro Naivasha Centre has five flock houses with different flock ages. “We have 5,000 breeder flocks that are laying eggs for the hatchery,” Ngana says.
“The unit handles 4,000 eggs per day, collected four times; around 10am, noon, 3pm and 4pm.” The frequent collection minimises dirt and damage to the shells.
For easy traceability, when eggs are taken to the hatchery, the number of eggs delivered and the date of lay are confirmed. The flock number is verified, that is, the house where the eggs are coming from. The eggs are kept according to their flock houses.
The hatchery ensures strict adherence to egg-handling and assessment practices to boost high percentages of hatchability. The eggs are further keenly examined using a candling machine.
The machine has circular perforations upon which eggs in a slip-in tray are placed. A strong light source beams from underneath the eggs. Other lights in the room are switched off. The examiner easily identifies infertile eggs and those with dead embryos based on whether the eggs are transparent or opaque. These are removed and so are those with a double yolk.
Once again the cleanness of the eggs is certified. The size and day of lay are ascertained. Cracked and broken ones are removed.
The eggs are disinfected by fumigation, before being taken to the pre-warming chamber. Formalin and potassium permanganate are used in recommended proportions for the fumigation process, which takes 40 minutes at a temperature between 24 and 38 degrees Celsius.
“This process takes 40 minutes. Twenty minutes is for the circulation of the gas, while another 20 is for the extraction of the gas,” Ngana says.
This method has proven effective in destroying microorganisms on egg trays, setters, hatching machines and other objects that come into contact with the eggs.
INCUBATION AND HATCHING
Hatching takes 21 days. The first 18 days take place in the setter. The last three days, in the hatcher. “The percentage of hatchability will depend on the fertility of the egg,” Ngana says.
The eggs are picked from a flock that is 25 weeks old and above. Eggs from a younger flock tend to be small and have low fertility. The priority in the hatchery is to fill the machines. Surplus fertile eggs are sold to the public.
Ngana says, “The setter normally turns the eggs for 18 days. Then the temperature in the compartment is 38 degrees Celsius or in Fahrenheit, 100.2. A humidity of 55 per cent and carbon percentage of 0.4 are set.”
Once the eggs are loaded, the incubation time is keyed to begin from day zero. When the eggs are ready for transfer to the hatcher, a digital monitor will be reading day 18.
Ngana explains that there are three categories in laying. The young flock, flock that has peaked (with high fertility), and the old flock. The flock that has peaked can yield up to 96 per cent hatchability.
The hatchery may produce close to 20,000 chicks per round of incubation. “We have a loss of not more than 10 per cent,” Ngana says.
The batch of newly-hatched chicks is vaccinated within a maximum period of four hours. There are two stages. The first is by use of injections either through a mechanised system or manually. The second phase involves spraying.
“They are vaccinated against Marex, New Castle and Gumboro,” says Production manager Gladys Wangui.
After vaccination, the one-day-old chicks are taken to the brooders. These houses are spread with dry wood shaving. Chick mash is in place to entice the instincts of the chicks to begin pecking. Drinkers are ready too with a glucose solution.
Either gas or electricity is used to regulate the temperatures within the brooders. Some brooding houses at the institute can hold as many as 9,000 chicks. There are two brooders in PRU section. But on the commercial side there are seven.
At the Kalro Centre hatchery, particularly, “Biosecurity measures are strictly adhered to. Dust coats and clean gumboots are a must. Those used outside the hatchery are not to be brought inside,” Wangui says.
Disinfection pools are placed at the entrances of compounds and structures that house the chickens at various stages of growth.
As Kalro-improved indigenous hens and roosters strut the homesteads of innumerable farmers across the country, the rigorous work that went into their hatching may keep slipping by unnoticed.
Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya
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