When your birds reach a marketable age, you must plan how they will be transported to the market and sold to consumers. The majority of poultry bird marketing involves transporting these birds from the farm to the market.

However, due to carelessness or ignorance, some livestock farmers accidentally kill some of their broilers, spent layers, cocks or turkeys while transporting them to market to sell.

Another thing to keep in mind is that proper handling of these birds is required both before and after they are transported to the market. When animals are mishandled they can become bruised or injured lowering the quality of the animals and their meat.

When these birds are not handled properly, their value decreases which may result in a loss or reduced profit. As a farmer, you must do the following to avoid these losses.

• Stop feeding grits to your birds two (2) weeks before marketing. Stop taking any medication at least 2-3 weeks before the market date. This is done to avoid the residual effect of drugs on meat or tainting, both of which are detrimental to meat quality.

• Cull sick or weak birds from the flock and place them in separate pens; you can feed and medicate them separately, but they must not be sold at the same time as the healthy ones.

• Remove the waterer and empty the feeders for two (2) hours before beginning the catching. This is done to keep the birds from being injured while being caught.

• Involve experienced personnel in the catching and loading process. In contrast to inexperienced attendants, an experienced one knows what to look for and how to handle birds with care.

• If the operation must be performed at night, use a low-light setting. This is ideal for making the operation as simple as possible.

• Congregate the entire flock into smaller groups for convenience and to avoid deadly stampeding, which is unavoidable when there are more birds.

• Carry no more than five birds at a time by grabbing their shanks rather than their heads, necks or wings.

• Make certain that the birds are safe from extreme weather conditions. When the weather is hot, protect birds from heat stress during transportation by pitting them inside open crates and avoiding long stops enroots.

Final thoughts

When the aforementioned steps are taken, avoidable losses that occur prior to and during marketing are avoided. Feed your chickens well and manage them properly and they will give you more profits.