Procedures Of Starting a Poultry Farm

  Poultry Farming in Nigeria is one of the most profitable businesses in the Nigerian agriculture sector, The demand for poultry is rising every day due to Nigeria’s emerging economy, and the measured increase in the standard of living.  This has resulted in a rise in the number of hotels, restaurants, bars, social events and public holidays that are celebrated.

 Poultry farming is a viable business anytime any day, it is also a  business considered for some time now. Below are reasons why I consider poultry farming as a profitable business;

 => Draw out a business plan: In starting a poultry farm, you must have the mind set of what you are going to achieve at the end of the day.It also tells of what goals you wish to achieve and how you intend to get there. It's also a plan of how you want to operate your business from not just a producer's standpoint, but the banker's, lawyer's, accountant's and even possibly the hired hand's standpoint.

=> Prepare Your Space: Once you have purchased the land, all that is left is to build your poultry house, and to protect it with secure fencing.  The main feature of a poultry house is a cross ventilation system.

=>  Check the Cost: The bigger your project, the larger the investment required.
(a)  Large scale:  This will involve a high degree of planning, professionalism and the use of advanced poultry farming techniques. this may cost about ₦10 million.

(b)  Medium scale: To start a mid-scale poultry farm, you need housing and other materials over land spreading for the farm to be effective, it will cos about ₦500, 000 – ₦5 million to start.

(c)   Small scale:To begin small scale, you need about 50 birds and keeping them in cages at your residence backyard, this will cost you ₦70, 000 to start.

=> What type of bird will you be focusing on: Another important factor to consider is the type of birds you wish to rear. There are several types of birds that you can rear. Poultry farming can further be classified into the types of birds:

• Domestic fowl or Chicken (Broilers and layers)
• Turkey
• Guinea fowl
• Pigeon
• Duck
• Goose
• Peacock
• Quail

You also have to decide on whether you want to rear layers or broilers. Layers are usually raised mainly for laying eggs so if egg production. Broilers have the ability to grow very fat and gives more return on investment because they weigh a lot more than other breeds.

=> Poultry Equipment and Appliances: You would need to construct a house for the birds, provide feeders and drinkers, a good waste disposal system, source of water, lightening and heat, egg crates and storage space for keeping feed and eggs.
Therefore, you should make a list of all the items you would need, find out the prices and compare different prices to further give you an idea of the costs of setting up the poultry farm.The following equipment may be needed for your poultry farm and their uses:

• Feeders
• Drinkers
• Perches
• Nests
• Crates
• Lighting system
• Waste disposal system
• Incubator
• Heaters or brooders
• Egg tray
• Cages and coops

=>  Feeding the Birds: Feeding is a major aspect of poultry farming. In fact, about 70% of your expenses would go towards poultry feeding. Therefore, it is imperative to figure out the feeding aspects of business before you go into it. There are two ways to go about feeding in poultry farming:

• Producing your feeds by yourself
• Buying already-made poultry feeds

=> Potential Profits: You can get your eggs hatched within 3 weeks.  Chickens reared for the meat industry can be slaughtered at 6 to 8 weeks old and are considered by then it is fully grown as they are fed a high protein diet.

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=>  Make yourself known to potential customers and consumers: Advertise yourself by simply letting other people know you have eggs or meat you want to sell. Often selling by word-of-mouth is a lot cheaper and still the most popular means of advertising than paying for an advertisement in the local newspaper that may get read by only a few people. However, there is no harm in doing that either, nor is there any harm in setting up a website promoting your product.

=>  Keep up with records and accounting of your business and operation: This is so that you can always tell if you are making profit (money) or not.

With this little update, you can be a boss of yourself and not walking around the streets, all in the name of am searching for a job. The world today is all about creativity.