Make Profit Chicken Farming
Chicken is a good source of protein and is much healthier to eat than red meat which is high in cholesterol.
The production of chicken is called poultry farming. Poultry farming business is highly profitable if it is properly run under acceptable methods and conditions conducive for the birds. Each type of livestock farming, poultry included, follows specific operational principles if they must run profitably. Failure to follow this guidelines can result in huge losses.
Decide on the type of poultry farm you want
There are a number of things you can do as a poultry farmer, these include:
· Breeding chickens for sale
· Producing eggs for sale
· Producing chicken meat for sale
· Producing poultry feed (chicken food) for sale
· Processing eggs and chicken meat for sale
To achieve success in poultry farming, a lot of work is involved.
Some guides below to assist you run a poultry farm successfully and make profit.
Be warned “it is not a lazy man’s business.”
i. Start with day-old chicks than with older chicks.
ii. Start with about 500 day-old chicks if you are interested in the production of eggs and selling off the layers when they are old. It takes about 18-20 weeks (5 months) to feed and nurture the birds before they start laying eggs. On the average, 100 birds will produce a minimum of 80 eggs daily. So if an entrepreneur starts with 500 birds and all birds 500 survive, they will be getting a minimum of 400 eggs daily, which is good output. Once the birds start laying, they will do so for 74 weeks, after which they become due for disposal. However, the birds could still lay after 74 weeks, if properly fed.
iii. Choose a proper housing methods – DEEP LITTER SYSTEM and THE BATTERY CAGE. Both methods are good, provided that proper hygiene is maintained.
In the deep litter system, the pullets are placed on bare floor that has been covered with saw dust.
Careful consideration is given to the method applied in feeding the birds. Removing the dropping usually poses no problem. You can either pack off the entire saw dust with the dropping or cover the dropping with fresh saw dust.
Normally, the day-old chicks are housed using the brooder method before they grow up. They can be transferred to the battery cage when they approach their egg-laying period, or left in the deep litter floor.
The battery cage housing allows for the droppings to fall on a separate platform directly under the cage. It is uniquely constructed to make feeding and drinking quiet easy for the birds. The birds feed on marsh, which have been properly compounded. The marsh should be given according to an expert’s advice.
iv. Avoid inappropriate feeding which can lead to excess fat, which can result in mortality. In fact, defective feeding can lead to low egg production. In fact, it has been experienced in the past where a whole stock of birds produced no egg, due to wrong feeding.
v. Health of the birds is important. If the necessary drugs are not properly administrated, poultry farming can turn into a nightmare.
Take seriously expert advice on the type of drug to administer on the birds as well as the dosage.
When birds are hatched, there is a vaccination time table to be followed; if this is not done, the farmer that buys this stock from the source may have serious problems.
The farmer should take pain to do it by himself or hire a qualified and honest consultant / veterinary doctor in order to get the desired result.
vii. Be prudent poultry farmer must keep a close watch over the cost of running the farm; he must avoid unnecessary spending, which tends to eat away his profit. The labour, feeds, drugs and other input costs must be in line with standard farm requirements, otherwise such expenses should be ignored.
All forms of wasteful spending must be eliminated, no matter how insignificant the amount may seem to the management.
viii. The farm manager should be a qualified person with a wealth of experience in poultry management. The management of the farm must be able to plan ahead its activities and be able to compare actual performance with the drawn plan in order to apply control measures whenever a deviation from the original plan is observed. It must not be an armchair management that cares less about what may be happening to the birds at any given time. The management should be sensitive to the conditions on the farm and be in firm control of all situations. The ability to act promptly and take the right decisions at the right time is indispensable for the farm manager.
ix. The market for poultry products is quite enormous. It is noteworthy that all parts of the birds are marketable including the feather and the droppings (for manure).
x. Hygiene Deficiency
There is a minimum hygiene condition that must exist in any poultry farm if the birds are to remain healthy and produce maximally for profit. The poultry farm must be kept clean always; the droppings should be cleared on time before they constitute an agent of disease
A poultry farm must be established in a secured place to ward off enemies of birds, such as rats, soldier ants, snakes, wild birds, etc. Most of these enemies are agents of disease that could lead to an epidemic on the farm, and they kill the birds directly as well.
When picking a location, consider
- costs of transportation of eggs and meat low? Is it close to the market and your buyers?
- bad smell from the poultry farm.
A marketing plan is absolutely necessary for successful commercial poultry farming, as any farmer ignorant of his or her marketing needs is bound to run into serious losses and eventual failure. It will be ridiculous to start poultry production without knowing when, where, how and to whom to sell the fowls, eggs, feathers and droppings as they are produced. We cannot talk of profit if the meat and eggs have no ready market. Eggs have a very short shelf life and if they are not sold quickly, they will go bad, and no one is interested in buying bad eggs.
Also, birds not sold at the appropriate time will be fed at an extra cost that may make the business unprofitable. Therefore, adequate marketing strategies are needed to sell all the poultry products at the appropriate time and prices.
xiv. Increased awareness of health issues associated with red meat has made chicken consumption a great alternative for many and Chickens mature very quickly, meaning the business has the potential to generate high returns on your investment in a short period of time.
xv. This may not be a big market, but in the interest of using the entire animal, when it’s molting season, don’t forget to collect the feathers! This is especially true to more flashy breeds and roosters- whose hackle and tail feathers are very popular with crafters.