BusinessHABPoultry farming: The Business of Poultry Farming A poultry farming business focuses on raising domestic birds commercially for their eggs and meat. Such domestic birds include chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, and guinea fowls. It is quite lucrative because of the demand for poultry as a source of protein and nutrients. To set up a poultry farming business, you must understand its value chain. The value chain comprises all activities that bring the poultry product, from the input in rearing the birds, to the processing, packaging, distribution, and delivery to the consumer. In poultry farming, primary production stands out as the core of the value chain. Other areas are:
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Poultry farming
1. Feeds
Poultry feed is mostly grain. Some farmers focus on growing grain. It is a key part of the business’ value chain.
2. Feed Milling
Feed millers compound the feed used in the farms. In Nigeria, some companies do this and supply it to the farmers. Companies like Top Feeds, Breedwell, Gardos, New Hope, and Ultima Feeds.
3. Medics
This has to do with the health of the poultry. Practicing veterinary medicine with a focus on poultry is an opportunity in the industry. Birds are susceptible to diseases like sudden death syndrome, rickets, ascites, and more, which can lead to farmers incurring huge losses. The services of veterinary doctors are important for formulating the right feeds
and ensuring the birds’ welfare.
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Poultry farming
4. Agro-Processing
As a poultry farmer, you may choose to produce only the broilers and then sell them to processors, who then process,
package and supply the poultry to eateries, hotels, and schools. If your capital is sufficient, you can operate from
production to processing, and market your products yourself. However, if you cannot produce the chickens, but you have the facilities to process them, you can go around farms, buy live chickens, process, package, and sell them.
You can also explore the organic production of broilers and eggs. This involves replacing the use of antibiotics for growth with probiotics. Probiotics are beneficial bacteria that prevent harmful microorganisms from growing in the digestive tract of chickens.
5. Logistics
Equally, you would need to invest in vaccinations to improve the immune system of your poultry birds against certain diseases. Vaccines are available for preventing Coccidiosis, E. Coli, Newcastle, Mareks Disease, Infectious Bronchitis (IB) and Infectious Bursal disease. Maintaining excellent sanitary conditions also keeps diseases far from your birds, thus limiting the use of antibiotics and other chemicals for treatments. Poultry logistics is a critical aspect of the business’ value chain because it entails moving live birds and consumables from Point A to B. Every person involved in poultry handling must be committed to the birds’ welfare and ensure that they are not stressed in catching, loading, transporting, and off-loading them. It is a viable aspect of the value chain because
stakeholders want guarantees that the poultry was well handled.
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6. Marketing
Most farmers do not market their products. They wait for intermediaries to come to their farms to get their products. There is a tremendous opportunity to offer professional brand and marketing services to the industry. A major headache for most farmers is how to sell the products, especially during glut periods when everybody seems to have eggs and needs to sell.
7. Training and Consulting
This deals with capacity building through knowledge transference, as well as consulting on poultry management. From management skills for the business owner to farm operations, a successful farm needs experienced hands-on board, especially in times of crisis. Training and upskilling services fill the gap in areas where knowledge and information are lacking.
8. Farm Layout and Architecture
This is the aspect of constructing the farm layout and depends on the type of operation you want to run. Every poultry farm needs structure, however, farmers must consult with experts to determine what is best suited for their business.
9. Research and Data Analytics
People do not keep records that can constitute data for analysis, and there is no centralized way of collecting and analyzing industry-related information for farmers and stakeholders to make informed decisions. Researchers and statisticians can step in to bridge the gap in easily accessing industry-focused reports.
To play in the value chain, you need to identify a challenge and proffer a solution to it. Some people combine different aspects of the value chain, but you can also be a master of just one aspect of it. These segments are built around primary production. However, the following are steps to poultry production.
Poultry farming
10. Decide on the Type of Bird You Will Raise
Among the variety of domestic birds that are reared for their eggs and meat, chicken is the most popular. Chicken still has its variety, layers, broilers, and cockerels. Therefore, the farmer must be clear about what type of birds he/she wants to raise.
b. Primary Production
This is producing chicken from the hatchery to eggs and meat production. The eggs are
hatched in the hatchery and the poultry farmers come to pick the chicks at a day old. After they pick up the day-old chicks, they take them to the farms and raise them there. There are four stages.
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11. Pre- arrival Activities
At this stage, the farmer prepares for the arrival of birds from the hatchery. The birdhouse, cages or deep litter control houses, is prepared and cleaned; lighting, bedding, feeders and drinkers are kept in place, and the farmer creates a controlled temperature for the newly hatched chicks. This is because small chicks cannot withstand environmental temperatures. Naturally, their mother would have provided the heat, but in a commercial setting, there is no mother, so the farmer creates a controlled environment. Be certain of the quality of the chicks you buy from the hatchery. Try to determine the history of the parent stock, the chicken that laid them, and the history
and reputation of the farm that sold them.
12. Brooding /Arrival Activities
Brooding involves the activities you engage in on the arrival of the chicks from the hatchery, and it happens for the first 10 days of the chick’s life. During this period, the chicks are in an environment with controlled temperature, and they eat a particular feed called ‘Chick Mash’. Chick Mash is a high protein feed for early growth stages and is needed for quick growth. The chicks eat it for the first 1-4 weeks of life.
Poultry farming
13. The Growing Stage
In weeks 1-4, the farmer nurtures the baby chicks. At this time, the chicks are vulnerable to diseases and should be vaccinated for coccidiosis if the hatchery failed to do that. Their feeds are also medicated to include prebiotics and probiotics for immune health. They need to feed on a protein-rich starter-grower feed high in vitamins and minerals
to enhance their growth. Weeks 5-15, this is the visible growth stage.
Here, the birds are no longer chicks.
During weeks 5 and 6, clear development takes place. By weeks 7-15, you can tell the gender differences in the birds. They have well-developed feathers and can withstand the environment and adjust to weather changes.
The growing stage is the longest, however, the farmer continues to feed them on the high protein starter-grower feed.
At weeks 16-18, the farmer looks out for the first egg.
Egg production begins, so the farmer slowly switches from a high protein feed to a high calcium feed like ‘Grower Mash’.
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This is a critical time because the chickens are supposed to attain a predetermined weight, without which it will affect the egg-laying period.
The vaccinations and ventilation must be right, and the birds must have good veterinary doctors check
their internal organ development.
Poultry farming
14. The Laying Stage
Some fast layers lay eggs as early as 16 weeks and some late layers could delay until 22 weeks.
They become old layers after consistently laying eggs for about 18 months and the frequency of egg-laying drops. They are spent layers. At this point, they can be sold for their meat.
The process is a little different for meat production, and farmers have various strategies and feed for growing poultry for meat production.
15. Meat Production
While layers are for egg production, broilers are used in meat production.
First, you pick the broiler chicks from the hatchery, take them to the farm, and feed them.
At the early stage, the chicks are fed starter mash or crumble. Within 6 to 7 weeks, the chickens should weigh about 2 kilograms.
This depends on how well you take care of the birds, because if you do not feed and vaccinate them at the right time, they may not grow as expected. 2 kilograms is a good weight to harvest them.
Broilers grow fast. Within the space of 7 – 8 weeks, you have well-grown mature birds you can slaughter and sell.
In addition, you may want to process and package the chickens.
Poultry farming
16. Know Your Production Capacity
How much can you produce? Determining your production capacity is important so that you can direct your marketing efforts appropriately.
If your capacity is large, then the mass market, industrial bakers, boarding schools, hotels, and restaurants might just be for you.
They could order 500 –1,000 crates of eggs per time to serve their customers.
Poultry farming
17. Identify the Market Segment that Fits Your Production Capacity and offer to supply them with your Poultry products
Approach customers that suit your target profile. Tell them you are starting a farm. Request to become their poultry supplier. You may want to approach these groups and sign a retainer with them. It is good to establish these relationships before you start producing.
18. Study Market Needs
Another way to find your target market is to ask, «Who am I going to sell to?» People have diverse tastes, some prefer farm fresh eggs and homegrown chickens to packaged eggs and imported frozen chickens; and vice versa. While some people like to raise their chickens themselves from start to finish, others prefer to start with 4-week old chicks because they lack the knowledge or time, or simply do not want to face the risks. Who needs live birds? Perhaps caterers and large-scale food processors. Let the needs guide you to find your niche.
Poultry farming
19. Determine the Purchasing Power of Your Target Market
Demand is backed by the willingness and ability to pay, and this means that you must define the segment with the purchasing power to pay for your products. When you attract the segment with the right income and they grow to trust the quality of your products, and your service culture, they will refer you to customers like themselves.
Eggs have many high-end users and they could be in the open market. Marketing is critical for the success of the enterprise because if proper marketing is not done, the quality of the eggs falls and they get rotten. Farmers rarely retail eggs. Rather, they target distributors and middlemen who have been in the business for so long that they have a strong distribution network.
20. Define Your Target Customer
Who do you want to serve? What type of customers does your business want to attract? Draw up an ideal customer profile for your product or service offering. This is the first step to defining your nicheto defining your niche.
Poultry farming
21. Waste Management
Poultry generates a lot of waste that can be used for agro-industrial purposes. It can be used in feed production for livestock, energy generation, manure, and more. These critical aspects have not been fully explored in this part of the world.
22. Processing Eggs
Some segment of the poultry business is doing some work in processing chickens. However, eggs can be processed into other things like egg powder used in industrial production. In Nigeria, the major consumers of egg powder like Nestle and Cadbury would rather import from their parent countries and this led to the closure of a few companies that ventured into egg powder production, due to low patronage. The government needs to draw up policies that encourage local production, like backward integration and local content laws.
Poultry farming
23. Hatcheries and Feed Mills
There are very few hatcheries and feed mills in the poultry industry. People avoid them because of the technicality and specialized skill associated with successfully operating them. To do them you must have the financial capacity, the know-how, equipment, and facility.
24. Supply of Raw Materials
Many business owners have to travel long distances and network-wide to purchase raw materials used in production. Often, they have to travel to Zaria and Plateau for maize, and Kogi or Edo for limestone. This requires finding the supplier and arranging your logistics to transport the product to your location. This is a huge vacuum and is the reason for scarcity. On the flip side, it can be lucrative if explored.
• Furniture and Interior Décor Furniture makers use bird feathers in making cushions, pillows and centerpieces. Eggshells are great for mosaic art. These areas can be explored in the industry.
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