Poultry Production Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Poultry Farm Managers, Production Supervisors and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-AA-047

Before you join: Participants should have basic familiarity with poultry production, farm operations or livestock extension work.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Poultry enterprises must convert biological performance into safe, saleable meat, eggs or chicks while controlling disease, feed costs, welfare risks and volatile markets. Weak placement procedures, poor ventilation, inconsistent water quality or incomplete records can quickly increase mortality, depress feed conversion and create food-safety exposure. Farm managers and technical staff need to make timely decisions from flock data rather than rely only on routine or supplier advice.

This five-day course covers broiler, layer, breeder and hatchery management from enterprise planning through flock depletion or egg dispatch. Participants examine production cycles, nutrition, housing, environmental control, chick placement, flock inspection, vaccination, biosecurity, welfare, egg handling, food safety and enterprise economics. They learn to interpret mortality, feed conversion ratio, body-weight uniformity, hen-day production, hatchability and gross margin results, then identify corrective actions when performance falls below target.

Instructor-led sessions combine focused briefings with poultry farm cases, flock-record reviews, ration and budget calculations, biosecurity scenarios, welfare observations and group planning. Participants receive a certificate of completion and leave with a farm production management pack containing reusable records, checklists, analysis models and an improvement plan. The course is available in classroom settings in 50+ cities or live online. Training runs for five days, 08:30-16:30, with approximately 6.5 contact hours each day.

The course suits professionals responsible for commercial farms, outgrower schemes, institutional poultry units, hatcheries, feed operations and livestock development projects. It is particularly relevant where productivity improvement must be balanced with animal welfare, disease prevention, safe food handling and financial discipline.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess flock performance using mortality, FCR, uniformity and production indicators
  • Formulate feed and water management actions from nutrient, quality and consumption data
  • Design housing, ventilation, litter and lighting controls for poultry production systems
  • Implement chick placement, brooding, inspection and flock-recording procedures
  • Apply biosecurity, vaccination and outbreak response measures using flock health plans
  • Evaluate poultry welfare using the Five Domains model and observable indicators
  • Develop HACCP controls and traceability records for eggs and poultry products
  • Prepare enterprise budgets, risk registers and 90-day farm improvement plans

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Diagnose poor flock performance from mortality, feed intake and body-weight records
  • Make defensible feed, ventilation and stocking decisions using production measures
  • Recognise early disease, welfare and food-safety warning signs
  • Build practical biosecurity and outbreak response procedures for assigned facilities
  • Present farm improvement priorities using costs, targets and corrective actions

For your organisation

  • Lower avoidable mortality through disciplined placement, inspection and health controls
  • Improve feed efficiency by linking ration quality, intake records and flock targets
  • Reduce disease introduction risks through zoning, visitor controls and sanitation procedures
  • Strengthen egg and poultry product safety through HACCP and traceability records
  • Improve investment decisions with enterprise budgets, cash forecasts and risk registers

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define poultry enterprise objectives and interpret the core indicators used to manage flock performance.

  • Broiler, layer and breeder enterprise models compared by biological outputs
  • Production cycle maps from placement through depletion and cleaning
  • Enterprise objectives translated into flock performance, welfare and margin targets
  • Reading flock records: mortality, body weight, feed intake and egg output
  • Key performance indicators: livability, FCR, uniformity, hen-day production
  • Breed-strain selection matched to market, climate, housing and feed availability

Participants can assess feed and water requirements and identify actions affecting feed efficiency and bird health.

  • Digestive physiology linked to nutrient requirements at each production stage
  • Metabolisable energy, amino acids, minerals and vitamins interpreted in feed specifications
  • Least-cost ration formulation using ingredient analyses, constraints and nutrient matrices
  • Feed sampling plans and moisture checks prevent storage-related quality losses
  • Calculate feed conversion ratio, daily feed intake and feed cost
  • Water quality testing addresses pH, hardness, microbial load and medication compatibility

Participants can set housing and environmental controls that support poultry comfort, health and productivity.

  • Site selection separates poultry houses from wild birds, livestock and traffic
  • House orientation, stocking density and floor space matched to bird class
  • Ventilation calculations balance airflow, temperature, humidity, ammonia and carbon dioxide
  • Litter management controls moisture, caking, footpad lesions and ammonia release
  • Lighting programmes set photoperiod and intensity for broilers and layers
  • Heating and brooding checks protect chick comfort during critical placement days
  • Equipment maintenance schedules cover drinkers, feeders, fans, alarms and generators

Participants can manage placement, brooding and daily inspections using standard flock control records.

  • Pre-placement house preparation follows cleaning, disinfection, drying and downtime sequence
  • Chick quality assessed through navel condition, activity, uniformity and dehydration signs
  • Brooding rings, temperature and drinker access set before chick arrival
  • Daily flock inspection uses behaviour, crop fill and distribution observations
  • Body-weight sampling and coefficient of variation guide uniformity correction
  • Adjust feeder height, drinker pressure and stocking plans as birds grow
  • Record mortality, culls and treatment events using standard flock registers

Participants can establish biosecurity controls, review vaccination programmes and respond appropriately to suspected disease.

  • Biosecurity zoning separates clean, controlled and dirty farm areas
  • All-in/all-out production reduces pathogen carryover between successive flocks
  • WOAH-aligned disease reporting identifies notifiable signs and escalation routes
  • Vaccination programmes specify antigen, route, timing, handling and coverage checks
  • Necropsy observations distinguish respiratory, enteric, neurological and reproductive disease patterns
  • Antimicrobial stewardship uses veterinary diagnosis, susceptibility results and withdrawal periods
  • Outbreak response plans define isolation, sampling, disposal, notification and recovery

Participants can assess welfare risks and apply humane handling controls throughout poultry production.

  • Five Domains model links nutrition, environment, health, behaviour and mental state
  • Stockperson observations identify panting, huddling, pecking, lameness and fear
  • Humane catching and transport procedures reduce bruising, fractures and mortality
  • Layer management addresses nest access, perch use and injurious pecking
  • Broiler welfare indicators include gait score, footpad condition and hock burns
  • Culling methods meet welfare requirements and documented competency controls
  • Contingency actions protect birds during heat stress, power failure and flooding

Participants can manage egg production, breeder performance and hatchery factors affecting chick output.

  • Hen-day, hen-housed and egg-mass measures assess laying persistence
  • Egg collection frequency limits floor eggs, cracks and microbial contamination
  • Grading standards classify eggs by weight, shell quality and internal defects
  • Shell quality investigation examines calcium supply, disease, age and stress
  • Incubation parameters control temperature, humidity, turning and ventilation profiles
  • Fertility and hatchability analysis separates breeder, egg-handling and incubator causes

Participants can apply food-safety controls and traceability procedures to poultry and egg production.

  • Farm-to-fork hazard mapping identifies biological, chemical and physical hazards
  • HACCP plans establish critical control points, limits, monitoring and corrective actions
  • Egg washing and storage controls manage temperature, sanitizer and condensation risks
  • Withdrawal-period records prevent residues from medicines and medicated feed
  • Salmonella control combines rodent management, sanitation, testing and traceability
  • Traceability codes connect feed batches, flock houses, treatments and customers
  • Recall procedures assign product holds, notifications, investigation and disposition

Participants can prepare and use financial analyses to improve poultry enterprise decisions.

  • Enterprise budgets separate fixed costs, variable costs, depreciation and finance
  • Gross margin analysis compares broiler batches, egg units and breeder flocks
  • Break-even price and sensitivity analysis test feed, mortality and market changes
  • Flock records reconcile chick placement, feed use, deaths, sales and inventory
  • Cash-flow forecasts schedule feed purchases, labour, utilities and sales receipts
  • Procurement specifications define quality, delivery terms and supplier performance measures
  • Marketing channels assessed for live birds, dressed poultry, eggs and manure

Participants can prioritise poultry production risks and prepare a practical farm improvement plan.

  • Seasonal production calendars align chick placement with demand, climate and cash needs
  • Risk registers rank disease, feed disruption, heat, price and power threats
  • Business continuity plans assign actions for outbreaks, equipment failure and market closure
  • Monthly performance reviews compare actual results against flock targets and budgets
  • Root-cause analysis investigates mortality spikes, poor FCR and egg defects
  • Corrective action plans assign owners, dates, measures and verification evidence
  • 90-day farm improvement plan prioritises welfare, biosecurity and margin actions

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Poultry flock performance dashboard template
  2. Feed and water quality control checklist
  3. Farm biosecurity zoning and visitor-control plan
  4. Poultry welfare inspection checklist
  5. HACCP and product traceability record pack
  6. 90-day poultry farm improvement plan

Who should attend

  • Poultry Farm Managers — responsible for flock performance, welfare, costs and output quality
  • Production Supervisors — need consistent procedures for daily flock and house management
  • Veterinary Officers — support disease prevention, vaccination and treatment oversight
  • Hatchery and Breeder Staff — manage fertility, hatchability, chick quality and breeder records
  • Agribusiness Extension Officers — advise producers, cooperatives and outgrower poultry schemes
  • Livestock Project Managers — oversee poultry investments within development or humanitarian programmes

Skills and tools covered

Flock performance analysisPoultry nutrition managementFarm biosecurity planningAnimal welfare assessmentFood safety controlPoultry enterprise budgeting

Tools and standards

HACCP, Five Domains Model, WOAH Terrestrial Animal Health Code, Feed Conversion Ratio

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short technical briefings followed by poultry farm cases, flock-record interpretation, group calculations and facilitated decision-making. Participants work with realistic broiler, layer, breeder and hatchery scenarios involving mortality changes, feed cost increases, heat stress, egg defects and suspected disease events. Biosecurity and welfare scenarios test response choices, while budget and risk-planning work connects flock decisions to financial results. Each participant applies the methods to a relevant poultry operation or planned enterprise and prepares priorities for implementation.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have basic familiarity with poultry production, farm operations or livestock extension work. Experience handling flock records, supervising farm staff, providing veterinary support, managing feed supplies or working with producer groups is useful. Participants should understand simple percentages, ratios and costs, as the course uses production and budget calculations. A veterinary qualification, nutrition degree, commercial farm ownership or prior HACCP training is not required. The course explains technical terms before applying them to flock decisions, but it is not intended for complete beginners with no exposure to poultry systems.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should have basic exposure to poultry production, livestock extension, farm supervision or agribusiness operations. A veterinary degree, nutrition qualification or commercial farm ownership is not required, although the course is not designed for complete beginners.

Bring a laptop or calculator if available, plus any non-confidential flock records, feed specifications, vaccination schedules or farm performance reports relevant to your work. These materials can be used when preparing an individual improvement plan.

It is intended for farm managers, production supervisors, veterinary officers, hatchery personnel, extension officers and project managers responsible for poultry enterprises. It suits staff working with broilers, layers, breeders, hatcheries or producer schemes.

This course focuses on managing the whole poultry production unit, connecting flock health, nutrition, housing, welfare, food safety and enterprise economics. It does not train participants as veterinary diagnosticians or specialist feed formulators.

Participants can use the record templates, inspection checklists, biosecurity controls and performance measures immediately on an assigned farm or producer programme. The 90-day improvement plan provides a structured starting point for action with supervisors and farm teams.

Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, providing approximately 6.5 contact hours daily. Ten modules are taught in sequence through briefings, cases, calculations, group work and farm planning, with scheduled breaks and time for questions.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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