Poultry Farming Business Minimum Capital Requirement: N100,000 Summary: If you have followed the trend closely you will agree with me that agriculture is the money haven. It is true that there is economic recession but still people must feed. With a minimum capital of N100,000 you can gross over N200,000 per poultry cycle starting with just 50 birds. Introduction: Poultry farming is a big business and a very lucrative one at that. The more you invest in it, the more your returns on investment. There are several of aspects one can venture into depending on how much capital one has and how deep one wants to go. Frozen poultry meat, chicken, turkey, duck or guinea fowl sales, table or fertile eggs sales, hatchlings sales, feeds production, feed formula and mix are just few of what you can make money from if you go into poultry farming business. The risk is fairly high though but by taking necessary precautions the mortality rate can become negligible. Required Resources Assets Farming space Cages or demarcations Feeding & water cans Power (light and warmth) Personnel One for a start (extra assistant for every 250 Birds) Capital Startup of N100,000 (without cost of farming space) Required Skills No formal skill is required however you must be hardworking, very observant, pay attention to details and ready to learn.
Full description of Operations Business operation This business guide will focus on Chickens. Poultry farming can be divided into three folds: 1. Breeding to Sell: This when you breed chickens to sell them. You buy day old or few weeks old chicks (between N150 to N300 depending on the breed cockerel, broilers etc - you want), feed and care for them and within 20 35 weeks they are fully ready (2 4kg size) for market. On the average, you can have about 2-3 sets in one year. However, there are special breeds like kuroiler that if well fed would be ready for market in 12 weeks. The average price of full grown chicken currently varies from between N1,800 to N4,000, depending on the size, breed and season. A small farm of 50 will cost average N10,000 to buy chicks and sold at about N150,000. 2. Breeding to Sell Eggs: This is when you breed layers and sell their eggs for money. You can get the layers as day olds or few weeks old. They will be fed growers feed till they are about 18-20weeks from hatching, then you can introduce the layers feed which should make them lay eggs (3-5 eggs per week per hen). There are vaccines and multivitamins you will have to give them to improve their productivity (you should join poultry farmers club online to help you with latest information on vaccines and multivitamins). Also note that layers egg production is sensitive to daylight and egg production tends to fall when there are shorter days. When your layers are about 50 weeks old from hatching, you should be getting ready to replace them, as number of eggs you get would start declining from that age. At this stage, they can be sold for as high as N2,500/hen. Using our 50 birds starting point, 5 eggs per week, you will get 250 eggs/week or about 9 crates of eggs/week, A crate is currently between N600 to N650, in a month you will be making over N21,000 from egg sales. Hence in a year, you get to make over N105,000 (laying span per cycle is an average of 5months) from eggs sales and sales of chicken over N125,000, in all you will make well over N230,000 per cycle. 3. Hatchery: This is breeding chicken for the purpose of hatching new chicks and selling. You should note that the eggs that can be hatched are different from the everyday (table) eggs we buy. To get these eggs, you can buy few weeks old chicks often in ratio 1:10 (i.e. 1 rooster to 10 hens to avoid the hens being over-bred or excessive fighting amongst the roosters) then feed them growers feed till the hens start to lay or you buy fertile eggs from farm stores. These eggs can be incubated by the hens (each can hatch 6-12 per time) or using the incubator which can hatch as much as its capacity can carry. Hatching takes 21days either way. For incubators, the temperature, humidity and ventilation is key for a successful hatching process. Using our 50 chickens, ratio 1:10 means we have about 5 roosters to 45 hens, that s about 450 eggs to
be hatched in 21 days. Each day old is sold at between N150 to N300 gives about N100,000/month. Objectives Breeding chickens to make money depending on which path you decide to go. Benefits It requires no formal skill Starting requires very little capital and can be done as part time or as a hobby It also provides food for the house Possible Limitations and solutions Poultry farms are prone to disease and virus attacks. However, if you do the following you should be fine: a. Take basic precautions like wash your hands before and after coming in contact with them b. Follow the vaccines and multivitamins prescriptions and make sure they are right on schedule c. Provide source of heat and light with good ventilation
d. Be very observant to isolate infected ones on time e. Join Poultry farmers club for first information and new trends Financial Analysis Cost and revenue analysis Buying of Chicks: Considering our start up of 50 birds at average of N200/chick, N10,000 should cover that. Battery Cages or demarcation (deep liter system): For starters I will suggest using an unused room or demarcated space. When you want to go into it fully, you can consider the cage option. For cages, 120 bird capacity cost between N50,000 to N100,000. Lighting: The lighting would also take some money, especially in Nigeria where power supply is not regular. You can use lantern (local lamps) for warmth and rechargeable lamps for light source through the night. This can cost you about N2000 per month, considering the cost of kerosene. Cost of vaccination and multivitamins: It is advised you buy already vaccinated chicks if you are buying to rare or breed. However, if you want to operate a hatchery then you must get in touch with Vet doctors for the approved vaccines and other drugs. Vaccines are relatively cheap and easy to administer. Incubators: price varies based on capacity and automation, it ranges from between N50,000 for about 50 eggs capacity to N1.5million for industrial size incubator. Other things include; feeders, water cans, waste disposal, clean water, saw dust, cost of marketing etc. Feeding Layer Chick First 10 weeks will consume 5kg of feeds while from 10weeks and above would consume 1kg per week. First 4 weeks, 50 birds will consume about 2kg each, @N2,200 which is about N7000/month, same for the next 6 weeks before it changes. On the average, 50 full grown layers will consume N15,000 worth of feeds to produce over N21,000 worth of eggs on monthly basis. 1 Broiler Chick will consume about 4.5kg of feeds in First 6 weeks, then about 1kg per week till fully grown. If your Boiler hit the market in 30weeks then they will have consumed about 1bag per chicken, that is N2,000 worth of growers feed. Assuming you sold each at N3000, and then you would be making N1000 gross profit per chicken, i.e. about N50,000 profit per set of 50 birds.
The beauty of poultry farming is that the bigger the farm the lower the overhead cost per bird such as housing, cost of lightening and mortality rate (about 5-10%); and the more the profit. Poultry of 1000 birds can make as much as N1million profit/set. Future Forecast Prospects You can grow to owning a big farm that produces chicks, sell chickens, eggs and feeds. You can also venture into other poultry birds like turkeys, ducks and guinea fowls. Conclusion The money in poultry farming is in the size but it is always wise to start small, learn from your mistakes and from others around you before you go into the big size business of poultry farming.
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