Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of harvesting animal products such as meat, eggs or feathers. The practice of raising poultry is known as poultry farming. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes. The term also includes waterfowls of the family Anatidae but does not include wild birds hunted for food known as game or quarry.
Breed broiler is any chicken that is bred and raised specifically for meat production. Most commercial broilers reach slaughter weight between four and six weeks of age, although slower growing breeds reach slaughter weight at approximately 14 weeks of age. Typical broilers have white feathers and yellowish skin. Broiler or sometimes broiler-fryer is also used sometimes to refer specifically to younger chickens under 2.0 kilograms, as compared with the larger roasters.
Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company Limited, a company of the Charoen Pokphand Group, is an agro-industrial and food conglomerate headquartered in Thailand. It is one of the world's largest producers of feed and shrimp, and is also a global top three producer of poultry and pork.
Inghams Enterprises, commonly known as Inghams, is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and is a supplier/producer of poultry and fodder across Australia and New Zealand. The company claims to be one of the largest producers of chicken and turkey products in Australia and employs in excess of 8,000 people in more than 100 locations in Australia and New Zealand. The company was founded in 1918 and was managed by members of the Ingham family from its establishment until 2014, including Walter Ingham and his two sons, Jack Ingham and Bob Ingham. TPG Capital acquired Inghams in 2014 for A$880 million. Inghams was listed on the ASX in November 2016.
Gold Kist was a large chicken producing company in the southern United States. It was founded in 1933 by D.W. Brooks, a University of Georgia agronomy instructor as the Cotton Producers Association, a cooperative to help farmers in Carrollton, Georgia, market cotton. It soon grew and diversified into fields such as fertilizer and retailing farm supplies. It soon entered the poultry business. In 1998 it exited the agronomy business to focus on protein products, primarily chicken but also pork. In 2004, with the approval of its membership, it converted from being a cooperative to a for-profit stock-ownership company, listed on NASDAQ. In 2006, Gold Kist was acquired by Pilgrim's Pride.
Chicken is the most common type of poultry in the world. Owing to the relative ease and low cost of raising chickens—in comparison to mammals such as cattle or hogs—chicken meat and chicken eggs have become prevalent in numerous cuisines.
In agriculture, poultry litter or broiler litter is a mixture of poultry excreta, spilled feed, feathers, and material used as bedding in poultry operations. This term is also used to refer to unused bedding materials. Poultry litter is used in confinement buildings used for raising broilers, turkeys and other birds. Common bedding materials include wood shavings, sawdust, peanut hulls, shredded sugar cane, straw, and other dry, absorbent, low-cost organic materials. Sand is also occasionally used as bedding. The bedding materials help absorb moisture, limiting the production of ammonia and harmful pathogens. The materials used for bedding can also have a significant impact on carcass quality and bird performance.
Perdue Farms is the parent company of Perdue Foods and Perdue AgriBusiness, based in Salisbury, Maryland. Perdue Foods is a major chicken, turkey, and pork processing company in the United States. Perdue AgriBusiness ranks among the top United States grain companies. Perdue Farms has 2021 annual sales of $8 billion.
Poultry farming is the form of animal husbandry which raises domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese to produce meat or eggs for food. Poultry – mostly chickens – are farmed in great numbers. More than 60 billion chickens are killed for consumption annually. Chickens raised for eggs are known as layers, while chickens raised for meat are called broilers.
John W. Tyson was an American businessman, the founder of American multinational corporation Tyson Foods and, from 1935 until his death in 1967, its chief executive officer.
Poultry farming is a part of the United States's agricultural economy.
Godrej Agrovet Limited is an Indian company which operates in the animal feed and agribusiness sectors. The company, which is part of the highly diversified Godrej Group, had a turnover of around Rs. 3100 Cr in FY 2012–13. Godrej Agrovet's chairman is Nadir Godrej. The company's subsidiary, Astec LifeSciences, manufactures agrochemicals.
Skylark Foods Limited is a subsidiary of Skylark Group, an Indian company that specialises in chicken and meat processing, and poultry products for poultry usage. It holds the same position in North India as Venky's holds in South India.
The broiler industry is the process by which broiler chickens are reared and prepared for meat consumption. Worldwide, in 2005 production was 71,851,000 tonnes. From 1985 to 2005, the broiler industry grew by 158%.
Poultry farming in Kenya is a widespread occupation. It is mostly practiced on a small-scale, and predominantly for domestic consumption.
Suguna Foods Private Limited is a billion-dollar Indian multinational food products company headquartered in Coimbatore, India. The company was started in 1984 and is involved in broiler farming, hatcheries, feed mills, processing plants, and vaccines manufacturing for poultry. It markets and exports broiler chicken, frozen chicken, chicken eggs, and is the largest poultry company in India.
The PrJSC MHP is a leading international food & agrotech company with headquarters in Kyiv, Ukraine. It is the leading producer of poultry and culinary products in Ukraine and one of the leaders in poultry production and meat processing in the Balkans through its Perutnina Ptuj facilities. The MHP company is also one of the largest grain producers, a leading processed-meat producer and the leading biogas producer in Ukraine.
Moy Park is a Northern Ireland based poultry meat producer, the largest meat producer in Northern Ireland, with operations in the Republic of Ireland, France, Great Britain and the Netherlands.
Ugachick Limited, whose complete name is Ugachick Poultry Breeders Uganda Limited, but is commonly referred to as Ugachick, is a poultry breeding and marketing company in Uganda.
Feed manufacturing refers to the process of producing animal feed from raw agricultural products. Fodder produced by manufacturing is formulated to meet specific animal nutrition requirements for different species of animals at different life stages. According to the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA), there are four basic steps:
- Receive raw ingredients: Feed mills receive raw ingredients from suppliers. Upon arrival, the ingredients are weighed, tested and analyzed for various nutrients and to ensure their quality and safety.
- Create a formula: Nutritionists work side by side with scientists to formulate nutritionally sound and balanced diets for livestock, poultry, aquaculture and pets. This is a complex process, as every species has different nutritional requirements.
- Mix ingredients: Once the formula is determined, the mill mixes the ingredients to create a finished product.
- Package and label: Manufacturers determine the best way to ship the product. If it is prepared for retail, it will be "bagged and tagged," or placed into a bag with a label that includes the product's purpose, ingredients and instructions. If the product is prepared for commercial use, it will be shipped in bulk.
