Tips for Starting a Successful Poultry Farming

In starting poultry farming, you must know the one you want to venture into. Poultry farming can be chickens, turkeys, and ducks. Poultry farming entails caring for products, vaccinating, building poultry pens, and selling meats and eggs.   

Whatever you decide, there should be proper care, management, and sound financial decisions if you are determined to make your poultry farm successful. 

Below are 11 points that can help you start and also maintain a chicken farming business:

1.   Get a Poultry Building

A poultry house is essential in chicken rearing as part of your effective management plan. The most commonly used poultry housing includes half litter and half slats, deep litter, semi-fold, and battery methods. 

It is always necessary to ensure you have all the needed equipment. Poultry farming comprises three poultry housing systems: extensive, intensive, and semi-intensive. It is good to consider an intensive plan for commercial production. Your chicks can be raised in a cage or floor system. 

The requirement for layer poultry is about 4 square feet, and broiler poultry needs about 2.5 square feet of space. Always make sure that you have about 800 square feet before you can raise 200 layers. And also, ensure that you provide good ventilation and light in your poultry farmhouse. 

2.   Feeding Supply

Poultry farming requires feed supplies to properly feed your chickens, which will significantly help their development.

Feeding is one of the most essential activities in poultry farming and will require a lot of expenses. Poultry feeding consists of two ways: making your feeds yourself and getting already-made meals from the market.

Also, it is essential to provide proper nutrition because it will help to improve poultry production, its growth, and sustaining health.

In choosing the poultry feed for your farming, you must consider factors like the poultry's age, production, and growth status.

For achieving continuous good health for your poultry, there should be a need for a proper good amount of carbohydrates and protein, including necessary vitamins, dietary minerals, and an adequate water supply. 

3.  Poultry Location

The success of your new poultry farming business will depend on the location chosen to start your poultry farming business. While selecting a place for your poultry farming, you need to consider an area where you can get cheap land and a room with a lesser population. Not setting up your poultry farming in a residential area is advisable because of the foul odor. It is also good to consider the security factor of the site. 

It is also necessary to check the rules and regulations guiding where you intend to raise your chickens because they are not always legal, depending on your location. Chicken farming is sometimes regarded as a health or noise nuisance and attracts being fined by the local authority.   

4.  Decide on the Poultry Breeds

Poultry breeds comprise three types that are good for commercial poultry farming. You can choose any of them for your farm. Modern poultry breed is highly productive, and raising it commercially is very profitable. Stylish layers can also produce more eggs than traditional breeds, and broilers develop faster than ever. 

Selecting the right breed for commercial production depends on you. Before setting up poultry farming, you must decide the type of product you want to produce. Below are the three commonly used and commercial poultry breeds: 

Layers: Layer poultry breeds are generally used for producing eggs for commercial use. So, choosing highly productive layer breeds is essential to make eggs for commercial use. 

Broilers: broiler poultry grows very fast and obtains slaughter weight after a short time by eating a certain amount of food. They are usually used for producing meat in large quantities. 

Cockerels: this is another type of meat-productive poultry breed. It is demanded especially by some people. It grows slower than other breeds. This type of breed can adapt and survive in any environment. 

So depending on the one you choose to breed, each of them requires special care and management. Carefully select the proper breed and ensure you take good care of your poultry farming to achieve successful poultry farming.

5.   Feasibility Study

A good feasibility study contributes to the success of your business. You have to go to any local market and check the product's high demand and price. Then you can now decide on any poultry breed you want to start running. 

Things to consider during your feasibility study are as follows; 

Where can you get your feed in bulk size? And if you want to raise birds, where can they be processed? Is there any poultry processing plant around you? You can process your products if you have many people working for you. 

A feasibility study on your poultry farm will enable you to know if the business is lucrative to start or will be when in the whole operation.

Your feasibility study should include product technology, market environment, distribution, competition, financial projections, risk factors, rules, and regulations. 

6.   Initial Stocking

Initial stocking is one of the most essential factors for establishing a poultry farm. Buying your stocks from a trusted hatchery where its parent stocks are well-housed and managed adequately is advisable. 

It is essential to check the initial checks to see if they suffer from any diseases. If you are going for broilers, you have to select the ones that have increased liveability and the ability to grow faster. For layers, you must go for ones with good egg size and increased egg production.

If you are starting to stock your poultry farm, it is good to start with day-old chicks. Starting with a minimum number of chicks is essential if you begin without poultry farming experience.  

7.  Apply for a Loan

Since starting up, commercial poultry farming has required considerable capital. So if you plan on going into the business significantly, you have to consider applying for a loan from banks, or you can go to any agricultural organization for assistance. 

You can discuss your business goals, financial history, and monetary needs with your loan advisor, that will help you with the loan application. When you want to meet your bank, follow your business outline, provide evidence showing your credit history, or anything your bank requests. 

It is advisable to start with a minimum amount of loan and try to get a smaller quantity of equipment and products for your farm as a test run because later, you can apply for a larger loan when your business grows. 

8.  Market your Poultry Products

Marketing is one of the most essential factors contributing to your business's success. It is done by making yourself and the company you are dealing with known to your customers. Advertise your business and tell them you sell meat or eggs.

The marketing of your business is critical because it will help you gain more customers and make more money for you. You can also hire a marketing consultant to help you with the best marketing strategies for business promotion. 

A good marketing strategy will help to increase the profit of your business. You will be motivated to increase your production rate when you sell your products quickly. So therefore, it is good to have a good marketing strategy for your business, bearing in mind that your business will not be profitable if you can't market your products very well. 

9.  Poultry Equipment

There are many poultry equipment that is needed for the success of your poultry farming. So your poultry farm should be managed appropriately, and ensure you have adequate equipment.

The poultry farm has much equipment that you can use to manage your poultry farm effectively. Some kit includes constructing a house, providing suitable waste disposal, incubator, feeder, water pot, heater, egg handling nests, laying nests, fencing, coops, and cages. 

So before starting a poultry farm, it is essential to list the items you need, find out the prices and compare different prices to get an idea of the costs of setting up a poultry farm. Getting this equipment available will help you with your labor costs. 

It is also good to link up with good veterinary services. In poultry farming, you need a vet doctor who can regularly visit your farm, also, make sure you keep a schedule for medication and vaccination in consultation with a veterinarian. 

10.   Make a business plan

Mapping out your business plan should be the first thing to do before starting poultry farming.  Through a well-drafted business plan, you will know the goals you wish to achieve and what to do to achieve your goals.

The business plan includes a business overview, operation plan, SWOT analysis, management team, sales, and marketing.

Once you have written down your business plan, you can visit an established farmer or business adviser so that he can help to review and amend it based on their suggestion.

If you want to operate on a meat production farm, then you should plan on how you can raise and slaughter your chickens, your income goals, and how to market your poultry meat products.     

A good business plan guides how to carry out decisions and actions and how your business will be run. This is why it is essential to take your time when writing down your business plan; you can talk to people already in the business and get information about your business. 

11.  Write down your farming sales and production records

Writing down or keeping accurate data on your farming sales and production records will help determine if you are gaining or losing from your poultry farming. To ensure that you are making a profit from your business, it is advisable to have a logbook for your sales since your business growth will depend on it.

If you find the ones that consume your capital, you can survey the products you use, like the prices. You can buy from different suppliers or compare their prices. Having an accountant or financial adviser to help you keep this kind of record more organized is also good. 

In Conclusion 

The above-listed tips for starting poultry farming will significantly help you plan your poultry business.

Before starting poultry farming, it is necessary to learn more about this kind of business and visit some established farms, if possible, for further advice.

Seek advice from other farmers in your area and ensure that you start with a minimum number of poultry products if creating them for the first time. 

Operating a poultry farm can be profitable, especially if you know what you are doing and have the correct information.

Also, the success of your business will depend on how dedicated you are. Apart from being dedicated, working with other poultry farmers is also good if possible because their information will help ensure your business operates successfully.