The Poultry Keeper

DerekH · Joined: 16 Oct 2005 Posts: 1 Location: Northampton, England

Hi all,

I'm moving from the UK to Madagascar next year and wanting to take a large-ish number of chickens with me to start a small business. Will be trying a little of raising for meat and a little of raising for eggs. However, I'm totally new to the poultry-game (though have done considerable reading).

My Questions are:

1. What is the best age of chicken to ship a couple of hundred birds to Madagascar so that they arrive in good condition? Egg? Day old chicks? Pullets? Air France can deliver cargo within about 15 hours by air from Heathrow. Then it is about 2 hours by road to our house.

2. What type of chicken would be best in a very warm climate (15 to 30 degrees throughout the year) for (a) meat production (b) egg production.

The problem of sourcing the birds in Madagascar is that there are only 2 main suppliers within reach. Both of those suppliers prepare only for the end consumer market and I have read that it is a bad idea to buy from such a business ...

Can anyone please advise

TIA,

Derek

Deb_Moderator · Joined: 13 Apr 2005 Posts: 3661

Hi Derek,

One thing you have to look into first is the import/export issues. With the bird flu taking front and center, there may be some problems with that for the next couple years.

If you manage to get past the exporting side, then check that the importing side does not have a manditory quaranteen time set up....i.e. 6 months is the usual I am told.

Day old chicks would probably be the best to ship like that. As they are equipped to survive for up to 3 days without food and water.

Let us know how you get on. Will be interesting to find out what you found out about exporting and importing.

summayah · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 4289 Location: luton

Hello DerekH and welcome to the forum. Sorry I can't help with your questions, but Deb's thought sound good, especially if you can export/import day old chicks. Even if they're in quarantine for 6 months they will still be young birds when you get them back.
Are all countries 6 months quarantine?

nigel · Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:10 am Post subject:

I don't know anything about shipping etc,

but if i was choosing poultry for a warm climate I think I'd look at where the breed originated. Maybe some of the Mediterranean breeds like the Leghorn or Minorca, or the North African Ones like the Fayoumi. Not sure where you'd source them in large numbers though

mojo · Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 3:03 pm Post subject: hi

silly question but why source from uk there must be a european poultry supplier nearer and also used to major export.......... go web hunting ............best of luck tell us how you get on ...............as air france fly direct maybebetter to source in france......first check with your new homes dept of animal welfare........mojo