TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title page    –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         i

Certification –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         ii

Dedication   –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         iii

Acknowledgements         –         –         –         –         –         –         iv

Table of contents   –         –         –         –         –         –         –         vi

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.0     Poultry-       –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         1

CHAPTER TWO

2.1     Poultry Production in Nigeria    –         –         –         –         –         3

2.2     Examples of Poultry Birds Widely Reared    –         –         –         9

2.2.1  Chickens      –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         9

2.2.2  Ducks –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         11

2.2.3  Geese –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         12

2.2.4  Turkeys       –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         13

2.3     Poultry Farming    –         –         –         –         –         –         –         14

2.4     Factors Determining Poultry Production       –         –         –         17

2.5     Problem Facing Poultry Production in Nigeria        –         –         21

CHAPTER THREE

3.0     Benefits of Poultry Production  –         –         –         –         –         27

3.1     Sources of Meat for Food –         –         –         –         –         –         27

3.2     Sources of Eggshell Used in Pharmaceuticals          –         –         28

3.3     Sources of feathers used in manufacturing of plastics        –         29

3.4     Source of Biofuel   –         –         –         –         –         –         –         31

3.5     Source of manure for soil Improvement and Amendment –         32

3.7     Source of Animal Feed    –         –         –         –         –         –         33

CHAPTER FOUR: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

4.1     Summary –   –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         35

4.2     Conclusion  –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         36

References

CHAPTER ONE

1.0     Poultry

Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for their eggs, their meat or their feathers. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes (which includes chickens, quails, and turkeys). The term also includes birds that are killed for their meat, such as the young of pigeons (known as squabs) but does not include similar wild birds hunted for sport or food and known as game. The word “poultry” comes from the French/Norman word poule, itself derived from the Latin word pullus, which means small animal (Adekanbi, 2000).

The recent genomic study involving the four extant Junglefowl species reveal that the domestication of chicken, the most populous poultry species, occurred around 8,000 years ago in Southeast Asia. Although this was believed to have occurred later around 5,400 years ago in Southeast Asia. This may have originally been as a result of people hatching and rearing young birds from eggs collected from the wild, but later involved keeping the birds permanently in captivity. Domesticated chickens may have been used for cockfighting at first and quail kept for their songs, but soon it was realized how useful it was having a captive-bred source of food. Selective breeding for fast growth, egg-laying ability, conformation, plumage and docility took place over the centuries, and modern breeds often look very different from their wild ancestors. Although some birds are still kept in small flocks in extensive systems, most birds available in the market today are reared in intensive commercial enterprises (Lawal et al., 2020).

Together with pork, poultry is one of the two most widely eaten types of meat globally, with over 70% of the meat supply in 2012 between them; poultry provides nutritionally beneficial food containing high-quality protein accompanied by a low proportion of fat. All poultry meat should be properly handled and sufficiently cooked in order to reduce the risk of food poisoning. Semi-vegetarians who consume poultry as the only source of meat are said to adhere to pollotarianism (Killgrove, 2017).