Newcastle disease kills faster than almost anything else in commercial poultry production. A velogenic Newcastle disease virus entering an unprotected or inadequately vaccinated layer house can kill 80–100% of the…
Neither Escherichia coli nor Salmonella requires an introduction. Both have been present in poultry houses since commercial egg production began. Both continue to cause significant mortality, production loss, and food…
The most sophisticated vaccination program, the most precisely formulated ration, and the most carefully engineered housing system in West Africa cannot protect a layer flock from a velogenic Newcastle disease…
A sick hen is a question. The farm diagnosis tool is the method for answering it. The question is never simply “what disease is this?” The question is: what combination…
Most layer farms dispose of dead birds. Few examine them. This is the most consistent and most expensive diagnostic mistake in commercial poultry production. A dead bird examined within 4…
A flock of 5,000 pullets does not lay as one bird. It lies as a population, and the shape of that population at the point of sexual maturity determines the…
An egg drop is a production event with a root cause. It does not occur spontaneously. When laying rate falls 10% or more below the expected trajectory, or when a…
The dry season arrives on schedule. Every year. In northern Cameroon, Nigeria, and the Sahel zone, the harmattan brings temperatures above 35°C from November through February. In southern Cameroon and…
A consumer picking up two trays of eggs at a market stall in Douala, Yaoundé, or Lagos does not read the feed formulation sheet. She cracks an egg. If the…
Feed accounts for 65–75% of the total variable cost of producing an egg. In a commercial layer operation producing 1 million eggs per year, a difference of 0.1 in feed…
