Understanding the secrets in poultry farming investments
A lot has been said about poultry farm but little has been told about how many of the poultry farms that has closed while some are still struggling to survive. Unlike most posts you might have read, this one is not all about making profit, this post will give you details of poultry farm investment and all you need to you regarding it.
What is Poultry Farming?
The term ‘Poultry Farming’ refers to the breeding and growing of birds for meat and egg production as well as other purposes. The running of farm meant for the reproduction of birds (mostly Fowls and Turkeys) and production of eggs.
When it comes to poultry farming, there are classifications of it which defines the type of poultry farm. Some large poultry farms incorporate the whole types of poultry farms at once while some choose specialized area in the business.
Poultry farm is not only a farm containing fowl and turkey. Farms breeding other species of birds such as Geese, Ducks, and others can be referred to as a poultry farm as well.
But the most popular is the one breeding fowls such as the Broilers, the layers, the Noilers, and the Cockerels, etc. they are so common that you can see them in every towns and cities.
Types and Classifications of Poultry Farm Business
There are about four types of poultry farming business according to the type of birds and profit sources.
Special Birds Poultry Farming  Â
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This is a poultry investment that deals with special birds such as ostrich, quails, Geese, English ducks, eagles, kites, and lots more. This type of poultry is centered on reproduction of these species of birds for marketing purpose.
The poultry makes money by selling the special birds to interested buyers who may be buying them for domestic rearing as pet or entertainment bird as well as for meet.
For buyers may be buying because of special request for the bird due to culture or traditional rite. Because of these purposes these birds tends to cost fifty times the price of an adult broiler birds being sold for meet purpose.
Broilers Birds Poultry Farming
Broiler is a specie of fowl locally referred to as ‘agric-fowl’. It has the record of growing very fast within a short time when compared to other species of fowl. A broiler can be grown up and be ready for meat purpose at the age of six (8) weeks. While other species of fowl can achieve the same growth at the age of twenty-four (24) weeks.
This fast growth advantage made broiler to be the most preferred birds for poultry farms investing in meet production. In another terms, broilers poultry farms are poultry investment meant for the purpose of growing broilers and selling them out at their majored age.
The investor can incubate the eggs of broilers or buy the ‘day old’ from hatcheries and broodthem to their majority age before selling to buyers.
Breeding the broilers is not an easy work because you will be conditioned to create enabling environment for their survival from their ‘day old’ age to at least three (3) weeks during these period they will be vaccinated and given quality feed as well as necessary medications.
Some farms starts selling them out at the age of three weeks while some allow them to grow into full age at six to eight weeks.
This investment is a recycling one. As the batch of the broilers are sold out and batch (broiler eggs or day olds) will be moving into the farm for repetition.
Basically, this poultry makes money from the price of the grown broiler sold to buyers. Some busy and sophisticated poultry of this type can brood and grow up to six batches within a year.
Old-Layers Birds Poultry Farm
Old-layers is a specie of fowl known for laying of higher number of eggs at matured age. Though every female fowl lays egg at matured age whether she came in contact with male counterpart or not. The egg is unfertilized if the female did not meet with the male.
Female Layers are known for laying higher number of unfertilized eggs than other female fowl species. This made the female layer ideal for egg production poultry business.
This implies that investors looking for how to produce high number of eggs daily for marketing purpose has no other option than to choose the breeding and stocking of female layers.
The male and female could be brood together for the purpose producing fertilized eggs for reproduction purpose but the vast majority of the female layers are kept in cages where they will be laying unfertilized eggs daily.
The commutation of all the eggs laid by each female layer make up the total number of daily egg production of the poultry farm.
Noilers and Cockerels Poultry Farm
Though it is not always common to see a poultry breeding and selling only noilers and cockerels because of its low profitability. It can be classified as its own poultry investment.
The investor operates a poultry farm that specialized in the reproduction of these species of fowl through the incubating of fertilized eggs from its male and female interactions and eventually sell the matured ones out for meet purpose.
However, because of the slow growth rate of these species Noiler (6 Months) and Cockerel (12 Months), the farm tends to make lower profit that other types of farm.
However, in a large scale and with proper feeding and breeding methods these species could grow faster than expected but their growth does not equate to broiler.
Complex Poultry Farm
The term ‘complex’ implies big, multiple, or large. There are poultry farms that worth billions in local currencies due to their size both in landmark and number of birds. They incorporate all the listed types of poultries into one.
In such a poultry far you could see special birds, broilers, old layers, noilers, and cockerels, etc. these birds have their own sections separated from others and live separately from others.
In terms of getting daily egg production, they lay egg faster and more regular than female broilers and most of their eggs are usually fertilized due to regular mating with the male counterparts.
SECRETS IN POULTRY BUSINESS YOU NEED TO KNOW
Risks in Poultry Farm Business
Poultry Business has its own risks just like every other business. Most of the risk may not be spelt out to you except those who has operated or are into the business already.
Some off the secrets in poultry farming investments in terms of risks include:
Factors caused by Nature and Mistakes
Bird Flu: This is one of the secrets in poultry farming investments in terms of risks. It is a disease could come someday and cause death of high number of birds.
Vaccination Failure: This is one of the secrets in poultry farming investments in terms of risks. Improper vaccination of the birds could result to massive deaths.
Cold: This is one of the secrets in poultry farming investments in terms of risks. Most day-olds die during brooding as a result of cold.
Liver damage: This is one of the secrets in poultry farming investments in terms of risks. Some of the birds could develop liver problem leading to early death as a result of overheating of the environment during their brooding stage.
Carnivorous Animal Attacks: This is one of the secrets in poultry farming investments in terms of risks. Snakes, Cats, Rats, and other rodents always attack the birds and their eggs in poultry farms.
Environmental Factor
Lack of Quality Water: This is one of the secrets in poultry farming investments in terms of risks. It has been found that acidic water is not good for the birds and leads to high mortality rates in poultry farms.
Lack of Quality Ventilation: It has been found that lack of ventilation could facilitate in most of the mortality occurrences. Lack of quality ventilation is one of the secrets in poultry farming investments in terms of risks.
Lack of Hygiene: Lack of regular cleaning and fumigation of the environment the poultry surrounds and floors leads to constant sickness of the birds and increased mortality. Lack of Hygiene is one of the secrets in poultry farming investments in terms of risks.
Human Factors
Bio-Security: This is a system that ensures anyone entering the farm gets sanitized to avoid introducing disease to the birds in the farm. Failure of this system contribute to disease and increase mortality. This is one of the secrets in poultry farming investments in terms of risks.
Birds Drops (feces): This is also one of the secrets in poultry farming investments in terms of risks. There is need to carryout regular cleaning and removal of the birds shit (feces) from the floor. This helps to avoid coccidosis which occurs mostly due to the birds picking food from the floor containing their shit.
Theft and Mismanagement: some poultry farms had been shut down due to human activities. The workers drained the farm by either stealing directly from the farm stocks or involved in indirect activities that affected the farm negatively. Mismanagement and livestock Robbery is one of the secrets in poultry farming investments in terms of risks.
How to Make Profits in Poultry Farm Business
Besides the secrets in poultry farming investments in terms of risks, there are many avenues of revenue generation in poultry business which includes:
Hatchery Business: The business of hatching fertilized eggs laid by the birds using incubators and selling them as ‘day old’ birds to buyers.
Daily Eggs production Business: This is the business of selling eggs daily to buyers. The eggs are mostly the unfertilized eggs laid by the old layers and gathered together from their cages. Crates of eggs are used to stock the egg in 30 pieces per crate. The quantity produced per day depends on the number of layers in the cage and their fertility score.
Daily Meet Production Business: This is coming from broilers and other matured birds. They are sold out at certain matured age for meet purpose. The size of the farm and species of birds determines how much investor could make in this business.
Sell Of Manure: Though not as profitable as others, it is also among ways poultry farmers generate money. The shits (feces) of the birds are gathered together, processed, and sold to crop farmers as natural manure.
Things You Must Not Do In Poultry Farm Business
Having known the secrets in poultry farming investments in terms of risks, it is importance to avoid investing wrongly y taking the following precautions:
- Do not invest in any aspect of the poultry farm business without proper research and capital evaluations.
- Do not take advice about the business from those who has not done the business before.
- Spend quality time in existing farms to know modern practices and medications for birds.
- Plan to employ experienced hands such as animal scientists and vetenarians.
- Ensure you start with the easiest one for you before expanding into other aspects.
- Install CCTV cameras in strategic locations of the farm and use solar power and inverters to ensure steady light during night hours.
- Address any suspicious activities and sack who is involve at once.
- When you want to sack any of your workers, do not give them access to the farm before laying them off.
- Listen to advice from professional and embark on personal research to improve your knowledge.
- Record-keeping is a mandatory task for your workers. They should be able to document daily egg production, hatchery production, mortality, sales, and any occurrences.
Conclusion
There are many other secrets in poultry farm business but I will stop here until the next update of this post. I hope this post is very useful to you. If so, please help me share it to your social media platforms and use the comment section to give me feedback.
