Introduction
The poultry industry in Nigeria constitutes an important agricultural enterprise to the
nation, contributing substantially to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (Permin
et al., 1998; Ambali et al., 2003). The population of poultry (both local and exotic
chickens) in Nigeria has been estimated at approximately 190 million (Orajaka, 2005). It
is generally believed that developing the poultry industry is a fast means of bridging the
protein deficiency prevalent in most developing countries of the world (Jibir and Usman,
2003). It forms an appropriate system for supplying the fast-growing human population
with high-quality protein (Permin et al., 1998; Guéye, 2004) whilst providing additional
income to the generally resource-poor small holder farmers (Guéye, 2004), thereby
helping to alleviate poverty.
Modern day commercial poultry production involves confinement (Ogundipe, 2002),
whilst rural poultry production involves free range (Van Eekeren et al., 1995; Orajaka,
2005). Typically four management systems have been recognized: the free range or
unimproved backyard, the improved backyard, the semi-intensive and the intensive
systems (Branckaert and Guéye, 2000, Guéye, 2004). The choice of system is largely
determined by the availability of resources and inputs; such as housing, cages, feed,
drugs, time/attention (Guéye, 2004) and vaccination.
This important component of the agricultural sector continues to be fraught by
constraints related to high mortality, due mainly to viral, bacterial and fungal
infections (Abdu et al., 2005; Guéye, 2004; Oboegbulem et al., 1980;
Chansiripornchai, 2004), housing, feeding, breeding, marketing and information
dissemination (Guéye, 2004), and in addition, resistance due to over-use of antibiotics
by poultry farmers and /or production of resistance markers by the infective agents
(personal communication).
Disease prevention and control programs are limited in this industry, particularly in this
part of the country, and high mortality rates due to therapeutic failure are common,
perhaps associated with treatment failures due to transferable drug resistance (Saeed et
al., 2000; Deborah et al., 2005) even in vaccinated flocks (Ambali et al., 2003). This
paper aimed at assessing some poultry management practices and disease recognition by
poultry farmers in Maiduguri, arid zone of Nigeria, with the view of improving the
poultry production in this part of the country.
Study area
The study was conducted in Maiduguri metropolis, capital of Borno State, Nigeria. The
Metropolis is made up of two local government areas (Jere and Maiduguri Metropolitan
Council). It is located on longitude 135°E and latitude 115°N with a land mass of about
50,778 square kilometres. It is the largest city in the North-Eastern region of Nigeria.
Borno State is being bordered by the republics of Niger, Chad and Cameroun to the
North, North-East and East respectively. Maiduguri lies in the Sahel savannah
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vegetational region. The climate is favourable with an annual maximum temperature of
34.8°C: March and April are the hottest months with temperature range of 30-40°C. The
area is usually cold and dry during harmattans (strong winds characteristic of the region),
with November to January being the coldest months. Average annual rainfall is between
88 and 108mm, the rainy season covering the months of June to October (Anon, 2006).
The assessment was based on the administration of close-ended questionnaire which
sought information on poultry management practices, flock size, housing system,
vaccination and recognition of signs of disease conditions amongst others. Two
hundred and fifty copies of the questionnaire were given out to poultry farmers in the
study area with the assistance of day-old-chicks sellers, poultry feed merchants and
poultry clinics of the State Veterinary Hospital and University of Maiduguri
Veterinary Teaching Hospital.
Characteristics of poultry production
Out of the 250 questionnaires distributed, 173 (69.2%) were completed and returned.
Table 1 shows the distribution of poultry farms maintained by farmers in relation to flock
size and age-groups of chickens.
Table 1 Distribution of poultry farms maintained by poultry farmers in Maiduguri in relation to flock size
and age (N=173).
Age groups of chickens in weeks and number (%) of farms
Flock size 1-2 3-6 7-10 >10 MA Total
10-50 8 (19.0) 13 (28.6) 10 (23.8) 10 (23.8) 2 (4.8) 42 (24.3)1
51-100 6 (17.6) 10 (29.4) 6 (17.6) 10 (29.4) 2 (5.9) 34 (19.6)2
101-200 9 (23.1) 8 (20.5) 6 (15.4) 11 (28.2) 5 (12.8) 39 (22.5)1
201-500 6 (17.1) 6 (17.1) 9 (25.7) 7 (20.0) 7 (20.0) 35 (20.2)2
> 500 3 (13.0) 4 (17.4) 5 (21.7) 4 (17.4) 7 (30.4) 23 (13.3)3
Total 32 (18.5)e 40 (23.1)d 36 (20.8)e 42 (24.3)d 23 (13.3)f 173 (100)
Figures in parentheses are percentages.
Mean values with different superscripts differ significantly (p
MA= multi-age
The rearing system practiced in Maiduguri by poultry farmers is shown in Table 2.
Farmers who practice the deep litter confinement system were highest in number with
n=143 (82.7%), followed by those who used cage confinement system (n=22; 12.7%),
whilst those that practiced the free range or extensive system were the lowest in number
(n=8; 4.6%).
Table 2 Rearing systems practiced by poultry farmers (N = 173) in Maiduguri.
Rearing system Number (% of respondents
Deep litter confinement system 143 (82.7)1
Cage confinement system 22 (12.7)2
Extensive (free range) system 8 (4.6)3
Total 173 (100)
Mean values with different superscripts differ significantly (p
Management and disease in Nigeria: M.S. Akidarju et al.
World’s Poultry Science Journal, Vol. 66, June 2010 287
Table 3 shows the types of housing units maintained by the respondent farmers. Halfzinc
half-wire mesh open-sided housing proved most popular (47.7%), followed by halfblock
half-wire mesh open-sided houses (20.8%), whilst half-wood half-wire mesh opensided
(2.9%) houses were the least popular. Only 21 (12.1%) respondents kept birds in
windowed closed-sided houses, whilst those that used local and battery cage housing
systems accounted for 11.6% and 1.2% of respondents respectively. The different types
of poultry houses maintained by poultry farmers in Maiduguri are shown in Figure 1.
Table 3 Poultry housing systems (type of housing units) maintained by farmers in Maiduguri (N=173).
Type of housing unit* Number (%) of farms
Half-block half-wire mesh open-sided house 36 (20.8)2
Half-zinc half-wire mesh open-sided house 82 (47.4)1
Half-wood half-wire mesh open-sided house 5 (2.9)3
Windowed close-sided house 21 (12.1)4
Local cage 20 (11.6)4
Battery cage 2 (1.2)5
No response 7 (4.1)
Total 173 (100)
*Houses roofed with galvanized iron sheet (zinc).
Mean values with different superscripts differ significantly (p
Table 4 shows vaccination levels and antibiotics usage in poultry rearing from the
producers answering the questionnaire. The majority of farms had only incomplete
vaccination schedules, and some reported that no vaccinations occurred. On the other
hand, farms in which multiple antibiotic combinations use was common differed from
those in which double or single antibiotics combination use were common. However,
there was no difference between farms in which double antibiotic combinations were in
use and those in which single antibiotics were in use. This may result from more
intelligent and judicial use of these antibiotics by the two categories of farmers: the
effect of antibiotics being determined by the dose, dosage, concentration, level and rate or
frequency of use and duration of administration amongst other things.
Table 5 shows disease recognition by poultry farmers in Maiduguri, whereby the
producers were asked to confirm their familiarity with certain disease symptoms and
its link to specific disease. Figure 2 and 3 show some typical examples of disease
conditions easily recognized by the producers.
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