Have you been thinking about poultry farming? Maybe you have passion for poultry farming business? Then you’re in the right place. There have been many who have written about this business in summary form. These will be as detailed as possible, to inform you on what you need to start the business of poultry farming in Nigeria.
Poultry farming is one of the lucrative business in Nigeria. The business is experiencing an unprecedented growth as more Nigerians are turning away from eating smuggled bird due to health concerns.
Why choose poultry farming business
o There is increase in consumption of local poultry product than imported ones. This is evident due to growing health concerns in smuggled imported poultry product.
According to National Agency For Food and Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC), they observed that there is a break in cold chain during transportation of imported poultry. As microbes begin to work on the meat. Due to the poor way of transporting this product, there is increase in local poultry consumption.
o With increase effort and crackdown on fish smugglers by the Nigerian government means less smuggled poultry and more business opportunities for local farmers.
o Demand for poultry product is increasing daily due to increase number of restaurants, hotels, suya spot, social gatherings, religious gatherings, political gathering etc.
o The business can be started from the backyard of your house. However, it’s the space that will determine the number you’ll need stock.
o The poultry droppings (faeces) are another source of income as it can be sold to farmers as organic fertilizer. This can augment some of the losses incurred.
Types of poultry bird
In poultry farm there are three types of bird. They’re broilers, cockerels and layers.
Broiler and cockerel
Broilers and cockerel are food meat product. That is they’re grown to be consume as meat. For the broiler bird, it takes a minimum of 6-8 weeks depending on the breed to get to table size. Broilers are sold between 1200-2000 depending on the size and your location. The advantage of broilers over cockerel is the growth to table size is fast.
For cockerel, they need at least six month to be ready for the market. The advantage of cockerels over broilers is you can feed them with the desired poultry feed for 4-6 weeks and continue feeding with the normal food you’re feeding local bird.
Layers
Layers are the type of poultry bird that lay eggs. A layer takes a minimum of 19nweeks to start laying. A single layer production cycle last from 52-56 weeks. That is just over a year. A crate can be sold for 650 naira. The layers can also be sold after their laying cycle is complete as spent layers between 800-1200.
Factors affecting poultry farming
Poor breed will not give you the desired outcome at the end of the day. No matter how you feed their will still be little improvement. These have affected many poultry farms especially small scale farmers because of the adulteration of the bird by middle men. The main problem is at day old, it’ll be difficult to know the breed. Always buy day old from reputable farms.
It’s difficult to raise these birds without mortality. According to standards, 5% mortality is expected, anything beyond that, then consult an expert.
Poor ventilation can lead to their dead especially during hot weather.
Steps for starting poultry business
Step #1: choose your poultry type
As mentioned above, there are three basic poultry type. Take your time to choose the type you think you can start with. For a beginner, I recommend starting the farm by using a single product. This gives you focus and practically learn how the farm works. Remember broilers need 7-8 weeks to grow to table size, cockerels 6 months and layers at least 19 weeks to begin laying.
Step #2: Acquire and prepare your space
If possible, acquire a land that can meet your demand for today and future. This is to enable you expand with little stress. Once you bought the land, fence and construct your poultry house. The most important is constructing a house that can have cross ventilation. Poor ventilation might lead to their mortality.
If you’re using a spare room in your backyard or have even finish constructing your poultry house, then move to preparing the space by disinfecting the place using strong disinfectants at most two days to the arrival of the bird, putting necessary majors to prevent rodents and lizard from entering the house and so on.
Your space determines the number of bird to stock.
Step #3: acquire the knowledge
There is nothing wrong in trying to know more. The number one thing that is affecting most poultry farm is poor farm management. Learning proper management like changing the water or food when there is faecal contamination reduces the chances of disease, cleaning places where there is water spillage which reduces the breeding of germs which causes diseases to this bird are all management methods. Getting to know them will help you great deal.
Step #4: Target market
There are poultry farmers who are seasonal farmers and maybe you want to be one. They stock there bird to target festive period. For instance, a farmer targeting Christmas will stock broilers at the end of October so that by the third week of December, they’re ready for the market. Who you target will determine how frequent you stock. For those who choose layers, their market will be all year round since layers requires more than 52 weeks for the laying cycle to complete.
In my opinion and base on what I’ve seen, the demand for both meat and egg is not a seasonal thing. That is to say there is market for the product at any time.
Step #5: What it takes
When it comes to poultry farming business the following are required.
Feeders
The feeders are of two types the big one and the small one. The big one is sold at 500-700, while the small ones at 170-200.
Drinkers
Like feeders, there are big drinkers which can cost about 500-700 and the small ones between 170-200.
Feed
Let’s assume we’re stocking 100 birds, for broilers, you’ll need 16-20 bags of 25kg feed to feed them from day old to table size.
For layers, you’ll need 35-40 25kg bags to raise 100 layer birds to point of lay.
For cockerels, you’ll need 3 bags to raise them to the point where you can start feeding them with local food.
The prices for feed vary from one company to another. Choose the feed you’ll use. I personally have used vital feed and livestock with great success. There are other feed around that are equally good.
If you’re raising 100 poultry bird, you’ll need about six feeders and four drinkers. This is to ensure equal growth as both small and big bird will feed with little stress.
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