Poultry is a very lucrative and profitable business, it seems tasking and difficult but, if you put your mind into it, you can achieve and succeed greatly in it. Despite being a poultry farmer, there is a great fear which poultry farmers do have and that’s the fear of running at a loss in their business. In this article, we would discuss the secrets on how to make huge sales which will create a great deal of profit to your business. Here are the steps you can take to trade profitably in your poultry farming business.
(1). Getting the day old chicks
(2). Brooding the chicks
(3). Making your own feeds
(4). Growing the birds into maturity
(5). Marketing the birds
(6). Protecting your birds from predators
(7). Selling your poultry eggs.
GETTING THE DAYOLD CHICKS
Once you start your poultry business, the first thing you need to get is your day-old chicks. If you buy your chicks when it has been brooded for some weeks maybe a week, two or three weeks, you have succeeded in cutting the extra income/profit you were to get if you were to brood them yourself. Also, do not get a chick that cries out low or cries only when they touch them or finds it difficult to stand on their feet.
BROODING THE CHICKS
This refers to raising your chicks from a day old to about (2) weeks old, this period is referred as their most delicate period and they require extra care like that given to a baby. What the little chicks knows is to eat and drink. When you bring them from the hatchery, what they need immediately is food and water. Note failure to give food, water and shelter. Starts your counting of their mortality rate Water is life for chickens or any poultry bird, endeavor to give them often. Remember to treat your chickens like your children, adequate care for your chicks is one of the steps of making more profit.
MAKING YOUR OWN POULTRY FEEDS
In poultry business, if there is anything that consumes funds, is the poultry feeds. We have two types of feeds and they are:
1). Commercial feeds
2). Local made feeds
Once you get the right ingredients needed for the bird, you can opt for the local made feeds. Here, you will increase your chance of profit as much as 50%. That is to say if you make good nourishing feeds yourself, you can increase the revenue/profit you will get from the business.
STEPS ON HOW TO MAKE LOCALLY MADE FEEDS
1). Look for good looking maize without weevils or mold, fishmeal and soybeans.
2). Mash the items together. NOTE. DO NOT BUY A FISH THAT IS NOT GODLOKING OR SMELLS BADLY, THEY WILL HAVE NO ADEQUATE HELP TO THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF YOUR PULTRY BIRDS.
There are a lot of profits when you do your poultry feeds yourself than buying from others. It is much advisable to brood your chicken from day one. This shows you are ready to grow a profitable business in poultry. Also, endeavor to get the god birds, when you get the wrong birds, you will run at a loss and May not even make any profit. Do not get discouraged about the time frame to breed your chicks, but the profit you will get should keep motivating you. Some breeds are resistant to drugs no matter what you give to them to cure their ailments, they will still die. Layers for example, are being reared for a longer time, hence makes them susceptible for infections and other health hazards.
STEPS TO IDENTIFY A HEALTHY CHICKEN
1). A healthy chicken can jump around freely no matter the cold.
2). they love to eat and move around a lot. NOTE: IF YOU NOTICE ANY CHICK THAT PREFERS LYING DOWN WHEN OTHERS ARE EATING, THE CHICK IS LIKELY TO BE SICK OR UNHEALTHY. YOU SEE THEM STANDING, LOOSING APPETITE, LOOKING WEAK. ENDEAVOUR TO AVOID BUYING ANY CHICK THAT DROOLS SALIVA OR DOES NOT WALK WELL. ANY DEFORMED BIRD IS NOT A HEALTHY BIRD FOR A PROFITABLE BUSINESS.
GROWING THE BIRDS TO MATURITY
This step requires more effort for the growth and nurture for the chicks to reach maturity. This aspect requires a lot of work and patience. Such as : feeding them every day, washing their water cans, vaccinations till their fourth week in broilers and adding of vitamins and drugs occasionally. Here, you are expected to put extra efforts to prevent mortality. Always their food is available always. Lack of adequate feeds will make you spend more. Also put a dim light in their cages especially at night, this removes fear and any form of panic for them most especially when they want to eat at night. Feeding is the best way to get your profit, if you do not have enough money to buy feedings or make yours, wait and save before venturing into any poultry business. Their vaccines are also paramount, so it is advisable to wait till evening around 8-9 then you put it into their water. This way, they will all drink the vaccines. Clean their houses and make sure their floor is dried, a wet floor gives them cough and other respiratory diseases, this causes retardation in their growths. Change their drinking water often and also add vitamins in their feeds to help them have good immune system for fighting diseases.
MARKETING THE BIRDS
This is the sole aim of entering the poultry business. The owner becomes the producer, manager, marketer and financial officer. This is so because; you will have to struggle and start everything and make work well before you start employing hands.
TIPS TO FOLLOW WHEN MARKETING YOUR POULTRY BIRDS
1) Let friends, relatives, neighbors and people know that you have chickens and that you sell chickens. Put their faces as your profile pictures, signatures on your social media handles.
2) Go to eateries, hotels, restaurants and let them know of it, they love purchasing especially if your price is low
3) Once awareness is created, people will start purchasing and you will keep making your regular income. Treat your customers with love and kindness, if you treat them with disdain someone can talk/create a bad awareness about your business and then you will have a bad reputation.
4) Try to make your chickens bigger and cheaper
5) Lastly, put your business in the hand of God almighty and never give out your chickens on credit. In poultry business, you require patience, consistency and determination just like any other business to get your profit (maximum). Your chickens needs to be healthy and management/adequate training of the chickens starts from when they are a day old, selling must be taken seriously.
PROTECTING YOUR BIRDS FROM PREDATORS
Predators such as snakes, foxes and flies etc. needs to be avoided to help your chicks grow adequately well. When they are being invaded, it causes stress to them and stress to chickens is not good for their growth and development
SELLING YOUR POULTRY EGGS
After brooding, your layers will start laying eggs; endeavor to feed them properly with the right feeds to have a big amount of egg with a large size that will be marketed commercially. Also, eggs are used for a variety of purposes, so when your layers lays good and reasonable size of eggs, you are already making adequate profits for your business