Things to do to boost profit in poultry farming- part 1
01. Learn Poultry Farming
The very first step to take in starting a poultry farm is to have some basic training. Do not rush to operate the poultry farm business without proper training from a dependable farming institution. Know that it is a delicate business as you are dealing with living birds.
For example, if you do not get the training about how to breed day-old chicks, it can prove to be costly in the end for your poultry farm business. Your entire lot of chicks may die if you just do not know what you need to do at that time. So, learn all those farming basics to operate your chicken business successfully.
Therefore, you can take a training course, even a short one, to learn about the breeding of chicks.
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Many agencies are running poultry farming courses. Enroll yourself in any one of them to know the basics. You can also consult one farmer to learn a few basic tricks to handle chicks.
02. Choose Your Poultry Sector
Poultry farming is a wide industry. There are two types of farming you can choose from – broilers and layers. Broilers are chicken that you raise for meat. Layers are chicken that you raise for eggs. Then, there is the business of incubating eggs and raising chicks.
Read also: probiotics for Chicken
Usually, the chicken farming business operates in multiple sectors. So, decide if you want to operate in all sectors or you want to restrict your poultry farm business to just one or two sectors of your choice, especially in the beginning.
Following Are The Niches Of Types Of Poultry Farming You Can Choose From:
Meat production (Broilers breeding)
Egg production (Layers breeding)
Poultry feed production
Chicken breeding (Hatchery)
Egg and meat processing
However, before starting your poultry farm company, think in terms of the assurance of sales. For instance, if you choose to enter into a broiler-growing business, then consider its risks. If you find no takers for your broilers, the poultry farm business will not be feasible because of very high costs.
Therefore, start the broiler business, for instance, only after you have contacts from broiler companies in your area to buy from you.
Read also: Tips to start a layer poultry farm
03. Choose The Right Type Of Bird
Poultry farm business owners rear many types of birds. Your small poultry farm may start by focusing on two to three birds and then include more birds later as the business grows.
Mostly, poultry farms raise poultry birds such as domestic fowl or chicken as broilers and layers, duck, goose, quail, guinea fowl, turkey, pigeon, and peacock.You should also determine whether to rear broilers or layers. This is the choice to start farming for meat production or egg productio
04. Create Your Farm Logo
While starting a chicken farm, you have to name it properly. You may find lots of farm name ideas. However, pick the one that suits your type of farm the best. Get a web page poultry farm design for your farm right after you are done choosing the name.
Another essential step you should take is to have a unique poultry farm logo for your business. Your logo will be everywhere on your farm products when you market them.
The logo will also be on your marketing material such as visiting cards, websites, and many other places. Therefore, make sure that your logo becomes a tool to show that you run a professional poultry farming business.However, since your budget for operating your poultry farm business may be smaller, you think of saving every penny. So, you should not be splurging on the logo design unnecessarily. unnecessarily. You do not need a very high-quality logo at the start of your business. At this point, a logo can be an ordinary symbol to identify your business.
Keeping that in mind, you can outsource your logo work to Designhill, which has hundreds of designers. Some of them can deliver you the best logo work that matches the personality of your poultry farm business. Your cost for the logo will be minimum.
Crowdsourcing site, Designhill can help you to create a logo at a very low price. Many talented logo designers will read your design brief to create your logo with new concepts. Designhill is an outstanding platform for bringing together poultry farm business owners and graphic designers to create design products.
05. Set Farm Location
You should think of setting your poultry farm at the most appropriate location. The location must have all the necessary facilities. Try to build your poultry farm business a little away from the town so that you can have the land and labor at a cheaper cost.
However, setting up the farm for chicken business too far away from the nearest town will be a mistake. Remember that you need to approach a town more often to target your consumers.
Moreover, a location of poultry farm business too away from a city may cost you more on transportation.
According to USDA data, a poultry farm business owner who is located near four poultry companies or integrators is likely to earn 8 percent more gross income than a farmer located near to only one supplier. This data shows that the location of a poultry farm business matters a lot to poultry farmers to be feasible.
06. Have A Business Plan
Make sure you have a poultry farm business plan well in advance to run your poultry farm. The plan should include a broader picture of what shape the business will take in the next 3-5 years.
Write down your vision, objectives, poultry products, target demographic, and marketing strategy to adopt. You also know your poultry farm setup cost in advance.
There are two major advantages of making a well-thought-of poultry farming business plan. First, you will be on track while conducting your business as you will be proceeding as per the plan. That helps in treading the path confidently.
The second advantage is that your cleverly chalked-out business plan helps attract investors to your poultry farm business. Investors would like to scrutinize your plan before putting their money on your farm.
07. Get A Loan
A poultry farm business is not financially easy to start since you need a huge amount of funds generally right at the beginning. That is because you have to buy a piece of land and essential equipment. Plus, there must also be a consistent supply of money to pay salaries of laborers, etc.
So, apply for a bank loan to start your poultry farm business. Find out what loan types your government offers in this sector. You should discuss your loan requirements for the poultry farm business with a financial advisor.
But make sure that you have a good credit history along with pay stubs. That will help in borrowing money from a bank quickly and at more manageable interest rates.
Do not apply for a considerable loan. Instead, start with a loan only for buying the farm equipment and chickens. Then, as your poultry farm business grows, You can apply for a larger loan to repay with increased income.
Read also: types of poultry farming business
08. Install A Perfect Poultry Housing System
A poultry cage is an elementary requirement to start a poultry farm business. The health of chickens will largely depend on how convenient the cage is for the birds.
So, it would be nice if you can first visit some nearby farms to inspect the cages. You can get some better ideas from there.
Keep in mind that a perfect poultry cage or chicken coop provides comfort to the birds. The cage must be good enough to keep the birds safe from adverse weather conditions like harsh sunlight, rain, diseases, winds, and pests. So, do not undermine poultry cage basics when starting a poultry farm business.
Depending on your resources, you can opt for extensive, semi-extensive, or intensive poultry housing systems. If you intend to start broiler farming, then go for a deep litter housing system. In case you opt for egg production, then the battery cage-type poultry house is preferable.
Experts say that you need 500 square feet of space to raise 1000 broilers. Add some 100 square feet of space for walkways, proper lighting, and ventilation.
Here Is An Account Of Different Poultry Housing Systems:
Extensive Housing System – Your poultry farm business can follow this old housing system for its advantages. This system allows the birds to roam free on the ground. The birds will have just a shelter.
That is a cost-effective system for your poultry farm business. You can breed around 400 birds on the floor, which should require the land.
Semi-Intensive System – This is sometimes a preferred housing system for your poultry farm business. Under this system, you will breed half of your birds in cages, and the other half will be set free on the ground. This system protects the birds from predators and bad weather.
Deep-Litter System – You should follow this system, particularly when raising broilers. The birds freely move around on the ground made of straw, sawdust, and leaves.
You can raise to 7 birds per square meter in this way for your poultry farm business. Its advantage is that you can easily provide feed to the birds and access their eggs without hurdles.
Slatted or Wired Housing System – You will create small houses under this system, and the floor will be of wooden slater wired mesh. The slats will be 4 feet above the ground.
You can feed the birds, give water and collect eggs from outside. Since these houses have a low temperature, they are ideal for raising adult birds for your poultry farm business.
Battery-Caged Housing System – You will put the birds in cages of metal. They are put in cage compartments in groups. Each cage has feeding and water containers.
The housing system provides the nests for the birds to lay eggs. This is considered the most effective system for egg production. But it may be too expensive for your new poultry farm business.
So, pick your housing system carefully. You should take into account the land you have and most importantly the budget to choose a suitable system for your poultry farm business.
09. Consider The Investment
Starting a poultry farm will mean that there must be a good amount of funds in your hands. You may be planning to start a small poultry farm business.
But even that requires you to put in place a lot of basic facilities to run the farm successfully. So, you will be buying a lot of equipment such as feeders, drinkers, perches, lights systems, incubators, heaters or brooders, etc.
Then, there is land to be bought especially for your poultry farm business. Moreover, you require funds also to pay the salaries of your staff/laborers.So, how much funds will you need to start your poultry farm business? Well, according to an estimate, you should be willing to spend anywhere between $5000 to $25000.
The poultry farm business setup cost depends on how ambitious you are while starting the business. This amount includes salaries of all the staff for 3 months and the capacity to raise minimal birds in the USA.
Now, if you want to lower the cost of running the poultry farm business further, then you need to do nearly half of the jobs on your own. You will be doubling as farm manager, sales and marketing officer, and even security guard.
Some of you may be thinking of operating a poultry farm business from home. In that case, you will be saved from investing in buying the farmland.
But only those who have enough space in their compound should think of this option. This is the reason that people living in the village side easily start their poultry farming. They can do that from their small backyard or garden.
10. Buy Poultry Farming Equipment
The success of your poultry farm business will depend a lot on the quality of your equipment. With quality equipment put in place, you can make your birds eat and drink healthily.
While many types of equipment are available to poultry farmers, you can at least get the basic equipment to start with. Ensure that your poultry farm has the right feeders, waterers, nests, ventilation systems, cages, coops, and perches.
You will also need to install brooders or heaters, a waste disposal system, lighting instruments, and an egg tray for your poultry farm business.
However, you do not have to equip your small poultry farm business with the entire range of equipment. Many of them are sophisticated and costly.
A wise move will be to first install only the elementary equipment that is just essential for keeping your chickens healthy. Then, as your business expands, you can have a loan to buy costly equipment.
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