Abstract

An introduction and demonstration of broilers was conducted in Bahir Dar Zuria district of Amhara region, Ethiopia, in the year 2013 and 2014. The major objective of the trial was to introduce broiler chicken breeds in the area and evaluate their performance using locally processed feed. The trial was done at Bahir Dar Zuria district, Andassa kebele. A total of 420 Hubbard JV broiler breed day old chicks were purchased from Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center and used for the study. Four jobless women were participated in this trial and each participant received 105 broiler day old chicks. Brooding was done by using electrical brooder. Finished broilers were sold live after six weeks of growing period. The average weight of day old chicks was 41.4g. The average weight of birds at end of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th weeks were 130g, 213.72g, 291.25g, 599.7, 849.9g and 1293.9.6g, respectively. The total numbers of birds died in the entire period were seven (1.8 birds/HH). The average cumulative mortality percentage was 1.7%. The average daily feed intake/bird and cumulative feed intake/bird during the entire period was 79.4g and 3335.9g, respectively. The cumulative average feed conversion ratio (FCR) was 2.3. The partial budget analysis result indicated that broiler production was profitable with a net benefit of 20.41 Ethiopian birr per live bird. The lower mortality rate and profitability of birds revealed that broilers could be reared at small holder level using locally processed feed. The result of the trial showed that boiler producers should give a due attention for the preparation of good quality feed if they could not purchase and use commercial feed. Otherwise; it will not be an easy task to bring broilers in to marketable weight within six weeks of growing period.

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