An Appraisal Of Traditional Incubation And Hatching Methods Of Indigenous Poultry Eggs In Kwara State, Nigeria

This study was conducted to assess fraditional incubation and hatching methods of indigenous poultry eggs, and the level of knowledge of poultry farmers in Kwara State of Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 80 household poultry keepers who were interviewed using structured questionnaires for data collection. Four Local Government Areas (LGAs) were randomly selected while a non probability snow-ball technique was used to select five households who are known for rearing indigenous chickens. The results showed the mean age ofpoultry keepers in the study area was 51+/-8 and the mean flock size in the study was 21+/-5.chickens About 11.2% of the respondents keep poultry as a source of income and 7.5 % raise chickens solely for consumption while 87.5% keep chickens for both consumption and income purposes. 71.2% of respondents keep chicken eggs for incubation and hatching for replacement purposes. The mean income from sales ofpoultry products was 2,800+/-149 NGN (US$7.7). The result further showed that 52.8% of the farmers had a low level of knowledge while 32.4% had a moderate level of knowledge and only 14.8% of them had a high level of knowledge about the process of fraditional incubation and hatching methods. The ordered logistic regression model results showed that, age 0.128 (p=0.00611), annual income 0.000212 (p=0.0193) and years offormal education 0.5318 (p=0.0121) influenced the likelihood of higher level of knowledge about the processes of incubation and hatching of eggs of indigenous chicken of the respondents. Predator, inadequate funds, and theft are the major constraints faced by the poultry keepers in the study area. There is a need for more empirical studies by animal breeders and extension service providers to give proper orientation to the poultry keepers on the process of incubation and hatching of eggs for rapid multiplication of indigenous poultry birds to improve food and nutritional security for a sustainable development.