How many of you dream of becoming their own boss? What about considering poultry farming? Many of you are worried whether they will still make as much money as they do while employed. Take for example a poultry farmer in Nyeri, Mr Muturi. Mr Muturi a trained salesperson quit his job in 2013 and he is now making millions.

Muturi who worked with an established company in Nairobi told Oxfarm how his peers laughed him off after he told them that he was quitting to start poultry farming. “my friend, are you insane?” One of his friend asked him; Muturi recalls. To his friends, this was a huge gamble but never the less he was convinced that the time was ripe for him to go into self-employment.

His desire to be his own boss saw him become one of the most successful poultry farmer in Nyeri.

As he was narrating his story, Muturi remembered how he started five years ago with just a small capital. He didn’t any formal training on poultry farming, but he decided to give it a short.

With just 20,000, he embarked on a journey. This came after he has done a market study and realized that most of Kenyan traders who sell chicken products import them from Uganda and Tanzania. He knew there was money in this kind of business and he had to try no matter what. So Muturi bought 100, 1-day old chicks and some feeds. The rest as they say is history.

What you Need to Make Money from Poultry Farming

Nevertheless, Muturi notes that you should be careful if you want to make money through poultry farming and you should do the following few things;

  • Housing system:

According to Muturi, this is a very critical factor to consider, regardless of the number of birds, housing can make or destroy your success in poultry farming. If you successfully construct a good housing system, then more than 40% of your problems are solved. Note that housing is the second most expensive thing in poultry farming after feeds.

  • Feeds and feeding:

Before you kick up the project, you need to conduct a feasibility study which will go a long way in helping you achieve your goals and succeed. Feeds and feeding carries a big weight in poultry farming and enough plans should be put I place. One can choose between producing feeds or buying from distributors. Proper feeding makes the birds grow well and to a larger extend their health is secured.

According to Muturi who produces his own feeds, making your own will cut the cots by almost 50%. However, he notes that new farmers should wait until they break through to produce their own food.

http://oxfarm.co.ke/livestock-farming/poultry-farming/profitable-poultry-farming-and-production-in-kenya/

  • Record keeping:

This is also another vital factor towards success. A proper book-keeping will foster your poultry business development, it will help you determine your success or failures and where change is required. Always keep a proper record for your poultry farm in order to increase your production level always.

  • Changes and differences:

You need to be sensitive to changes and differences in your poultry farm, which includes the growth, feeding, their droppings, the laying capacities, number of birds, sound amongst others.

This will help you as a farmer to be sensitive to changes in the system. For instances: when layers are about to start laying, they makes a lot of noise, feeding rate and body weight increases, and sometimes when there is disease outbreak you can quickly take note of this happenings by their droppings, if it changes from what it use to be when they are healthy then something is wrong, you can call on your vet doctor for inspection. Be sensitive to regular changes in your poultry farm always.

  • Types of birds:

This is another important factor you should consider in a poultry farming business what are the types of birds you want to raise? Chicken? (Layers or Broilers as applicable to other birds) Turkey? Goose? Duck? You should source for quality chicks from breeders. First generation chicks f1 are the best. Only source chicks from reputable breeders.

  • Areas of concentration:

This is a very important factor to consider in a poultry farming business. Do you want to keep them for: Egg production, meat production, breeding (hatching of eggs into chicks), feed processing and production, packaging of poultry products, marketing and lots more?

  • Capital:

Capital is one of the major factor that determine what happens and what goes on in the system. Capital is the fund (total amount of money you are investing into a business) the main reason why poultry needs enough fund is that you can’t be managing poultry birds you have to provide the best for them in order for you to get the required products at the end of your production.

  • Poultry Equipment and facilities:

It is very important to get adequate equipment ready and set before starting a poultry farm so that you don’t get stocked on the way. Some of the necessary equipment includes:

  • Feeders and drinkers,
  • egg trays
  • heat source,
  • waste disposal,
  • incubator,
  • culling cage (for keeping sick birds),
  • clean water, and
  • feeds,

http://oxfarm.co.ke/agri-news/agricultural-news-in-kenya/how-to-be-smart-in-the-world-of-agribusiness/

  • Poultry location:

Poultry farming should be conducted in a place where the smell cannot affect people living around them and disposal of waste is easy, actually you can run a poultry farm at home as well in your backyard but in a situation where you are considering thousands of birds, try and locate the house in an environment with less population of people and settlement so that you can run your business without any interference and disturbance .

If you look into the above factors and keep your eyes open, you just like Muturi can make money in this business. Be your own boss.

Future billionaires will be farmers!