If you’re interested in starting a chicken farming operation, read this post to learn why and how to get started.
Poultry production has become an important part of global agricultural and business industries since the early 1990s. It is the most rapidly growing segment of animal husbandry.
As a result of the growing world’s populations and their increased demands for food proteins, more and more farmers are realizing the potential of producing eggs and poultry meat as a basic necessity.
10-Step Poultry Farming Business Plan for Beginners
To get started with a profitable poultry farm, here are the basics you need to know.
1. Choose a Niche for your Poultry Farming Business
This is the very beginning step to think about while beginning your poultry farm enterprise. There are businesses that operate poultry farms in various places serving different markets. However, if you’re a newbie and beginning with a tight budget, choosing one market is well suggested. The preferred verticals which are performing well are the following:
- Chicken Breeding/ Hatchery
- Meat Production/Broilers Breeding
- Egg Production/ Layers of Breeding
- Poultry Feed Production
Another important aspect is selecting your bird. If you’re a beginner, begin with no more than 2 or 3 kinds of birds. It’s observed everywhere, beginners focus on domestic poultry or hens for egg layers. You’ve got other choices also including turkey, duck, geese, quails, pigeons, guineas, etc.
2. Understand Different Methods of Poultry Farming
According to the Worldwatch Institute, about 70 percent of the world’s chicken meat and 65 percent of the world’s egg supply comes from intensively raised chickens. Intensive chicken-raising methods save time, money, and resources by reducing the need for space, water, and energy.
With this system, the poultry farm is fully controlled by the farmers. It means they can produce chickens continuously throughout the entire growing period and even during harsh weather conditions. They use some techniques for profitably raising layer and broiler chickens.
a) Deep Litter Poultry Farming
In the deep litter systems, the pellet is laid out on a bare ground surface that’s covered with sawdust. Careful thought is given to the manner in which the bird is fed. Removing the droppings normally doesn’t pose any problems.
You may either gather up the whole amount of sawdust along with the droppings or simply sprinkle new sawdust over the droppings. Usually, the day-old chick is kept in a cage using the deep litter system.
You can either remove the whole sawdust from the bottom of the pen or cover the sawdust with fresh sawdust. Usually, the day-old hens are kept in the brooder until they reach their laying age. Then, they can be moved into the battery cages or placed in the deep litter.
b) Battery Cage Poultry Farming
The battery cages allow for the droppers to drop onto a separate platform directly below the cages. It is uniquely constructed so that the droppers can easily be fed and watered. The droppers should be given according to the experts’ advice.
Some types of improper nutrition can cause death among chickens, and sometimes even eggs. It has happened in the past that a whole flock of hens failed to produce any eggs because they were fed improperly.
3. Learn the Poultry Farming Skills
It is important to get proper technology training before starting a chicken farm. You must take care of the feed, diseases, and the whole farm environment.
It’s important to get proper training before starting a poultry farming enterprise. Not having any experience means there’s an increased chance of failing.
It is very important to know how to care for chickens or birds properly.
Get Trained in Poultry Management Techniques
You should be a skilled poultry manager who has extensive knowledge of chicken farming. Your job involves planning ahead of your activities and comparing actual results against the planned ones in order to take action when deviations from the original plans occur.
Armchair management doesn’t care about what’s going on at the farm; they just want to get rid of the workers. They’re insensitive to the conditions at the farm.
Take Care of Birds
Poultry Diseases – Symptoms & Treatments: It is essential for developing a system to keep your chickens healthy. Read more about various types of chicken diseases, symptoms, and treatment options. Vaccinate your hens regularly. Feed them nutritious food and a clean drinking supply. Keep their housing clean.
Among the most important aspects of successful chicken, raising is ensuring the well-being of the animals. To achieve this, you need to check them regularly with veterinarians.
If the source of eggs or the foundation sticks is damaged, or if the necessary drugs aren’t administered correctly, chicken farming can become a nightmare.
4. Create a Poultry Farming Business Plan
It’s essential for any new farmer to develop an effective business plan before starting their operations. There are many different subcategories within the poultry sector like egg production, chicken farms, turkey farms, etc.
Your choice of specialty depends on your financial situation and technical ability. Without question, you should consider both factors when making your decision.
You’ll require a detailed business plan before starting your venture. How much space do you need for the setup? What is the cost involved? Which type of birds are you planning to buy? Do you need any special equipment? How will you promote your products?
5. Choose a Proper Location
Before starting up a poultry farm, you need to contact the relevant authorities for permission. You may want to consider choosing a location where there aren’t too many people living nearby.
You also need to consider the costs associated with transporting your products to the market. Therefore, depending on your budget, select a place that is best suited for your business needs.
6. Arrange Finance
To get started in the poultry farming industry, you need to invest some funds. However, if you don’t have enough money, apply for a loan. You may want to consider creating a detailed plan before applying for a loan.
The cost of setting up a chicken farm will vary depending on the size of your property. You can start small by renting out some space in your backyard and gradually expand as your business grows.
Remember, there is also a considerable fixed asset cost associated with running a chicken farm. It is important for a prudent chicken raiser to be careful not to spend unnecessarily. He must avoid any unnecessary expenses, which tend to eat away at his profits.
Labor feeds, drugs, and input costs must be in accordance with standard farming practices, otherwise, these expenses should be disregarded. Wasteful spending must be avoided at any cost, regardless of its insignificance.
7. Make Your Poultry Farming Business Legal
Make sure you comply with the law and check your local government agency regulating laws and rules before starting any kind of business.
There are different types of companies that you can choose from depending on where you live. If you’re starting a new company in the US, choosing an S Corp would be a good idea because it offers tax advantages.
Picking an appropriate insurance policy for your farm is essential if you want to avoid financial loss due to natural disasters or diseases.
8. Hire Effective Manpower
The poultry farm operation is not a single-person enterprise. You require skilled and experienced personnel to run a profitable poultry farm. You also need backroom types of things together with a supervisor who will oversee all the activities. So, a meticulously designed recruiting and hiring strategy will save more money than spending.
9. Explore Poultry Farming Market Opportunities
Before launching your chicken business, you should first understand the current situation of the industry in which you intend to operate. A thorough understanding of the industry will help you determine whether there is enough demand for your product.
You should definitely think about the marketing techniques that you’d employ if you were starting out in the business. Before you get started, you should really consider which marketing methods you’d use to break into the industry.
10. Promote your Poultry Farming Business
If you want to start up a poultry farm, first and foremost, think about choosing an appropriate and catchy brand. You should also consider whether there is already a suitable domain available or not.
Next, you need to design a custom icon for your app. Then, create a customized landing page for your app. Finally, create a Google Play Store listing, Facebook Page, Twitter Profile, LinkedIn Profile, YouTube Channel, Instagram Account, etc.
Benefits of Commercial PoultryFarming
Commercial chicken farms have several advantages. They’re usually smaller than free-range ones, but they don’t need large amounts of land.
- Poultry farms don’t need large amounts of initial capital to get started.
- Raising poultry doesn’t require large amounts of land. Yes, it does require space, but you can also raise them in your own backyard using one or several coop(s) or cage(s).
- Commercial chicken farming has an extremely high return on investment. Profit can be made within a very short time.
- All kinds of birds are domestic. There is no need for special licenses.
- A brooder’s intake of food is relatively low while producing the maximum possible amount of meat.
- Marketing is very easy. You just need fresh chickens.
- Chickens can provide an ongoing source of revenue throughout the whole season. They’re not seasonal and they can be profitable throughout the whole growing season. Broiler meat takes less time to grow than laying hens.
- Chicken manure is rich in nitrogen and organic materials, so it’s useful for growing plants.
- Almost all banks and institutions approve loans for commercial chicken farms.
Make sure you keep track of your business records and accounting so that you can always know if you’re making a profit or losing out. The average incubation time for chickens is 21 days; full maturation takes place at 20-24 weeks. A poultry farm has a typical payback time of three to four years.
Summing Up:
Many developing nations have adopted poultry farms as a way to help their people become self-sufficient by providing them with an income-generating source through the sale of poultry products.
Chickens are one of the most commonly raised animals in these regions and they include the activity of raising different varieties of domestic fowls commercially for the purpose of producing eggs, feathers, and/or chicken flesh.
Moreover, the chickens that are used for egg production are called layer hens, and the chickens that provide the raw material for the production of chicken products are called broilers. The United Kingdom and the United States eat more chicken than any other country in the world.
Among them, the commercial raising of chickens for both egg and chicken product production requires less capital to start up and guarantees fast profits.
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