A Survey of Early Chick Mortality on Small-Scale Poultry Farms in Jos, Central Nigeria

3 Abstract: A questionnaire-based survey was conducted to investigate early chick mortality and its causes during the first two weeks on small-scale poultry farms in Jos, central Nigeria. The survey covered layer and broiler farms procuring day-old chicks from three selected hatcheries. Flock sizes varied from 20 birds up to 2000. Average mortality was 10.4 per flock with a standard deviation of 14.4. As a percentage of flock size, mortality was 11.4% with a standard deviation of 18.8%. The major causes of mortality were stress, Pullorum disease and diarrhoea. There was no significant relationship (p = 0.01, R = 0.02) between flock size and 2