About 160 million Nigerians consume a lot of poultry products, ranging from chickens, turkeys, eggs, and a lot more. This shows that the opportunities surrounding poultry farming are exponential in highly profitable ways. While a lot of people supply frozen poultry products to restaurants, events, and more, many others supply mostly eggs, and the rest supply poultry feeds. The market opportunity existing in poultry farming is extremely wide and lucrative if executed right.
If you’re looking for answers to questions like; how to start a poultry farming business? How to make poultry farming very profitable? How to start poultry farming with low capital? This poultry farming article will explain everything in a very detailed manner for you to easily understand and start your own profitable poultry farm. With the information in this article, you can start off today with little capital. It’s important to always start small and over time grow exponentially because you need to understand all the perks in the business, without losing so much money.
The demand for poultry is rising every day due to Nigeria’s emerging economy, and the measured increase in the standard of living. This has resulted in a rise in the number of hotels, restaurants, bars, social events and public holidays that are celebrated.
If you have the required capital available, business ideas In Nigeria are not difficult to actualize. Poultry farming can be started on a small scale, and the space you have available will determine the number of chickens that you can keep. To maximize your profits, you should capitalize on all areas. For example, poultry feces or droppings can be sold as organic fertilizers to farmers and used as another income source to secure the future of your venture.
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC) has identified that there is a huge gap in Nigeria’s cold chain sector. Cold chain consists of refrigerated warehouses or units for storage of temperature sensitive products, refrigerated transportation: Reefer trucks, containers, ships and trains for transport of temperature sensitive products. If you have the capital this is an area I would highly recommend investing in for the future. With Nigeria’s increasing population the need for refrigerated meat products will rapidly increase, and this will see the natural rise in consumption of local poultry.
Before we dive right into the poultry business plan, here are 4 major reasons poultry farming is a very profitable business in Nigeria:
1). Food Is Important To Everyone:
Everyone must feed to stay alive, but a majority of individuals value poultry products above other types of meals. Poultry animals like chickens, turkeys, and more feed millions of homes everyday. Their importance in meals mostly insinuate that people can’t do without them.
2). Poultry Animals Grow Very Fast:
It takes 28 weeks for an average chicken to be fully grown and ready for market. It also takes 21 days for a chicken’s eggs to hatch. But with the use of incubators, it takes a lot lesser for chicken eggs to hatch. Poultry animals in general like turkeys, chickens, guinea fowls, and more have a fast reproduction and growth rate.
3). Poultry Animals Lay A Lot Of Eggs:
An average layer lays one egg every two days. A farm with 1000 layers would produce at least 800 eggs a day. The market value for the eggs are extremely profitable with 1000 layers capable of producing 400,000 Naira ($1,333.4) in sales every month. A larger portion of this birds would mean an explosive revenue rate.
4). Price For Poultry Products Are Attractive:
The price of poultry products have been on the rise for years. With an average sized chicken costing at least 2,500 Naira ($8.4), the profit margin accrued never stops growing. Selling 10,000 chickens in a month would amount to 25,000,000 Naira ($83,333.4) in revenues generated.
Poultry farming has become one of the most important aspects of agriculture in almost all countries including Nigeria for some reasons.
1. It create business opportunity for Entrepreneurs
2. It provides employment for job seeking citizens
3. It is the kind of business that can never dry up
4. It brings in lot of income
5. It Boost up the country economy
Chicken and its product (Egg) is one of the most pretentious food or meat in the world which we all agree to i think. You and I need the proteins derived from chicken to maintain healthy living. It is generally believed that every child needs not less than an egg a day for their normal growth while every adult needs like ten in a week; Poultry also provides meat for delicacies.
No tribe, religion or any country forbids chicken meat. Everyone likes it, that's why poultry products sell very fast and in high demand.
Apart from chicken been used as food, poultry farming is so much profitable. A good poultry farmer earns above $75,000 ( N15 million ) per annum depending on how big the farm is. All these benefits are open to you if you start your own poultry farm today.
With these lucrative poultry benefits, here is how you should prepare your poultry business plan. This “poultry farming business plan template” will ensure your poultry farm turns up profitable in a short period if you put in the right work to it.
Starting a Poultry Farming Business – Sample Business Plan Template
1). What Poultry Niche Do You Want To Focus On:
The poultry farming business is wide. People majorly assume the market is all about growing chickens, turkeys, and guinea fowls. Poultry farming covers a lot from: meat production, to egg production, to feed production, to medicinal production, to chicken raising, to equipment production and a lot more. When you identify a niche that you can work with, you can start your farm.
Select your Poultry Niche
The poultry industry is a broad niche. There are many sub-sectors in the poultry industry which you can tap into. When poultry farming is mentioned, a lot of people take that to mean chicken rearing or turkey rearing alone but poultry farming is a very wide business with different aspects. Below are niches in the poultry business:
- Egg production (Layers breeding)
- Meat production (Broilers breeding)
- Chicken breeding (Hatchery)
- Poultry feed production
- Poultry equipment manufacturing
- Egg and meat processing, packaging and marketing
- Poultry marketing and consultancy
So, you see that poultry farming is very wide. Therefore, you have to choose your area of specialization. Of course, if you have enough capital and the technical know-how nothing stops you from doing all the businesses under poultry farming but it is always better to go back to the drawing board, find out which aspects of poultry farming are more profitable in your area in terms of demand and income and then select the most attractive aspects to concentrate on.
2). What Breed Of Bird Do You Want To Raise:
There are various bird breeds you can raise on your poultry farm. Each comes with it’s own maintenance cost. But once you can determine the breed you want and know where and how to reach your potential customers, you can begin. Here are some bird breeds you can raise on your poultry farm: Chickens (Broilers & Layers), Turkeys, Guinea Fowls, Quails, Peacocks, Ducks, Geese, etc. Choosing the breed will help you determine what you want to achieve from each bird. If you want to go into meat production, broilers are raised for these. If you want to produce loads of eggs, layers are raised for these. Every breed has it’s main specific purpose.
I would commend that you choose, and specialize in one breed to begin your farm. Once you have gained the knowledge of how to maintain a farm, breed and rear your poultry, you may consider diversifying your portfolio, and possibly introduce additional breeds to your business.
There are basically three types of chicken. They are:
1. The Pullets: popularly known as Layers: Layers are reared for egg production and most lucrative but more stressing compare to the other once.
2. The Broiler Chicken: Broilers are reared for meat production; The Broilers grows very faster and are ready for sale at 12 weeks from hatch.
3. The Third is the Cockerel: This is also reared for meat production. . Cockerels grow slower and can take up to twenty four weeks before they are matured for marketing.
Cockerels are still the strongest and are reliable in terms of survival and withstanding bad weathers. They are more resilient, and can absorb shocks far better than Layers and Broilers.
Layers are usually raised mainly for laying eggs so if egg production is your area of specialization, you would need to stock your farm with layers but if you prefer to opt for meat production instead, then you would need broilers instead because broilers have the ability to grow very fat and gives more return on investment because they weigh a lot more than other breeds. You should keep in mind that broilers require around 8 weeks to grow to table size while cockerels require 6 months, and layers need a minimum of 19 weeks in order to begin laying eggs.
3. Start-up Capital Investment
The poultry farming business is capital intensive; depending on the scale, location of your farm and the type of management technology used. A small scale poultry farm being run behind your house may require a capital of between $500 – $1,500. A medium scale poultry farm may require $2,000 – $5,000 and a large scale poultry farm may require a start-up capital of $10,000 and above. Like I stated earlier, scale is directly proportional to capital.
4. Poultry Location
A good location is vital to the success and profitability of your poultry farm. An ideal poultry farm should be sited where there’s a large availability of cheap land and at the same time; should be close to areas with high population density. It’s not advisable to site your poultry farm within a residential area because of the offensive odour it produces.
While it is smart to start your poultry farm in a place where the odor and noise would not disturb other people, you should also consider the security factor. Lands in sparsely populated settlements are cheap and you would have fewer issues with community disturbance and zoning but it may be far from your market and buyers. You need to find a balance, look for a place that is favorable to you and would also be favorable to your customers at the same time.
5. Housing your birds
Another important factor to consider is the poultry housing system and fencing options. Poultry housing system determines up to 40% of the rater of success you would achieve in poultry farming. A good housing system is very important for your poultry farm. The housing system commonly used in poultry farming are-:
- Extensive system: Range and fold unit
- Semi Intensive system: Standard semi intensive unit and straw yard
- Intensive system: i. Deep litter, ii. Wire and slated floor, iii. Straw yard, iv. Battery cage
a. 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.
b.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 and 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.
c. 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 but the major downside of this method is that it is more expensive to construct and maintain compared to other forms of poultry housing systems.
If you are running a poultry farm for commercial purposes and you intend getting the best out of the business; with respect to high birds’ productivity and efficiency. Then you should consider housing your birds using the intensive system. Note that each of the three housing system has its own advantages and disadvantages. Lastly, your poultry housing structure should be built at a particular angle; taking sunlight and wind into consideration.
6. Poultry equipment and appliances
There is a very long list of equipment and facilities to put in place in order to fully manage a poultry farm. You would need to construct a house for the birds, provide feeders and drinkers, a good waste disposal system, source of water, lightening and heat, egg crates and storage space for keeping feed and eggs.
Therefore, you should make a list of all the items you would need, find out the prices and compare different prices to further give you an idea of the costs of setting up the poultry farm.The following equipment may be needed for your poultry farm and their uses:
Feeders
Drinkers
Perches
Nests
Crates
Lighting system
Waste disposal system
Incubator
Heaters or brooders
Egg tray
Cages and coops
7. Feeding your birds
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
I recommend the former for large commercial poultry farms because it helps you to save a lot of money on feeding costs. You can easily learn how to make poultry feeds, purchase equipment and start producing feeds for your farm. You can even make some extra income for yourself by selling to others but it is important that you get the right feed formula and ingredients that would enhance the growth of your birds.
8. Health
Just like you need regular health check-up to stay in good shape, the birds in your farm also need regular check-up. They need proper vaccines and medications to prevent diseases and promote growth. You should have a consultant, a veterinary doctor who would be in charge of giving vaccinations and providing proper health care for the birds. Chicks need more care after they hatch especially within their first 3 weeks.
9. Poultry Farm staffing and manpower
Operating a poultry farm is not labor intensive if the use of technology is employed. With respect to staffing, the number of manpower needed is also dependent on the size of your farm. But some must haves should be admin officer or manager; who will oversee the day to day running of your business. Your manager can also double as your accountant to cut down cost.
It is also advisable you have personnel who will reside permanently in the farm to monitor and see to the well being of your birds. You will also need security personnel that will monitor the inflow and outflow of people around your farm; and most importantly, guard against theft. Aside these few mentioned, you can add more personnel to suit your business needs.
10. Accounting
Poultry farming is just like any other commercial business out there and for you to track your performance and productivity, adequate records must be kept.
Check the Cost
Once you have settled on your location, you need to invest your capital. The bigger your project, the larger the investment required. Invest wisely, and stick to what you have planned.
• Small scale – You will need around ₦70, 000 to begin rearing chicken on small scale (around 50 birds) and keeping them in cages at your residence backyard.
• Medium scale – You need about ₦500, 000 – ₦5 million to start a mid-scale poultry farm, which needs housing and other materials over land spreading 1-2 plots.
• Large scale – Around ₦10 million is needed for this type of intensive project. This will involve a high degree of planning, sophistication, professionalism and the use of advanced poultry farming techniques.
You should always look for healthy day old chicks from a good hatchery. The cost can vary from ₦140 to N200. In some cases, it can be even up to ₦300. Do your research, and know what you’re looking for.
You don’t need to have an accounting background or spend hours on record keeping or accounting for your farm; just purchase a farm management software, install it on your computer and there you are, you would be able to know how your business is doing and whether you are growing or not.
11. Marketing
Another factor to give consideration to is the marketing aspect of your poultry 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 poultry business, you should really consider the marketing strategies which you would use to break into the market.
12. Projected return on investment
The incubation period of the domestic fowl is 21 days. You can start selling off your birds as early as 8 – 12 weeks but full maturity is reached between 20 – 24 weeks. The payback period of a poultry farming business is between 3 – 5 years.Chickens tend to grow at a fast rate. You can get your eggs hatched within 3 weeks. Chickens reared for the meat industry can be slaughtered at 6 to 8 weeks old and are considered “fully grown” as they are fed a high protein diet. However left to their own devices most domestic chickens reach maturity around 5 months of age, the pullets will start to lay eggs and the cockerels will start to crow. They may well grow for another month after this, but you will still get them market-ready in around 28 weeks. You can begin making an income within only 6 months of setting up your own poultry farm. On the basis of this calculation, you can double your returns in a year.
You can sell a healthy, full-grown chicken in Nigeria for 2,000 – 2,500 naira. If your farm yields 12,000 chickens, you can make a minimum of 24 million naira by the time you have completely sold them.
You can also make money by selling the eggs. A single crate of small eggs sells at anywhere between ₦500 and ₦550 while one with bigger eggs sells at ₦600 – ₦650. Typically, each crate holds 30 eggs and when you have 500 layers producing 12,000 eggs in 1 month, you can make ₦200, 000 – ₦260, 000 every month if you decide to sell all.
Rules and Regulations
You are not required to register with any regulatory body before starting you poultry business. However, I would advise that you follow the guidelines set out by the National Environmental Standards Regulation and Enforcement Agency (NESREA) of Nigeria, which lays down cleanliness and hygienic guidelines that poultry farmers should follow. In addition to this, The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) reduces the chances of smuggled poultry products being brought in to the country. This hopefully reduces the risks of you buying damaged or diseased chickens, which will negatively impact your business.
Why wait?
Poultry farming in Nigeria is very lucrative, and many locals and foreign investors are already getting rich from it. Considering the fact that this country has more than 160 million people, you can easily understand why your poultry farming business has the potential of becoming successful. You can begin with 1,000 birds and move your way up, or only start with a few hundred, and grow your business gradually.
If you already know how to plan and manage a startup business, you will have an advantage, and be able to establish your business within the local and national poultry farming industry.
Poultry farming in Nigeria is a rapidly growing industry, so why wait, start now!
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