Beginners Guide on Starting a Profitable Poultry Farm Business in Nigeria
Poultry Farming is probably one of the most lucrative and Profitable farming business you can do in Nigeria.
To run a Poultry farm can yield you thousands of naira into your bank account, but all depends on management and skills.
You might think that running a poultry farming is an easy thing, hey you got it all wrong. This type of business is one of the most difficult business one can go into.
For a beginner or a starter, it will be difficult for you especially managing the chicks. Taking care of your poultry is not easy at all with beginners loosing their chicks at the early stage.
Let me tell you this, don’t conclud that running a poultry farm is a poor man’s business because both the rich, average and poor are into this livestock farming.
If you are very serious with this business you all be smiling to the bank more especially during festive season. Festive season like Christmas celebration and Easter celebration in Nigeria.
Again what i like about poultry farming is that you will get your money within the space of three to 7 months. What I’m trying to say is that chicks grows very fast with broilers perfect example for this.
Profitable Poultry Farm Business in Nigeria
Poultry farming is feasible because we consume lots of livestock farm products like chicken meat and eggs.
This type of livestock farming will give you a lot of profits from selling of chickens and eggs. In my location a single broiler goes for N2000 – N2000, while old layer goes for N2500 – N3500.
You don’t need to be told that there’s high demand for egg with single egg going for N40 – N50. A crate of egg goes for N1000 – N1200, then times it by 20 or 30 and check out what you will be making in a week.
Right now people are trying hard to avoid red meat while opting for white meat or fish. Lots of occasions that happens in this country, white meat is being used making poultry farming very lucrative.
Starting a Poultry Farming Business in Nigeria
Before going into poultry farming, you need to have the capital readily available. Don’t worry yourself about acquiring a land for this as it can be done on your backyard.
You will have to select the niche you would like to go into and the bird to which you want. Right here in Nigeria, Chicken and Turkey are highly recommended or a Guinea fowl.
In profitable poultry farm business, it consists of Layers, broilers which is for meat and chicken. You can as well indulge in selling of feeds for poultry.
Minimum Requirements for Starting a Poultry Farm Business
Start up Capital means a lot in every business, and as i always said start small and expand with time. Minimum amount required to start a profitable poultry farm business in Nigeria is between N30,000 – N100,000. This estimate is for small scale production, like starting it in your compound.
For a medium and large scale it will be from N300,000 – N5, 000,000.
After the selecting the type of bird you want to farm on with the capital readily available, next is LOCATION.
For small scale profitable poultry farm business, do it in your compound. Build a house for your birds preferably behind the house(backyard) and make sure that the place is clean. Try as much as possible no to allow wild cats to enter into the place especially during the night.
For large scale you can get a potion of land and build your poultry farm there. Please make sure it is within residential area as to avoid wild animals from entering your farm.
In building a house for your bird, you need to know these options;
1. Free Range System : Under free range poultry farming system, chickens are allowed to roam around on their own in search for food. This system cannot be used for commercial poultry farming because of the high level of risks involved.
2. Deep Litter System: This system involves spreading wood shavings or saw dust on a concrete ground. With the chickens placed on the floor and the dust serving as a ‘cushion’ for them. The dust is changed regularly, either by removing and replacing or by layering.
Deep litter system is used by a lot of poultry farmers because it increases efficiency. Makes it easier to manage large flocks of birds but it allows for a faster spread of diseases. When there is an outbreak and also makes it difficult to fish out unproductive birds.
3. Battery Cage System: As for the battery cage system, metal cages are constructed inside a building to house the birds.
The cages are usually split into different compartments to house small groups of birds. The cages also contain feeding and water troughs as well as laying nests.
Bird droppings fall on the floor and are cleaned mechanically by a scraper. This method is considered to be the most effective for egg production.
The major downside of this method is that it is more expensive to construct and maintain compared to other forms of poultry housing systems.
Purchasing The Required Equipments
You need to purchase some equipment for your Profitable Poultry Farm Business. List of required equipment are listed below for running a poultry farm successfully.
Feeders
Waterers
Nests
Cages
Coops
Crates
Incubator
Egg tray
Lighting instruments
Perches
Brooders or heaters
Ventilation system
Waste disposal system
FEEDING : 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.
Health Management
As we have mentioned above, you have to ensure proper medication system in your area. Poultry birds are prone to various types of diseases and you have to be ready for controlling them.
We know ‘prevention is better than cure’, so you have to be conscious and take proper care of your birds to keep them safe.
Vaccinate them timely and always try to provide them fresh water and food. Also stock some required vaccine and medicine so that you can use them when needed.
Marketing
Another factor to give consideration to is the marketing aspect of your profitable poultry farm business.
You have to find a way to reach your customers and this would be done by employing the right marketing techniques.
Therefore, before you start a Profitable poultry business, you should really consider the marketing strategies which you would use to break into the market.
With the above, i bet you have a little knowledge on starting a profitable poultry farm business in Nigeria.
Beginners Guide on Starting a Profitable Poultry Farm Business in Nigeria – 2017 Business Plan was last modified: May 10th, 2017 by afribank55
