Everything You Need To Know About Poultry Farming Business

The poultry farming business is a very lucrative venture but if you have not been into it or if you don’t know anyone who is into it, you might not know about its lucrativeness. This is primarily because poultry farming products are continuously in high demand by people. These products include poultry meat, eggs, dung for manure, and feather.

Poultry farming is a form of agriculture concerned with the raising of birds that are of domestic or commercial importance. This implies the raising of birds whose products can be consumed domestically or sold for profit.

Not very many people know about the lucrativeness of the poultry farming business, but those who have ventured into it before can testify that the poultry farming business is indeed very lucrative.

Growing up, I had some experience raising poultry birds. To me, that was just a hobby my parents set me up for but beyond that, that was a great experience about poultry farming. I have also studied other experts in the field of poultry business, many of which are doing excellently well in the business. So, with all these, I am going to share with you some important things you need to know about to become successful in the poultry farming business.

The basics of poultry farming business

The poultry farming business is simply the process of commercializing poultry products to make profits in return. It is just like every other business venture but it offers a wide range of business opportunities to those who are interested in it.

Anyone can raise poultry birds but not everyone who raises poultry birds is in the poultry farming business. To set the distinction, it is important to understand the basics of the poultry farming business, and how to optimize your inputs to make profits from it.

To become successful in the poultry farming business, it is important to understand the birds, their feeds, housing, drugs for sick poultry, pest and vector control, storage and processing equipment, including manpower management. In the following section, we will see these basic units of the poultry farming business and how you can optimize them to make profits.

Poultry birds for poultry business

A good understanding of poultry birds is important for achieving success in the poultry farming business. Asides from poultry meat, poultry birds also produce other products of commercial importance. These include eggs for human consumption and the production of several other products, the feathers can be used for pillow stuffing, in the production of diapers, paper, plastics, and a myriad of other uses. Also, poultry dung can be used as manure or sold to crop farmers to improve crop yield.

There are different types of poultry birds. Your choice of the type to raise for your poultry farming business should depend on your interests, the cost of the business, and what appeals best to your local community or target population base.

Types of birds for poultry farming business include the following:

1. Chicken (the commonest globally)
2. Turkey
3. Duck
4. Goose
5. Guinea fowl
6. Quail
7. Pigeon

Depending on your capital, and your previous experience in the poultry farming business, you can choose to start with any of the types of birds above and then scale up from there as you make more money. It is conventional to start with domestic fowl (chicken). Many people deal entirely on the domestic fowl and they have recorded massive profits in no distance time.

Knowing the types of poultry is one thing you must bear in mind in order to be successful in the poultry farming business. For example, there are several breeds of chicken–broilers(grown primarily for meat), and layers, which are grown for egg-laying.

There are natural chicken breeds that produce a high quantity of meat and high-quality eggs. Some of these natural species were also modified by cross-breeding to produce improved breeds that are capable of producing higher yields in terms of meat quantity and egg size. This can be enhanced by feeding them with specially formulated feeds, as you will see in the next section.

Starting a chicken farming business is more advantageous to others for the following reasons:

• The initial investment is a little lower compared.
• The rearing period is short, and you can expect returns within 6-7 weeks of raising from chicks.
• More number of flock can be taken in the same shed.
• Broilers have high feed conversion efficiency i.e. least amount of feed is required for unit body weight gain.
• Faster return from the investment.
• Compared to other types of animal meat, poultry meat is more in demand.

That been said, you need to consider the specific needs of your place, as well as the money you have at hand to determine which type of poultry birds you want to invest in. Find out more information about choosing the type of poultry bird here.

Feeds for poultry

Poultry feeds is one of the most important aspects of poultry production. It occupies the core of the poultry business and the success of poultry production depends on the quality of feeds. The feeds, when consumed by the poultry, are what help the poultry to grow properly to produce meat and eggs.

Your choice of feeds can affect every aspect of your poultry farm development. Good quality feeds are important for optimal growth and egg production by your chickens. Hence, the importance of feeds cannot be over-emphasized.

In the poultry production business, you can decide to major in feed-selling to the farmers without being directly involved in poultry farming. In any case, before you buy chicken feed for sale or for consumption by your birds/chickens, there are different types of poultry feeds you should know about.

In every locality, the question of what the most popular type of feed is perpetually being asked by poultry producers and other interested individuals. However, what is more, important is the choice of the type of feed to use for your poultry birds will depend on the stage of their development, availability of the feeds and the cost of purchasing them.

Depending on the stage of the birds’ development, you can have starter feeds (for chicks), layer feeds (during their egg-laying stage), maintenance feeds, etc.

Corn

Maize meal, also known as maize, corn or cornmeal, is by far the most popular type of poultry feed for poultry farming. As you may have already guessed, it is made from maize/corn by milling them into finer grains depending on the stage of development of the chickens. Corn is popular and inexpensive because it is readily available as feed for poultry birds like chicken, ducks, geese, and turkeys.

Corn is easily grown as well, and this contributes to its increased availability. This means that it is often produced in a region close to the poultry farmer or feed producer. Due to its low cost, corn feeds are one of the most cost-effective poultry feeds available to poultry farmers.

Housing requirements for poultry farming business

The first thing you must ensure to secure before starting a poultry farm is a good house or cage for your birds, even before buying the birds. The house should be large enough for the birds you intend to keep, with adequate ventilation and pest and vector protection materials.

After securing an adequate house or a cage for your birds, other things should follow normally – of course, you will need to buy the birds, the feeds, drugs, especially when the need arises and adequate manpower to tend to your poultry farm.

Poultry product types

An additional way to make money from your poultry business is by collecting side-products of poultry birds. Apart from selling poultry for meat, you can breed hens for eggs and this can add to your income from the poultry business. Also, you should not forget that poultry droppings are some of the richest sources of manure for crop farmers.

Drugs and prevention of diseases

Pest and vector control

Storage, processing, and distribution

Manpower management