Saidat Olayinka
Poultry farming is one of the most lucrative agricultural business ideas in Nigeria today. It requires not huge capital to start as you can start from the comfort of your house if you have enough space to take the number of birds that you desire.
Poultry farming can be defined as the process of raising various domestic birds like chicken, turkey, emu, ducks, geese, etc to produce meat, eggs, feathers, and manure for human consumption and other purposes. It is a highly profitable venture with a lot of exciting opportunities,
It has been a common practice in Nigeria for such a long time that it has become an indispensable part of the farming and agriculture system.
Running a chicken farm requires more than just agricultural know-how. If you want to be a chicken farmer, you must also think like a business person while growing your brand. Choosing a focus, establishing a brand, raising your chickens, and building your business are all part of chicken farming. Then, as your farm grows, you’ll be able to market, finance, and network to grow your business.
You will make a lot of profit due to high demand for poultry meat and eggs in Nigeria, and you’ll also be doing your part to ensure that local production of poultry meets demand, thus minimising the importation of poultry products
The cost of starting and operating a poultry farm depends on the size of the farm and the scale of operations. A small-scale farm requires less capital due to the low cost of housing and feeding involved.
Large-scale poultry farms require well-constructed housing systems, large quantities of highly nutritious food, and appropriate measures for disease and pest control which can be quite expensive. Before starting a poultry farm, decide the kind of farm you want to start, find out the cost of everything you need to start the farm, and create a budget accordingly.
You can start a small-scale poultry business in Nigeria with less than N100,000. Medium to large-scale farms require a lot more money, but it is advisable to start small even if you have more than enough funds to spare.
The most common birds raised by poultry farmers today include chicken, turkey, geese, quail, pigeon, and guinea fowl.
However, chicken remains the most widely consumed bird in Nigeria, making it a suitable choice for farmers who want to take advantage of the growing demand for poultry meat and eggs in Nigeria, Turkey is a close second
If you prefer a niche market with less competition, you can consider rearing quails, pigeons, or ducks.
After deciding the type of bird, you want to rear, the next step is to identify the different breeds of the bird available and choose the most profitable breed(s) for your farm. For instance, if you decide to start rearing chickens, you can choose to raise only broilers, layers, cockerels, or a mixture of all the different breeds. Broilers are young males and females raised for the sole purpose of providing meat, cockerels serve the same purpose but they grow at a slower pace than broilers. Layers are considered valuable and highly profitable because they provide both eggs and meat. Once you have decided on the breed(s), you can decide on a suitable location for your farm.
Select a suitable farm site
To start a poultry farm, you need a suitable farm site. Ideally, poultry farms should be situated far away from residential buildings due to the offensive odour that typically emanates from them. However, If you cannot afford to acquire a new site, you can start with any available space in your place of residence, but as your poultry farm expands and demands get higher, you will need to move your farm to a new site.
If you can afford a new site away from your place of residence, select a location that is calm and free of pollution, predators, and other threats. Also, ensure that the location is close to a good water source if you cannot afford to install a borehole on your farm, to ensure an adequate supply of clean water to the farm. A good poultry farm should also be easily accessible, it should be situated in a location with good roads, to ensure easy transportation of farm products when they are ready for sale.
Providing good housing
To keep your birds, secure and safe, you must create a good shelter for them on the farm site. There are four major housing systems in poultry farming; The free-range or extensive system, the semi-intensive system, the folding units system, and the intensive system.
Free-range Poultry Housing System
This is the oldest system of housing birds in poultry farming. In this system, the birds are allowed to roam freely around the farm during the day and are kept in a shelter at night. The shelter is usually provided by temporary roofing supported by ordinary poles. The free-range system is perfect for new poultry farmers because it requires less capital investment than other housing systems.
Semi-intensive housing system for poultry farming
Semi-intensive Housing System
This type of housing system is partly free-range and partly intensive. In this system, a small land surrounded by a wire mesh is attached to a poultry house. The small land area is called a run. The birds spend the daytime in the run and take shelter in the poultry house at night.
Folding Unit System
This system also comprises a poultry house attached to a run but the space requirement is less and the total poultry unit can be shifted from one place to another.
Intensive System
This system is the most suitable and efficient housing system for large-scale poultry farming. Commercial poultry farming is done only with this system. There are different types of intensive poultry housing systems:
Deep litter system, Slatted or Wired-floor system, Combination of the slatted floor and deep litter system, Oviaries
Cage system or Battery system.
The intensive poultry housing system enhances productivity in many ways. It makes day-to-day management easy and the birds tend to save more energy because of the restriction of their movement. With this system, you can easily and accurately apply scientific management practices like breeding, feeding, medication, and culling. This system also makes it easy to identify, isolate, and treat sick birds, thus preventing disease outbreaks on the farm. The major disadvantage of this system is the high cost of construction and day-to-day management involved.
feeding and caring for the birds
To attain maximum productivity, you must ensure that the birds on your farm receive adequate nutrition, care, and medication when necessary. The birds must be fed with good quality food and clean water daily. Poultry feeds are usually in three forms: Crumbles, Pellets and mash. Maize and soybean are the most common feed given to poultry in Nigeria and they are a cheap source of energy and protein respectively for your birds. There are other feeds that you can add to their nutrition such as balancers, concentrates, millets, fish oil and more. You can get all these from poultry feed companies.
If you are rearing chicks between 0-4 weeks old, you will want to get a starter feed or starter mash.
Buy Chicks of Good Breeds
You should buy some chicks to start your poultry farm business. Have a good stock of chicks. Make sure that you buy quality chicks from dependable breeders. This is important because if the chicks are diseased or suffer from malnutrition.
But your farm should have the brooder ready before buying and stocking the chicks. Do not stock too many chicks and keep their number below 500 for better management.
Buy Poultry Farming Equipment
The success of your poultry farm business will depend a lot on the quality of your equipment. With quality equipment put in place, you can make your birds eat and drink healthily.
While many types of equipment are available to poultry farmers, you can at least get the basic equipment to start with. Ensure that your poultry farm has the right feeders, waterers, nests, ventilation systems, cages, coops, and perches.
You will also need to install brooders or heaters, a waste disposal system, lighting instruments, and an egg tray for your poultry farm business.
However, you do not have to equip your small poultry farm business with the entire range of equipment. Many of them are sophisticated and costly.
A wise move will be to first install only the elementary equipment that is essential for keeping your chickens healthy. Then, as your business expands, you can have a loan to buy costly equipment.
Know How To Feed The Chicks
Another key consideration in setting up your poultry farm business is knowing how to feed the chicks properly. Know that most of your production expenditure will be on buying your poultry feed.
Nearly 70% of your product cost will comprise your cost of poultry feed. You can even produce your poultry feed using the ingredients that you buy from the market.
It would be good if you learned how to prepare feeds. But till you learn the technique, buy bird feeds from the market for your poultry farm business.
Make sure that you are well-versed in preparing the poultry feed in the right way. It should be a balanced mix of great nutritional value.
Any lack of proper feed will result in the chicken producing fewer eggs. Such chickens also are prone to various diseases due to nutrient deficiency.
For instance, chickens have diseases like dermatitis, paralysis, chicken rackets, and liver syndrome. These diseases occur due to vitamin deficiency in the feed.
Chicken of one to seven weeks should have a feed with 2900 kgs of calories while adults 2800 kgs of calories.
The moisture content of ingredients like maize and Azolla should never be above 10-11% as it may lead to fungus building. So, buy feed for your poultry farm business only from a trusted company.
Treat Sick Birds Urgently
You must inspect your poultry birds regularly so that you can ensure to spot a sick bird early. Otherwise, that disease spreads rapidly between the chickens. Look for any unusual behavior or appearance early to keep your poultry farm business free of risks.
If you find one or a few of them sick with pest infection or illness, treat them immediately before it is too late. Call a vet for further diagnosis of the disease and put the treatment plan in place right away. That is the way to conduct your poultry farm business safely.
Vaccinate Broiler Rearing
If any contagious disease spreads fast amongst the poultry birds, it will ruin your poultry farm business. There is no effective treatment for poultry diseases yet.
Therefore, vaccination is vital to keeping the birds away from any potential harm from the fast-spreading of disease.
Know that there are different types of vaccines available to poultry farmers. But bacterial, mycoplasma, and viral vaccines are generally in use.
To prevent disease outbreaks, the poultry house must be kept clean and dry at all times, and measures such as vaccination and medication should be taken when appropriate.
Marketing
Poultry farming in Nigeria is known to be very profitable, thus, many go into poultry farming with the sole aim of making money or profits. The cost of running a poultry farm in Nigeria can be very high, thus, if marketing is not done properly, the farmer may incur enormous losses that will cause the business to crumble. Do not be caught up in the operational aspect of your business so much that you ignore the sales aspect. You can advertise your business online through your social media accounts, WhatsApp statuses, and groups, employ marketers, and sell to hotels, restaurants, and event caterers. If you run a small-scale poultry farm, inform friends, relatives, and neighbours that you sell poultry meat and eggs.
Boost your sales during festive seasons by giving discounts, encouraging referrals, offering home delivery etc.
