How To Start Small Scale Poultry Farm

There are so many questions people ask on how to start a small scale poultry farm business. If you are wondering how? then you are not alone. This article would give you an insight on how to start the business and how you can grow it successfully.


Poultry is a very viable and lucrative business. It can be a risky business suddenly, especially when you are not concerned about poultry feed management. Poultry birds require energy. In order to obtain desire growth rate, you must have to purchase and provide highly nutritious poultry feed. It is an established business, so all types of necessary facilities are available.

Steps To Take When Starting A Poultry Farm.

Select Your Poultry Niche

Poultry industry is a very broad niche with different aspects. Below are niches in the poultry business;

Egg productions (Layers breeding)

Meat production (Broilers breeding)

Chicken breeding (Hatchery)

Poultry feed production

Poultry equipment and manufacturing

Egg and meat processing, packaging and marketing

Poultry farming and consultancy
This is to tell you poultry farming has a very broad branch. Therefore, you have to choose your area of specialization. Of course, if you have the money and the technical know how of the business you can do all, but it is better to find out which aspect is more profitable in your area in terms of demand and income.

Capital Requirement

A small scale poultry that is set up on a piece of land behind your house may require a capital of
₦25,000-₦200,000 to start with.

Farm Location

The major thing to acquire before starting a poultry farm is a suitable piece of land. Generally, a plot of 120*60 square meters is suitable for a medium sized poultry farm. The size of land depend on the number of birds you want to raise and the farming system. Acquire the land from far towns and big cities. It’s advisable to buy a land in the rural area. Because lands and labor are highly available in cheaper rate. Select a fresh environment and pollution free area.

Establishing a poultry farm in a rented land is absolutely a bad idea. However, while selecting land, keep in mind some important facilities like great source of water, free from all types of animals and predators, a market near the farm, proper transportation facilities, e.t.c.

Housing

Housing system depends on your poultry breeds and farming method. Below are few tips to use while building suitable houses for your poultry birds.

The poultry house has to be well ventilated. Well ventilation keeps the bird healthy and productive.

Make a suitable system for entrancing sufficient amount of fresh air and light inside the house.

Try and make the house north to south faced.

In the case of making numerous houses, the distance between one house to another house should be about 40 feet.

Before bringing the chick into the farm, clean the house and the entire farm area properly.

Make deep liter clean regularly.

You can use some cheap materials like wooden material or rice ban for making liter.

Keep the feeding and watering equipment in proper distance from each other according to the number of birds and farming system. And always clean all types of equipment everyday.

The house must have all required facilities for poultry birds.
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: 1. Deep liter, 2. wire and slated floor, 3. battery cage 4. straw yard

Feeding

Good and high quality of food keeps the birds healthy and highly productive. Good quality fresh and nutritious food is the key success in poultry farming business. It’s advisable to provide adequate amount of food according to the age and number of poultry birds. Along with feeding good food, always supply sufficient amount of clean water according to the daily demands of the birds.

Poultry feeds includes

Wheat: Wheat is one of the best grains to be used as poultry feed ingredients. For this reason you should include a certain amount of wheat in the poultry feed ratio. During the wheat harvesting season, you can feed the poultry birds as mash or as scratch feed. You can also use wheat as a poultry feed throughout the year.

Barley: Generally barley is not as delicious like wheat and oats. But it contains fiber and a great source of fat.

Corn: Corn can be very effective grain for your poultry birds. You can feed whole, cracked or grinded. You can feed ripe corns to your hens.

Millet: It has good advantages as poultry feed. You can use millet in growing, laying and fattening ratio. Millet is easily digestible and help to increase body temperature.

Flax: It is suitable for high amount of protein in your poultry feed. You can use small amount of flax in the feed mixture.

Skim Milk and Butter Milk: They are very useful for all kinds of poultry birds. Especially for the young chicks and laying hens. Skim and butter milk play a vital role to get high quality eggs for hatching. And it’s also reliable source of protein.

By Products Of Grain: By products of grains have a great health value and suitable for feeding the poultry birds. Buy various types of by products if grains are available in the shop where poultry feed are prepared or sold. It’s price is comparably higher than any other poultry feed ingredients.

Fish Oil: Fish oil is a dependable source of vitamin A and D. Main.

Poultry is very sensitive and may be infected by diseases easily. Generally, they suffer various types of viral, bacterial, fungal, nutritional and parasitic diseases. Proper vaccination is a must for keeping your your birds diseases free, healthy and productive. So vaccinate the birds timely. If somehow, disease occurs in the farm, meet a vet doctor as soon as possible and listen to his advice.

Staffing

Staffing And Man power is not labor intensive if the use of technology is employed. Being a small scale poultry you don’t need so many staff, what you need is a manager and accountant. Either way, your manager can also assume the duty of the accountant too in order to save cost. This individual oversees the day to day running of the business.

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Bird flu concerns affect agriculture displays at fairs

hamplain Valley Fair says fewer exhibitors brought birds into poultry barn this year

 

ESSEX JUNCTION, Vt. —The specter of bird flu has impacted some of the agriculture exhibits at the Champlain Valley Fair in Essex Junction, Vermont, which opened Friday. The fair's poultry superintendent said this year, some exhibitors are keeping their birds at home, to cut the risk of exposure to the avian influenza virus.

• Everyone wants to be very careful with the birds," said Leah Britch, a fixture in the poultry barn at the fair for about 20 years.

Britch said this year, there are half the number of birds on display as in a typical year. She said she was expecting about 400 birds this year, whereas in some years, 800 to 1,300 filled her indoor cages and outdoor pens.

"This is the lowest number we've had in probably 20 years," Britch estimated.

The bird flu virus has killed about 50 million birds this year, tearing through flocks in the Midwest and leaving veterinarians bracing for its arrival on the East Coast by this fall or next spring.

"Domestic poultry are highly susceptible to HPAI H5 virus, which can spread rapidly from bird to bird and typically results in high mortality rates," the Vermont state veterinarian, Dr. Kristin Haas, said in a news release early this month. "All poultry owners, whether they are backyard hobbyists or commercial producers, should evaluate their farms for risk factors that could contribute to avian influenza occurring on their farms."
According to the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, all poultry owners, regardless of size and business structure, should adhere to the following disease prevention measures:

- Obtain a federal premises identification number by calling the State Veterinarian's Office at 802-828-2421. A unique farm identifier will aid regulatory officials in providing information to owners before any outbreak and assisting owners with disease control and business continuity if the disease does hit.

- Keep poultry away from wild birds, particularly waterfowl and shorebirds, and remove wild bird attractants from poultry housing areas.

- If poultry are housed indoors, don't let wild birds (or their fecal material) into barns.
- Clean and disinfect all equipment prior to entry into a barn or poultry housing area.
- Use barn-specific boots and coveralls, and consider using boot baths/washes.

- Do not bring disease home with you. If you exhibit your poultry at fairs or swaps, do not share cages or equipment with other poultry owners.

- Familiarize yourself with signs of illness in your birds and call the State Veterinarian's Office if you see nasal discharge, difficulty breathing, lethargy, discolored wattles or combs, a drop in egg production or sudden death.

Bird displays and swaps have been canceled entirely at fairs in several states, including Pennsylvania and New York. But the Champlain Valley Fair wanted to keep its poultry show, as a way to educate the public about the disease.

Britch said she will be sharing information about best practices for raising healthy flocks, and will also be talking to visitors to the barn about other facts of bird flu.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said it considers the risk to people from this bird flu epidemic to be low, but animal viruses have been known to mutate. The United States Department of Agriculture also has said that the nation's food supply is safe from the virus.

"If they decided to shut the show down this year, we would still have put up a display of information, because this is all important to get out there," Britch said.

Darryl Kuehne, an animal health specialist with the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, was at the Champlain Valley Fair testing the birds on display for both pullorum typhoid and avian influenza.

The bird flu tests were for a strain that required samples to be sent to a lab in Connecticut to examine, Kuehne noted. Those results wouldn't be back in time to prevent showing at the fair, Kuehne explained, but would give the agency knowledge and assurances about a sample of birds from the many communities exhibitors at the fair come from.

"It could be devastating," Kuehne said of the possible arrival of bird flu in Vermont. "You have farmers raising turkeys that they expect to sell at the holidays. It's very, very serious."

Kuehne reiterated that farmers or hobbyists who raise fowl should report sudden bird illnesses or deaths. "We really want to know as fast as possible, so we can go out and do some testing, so if we do get avian influenza, we can stop it before it spreads," Kuehne said.

Julio Rivera, of St. Albans, Vermont, was eager to show off his prized Russian Orloff chickens at the fair, and said he has taken precautions, including reducing the chances his birds will come in contact with wild birds. He said he is also now more mindful of having clean boots and clothes when working with his small flock.
"If there's a possibility one of my birds may have it, I'd lose my whole flock," Rivera said of bird flu. "We hope, eventually, they'll find a cure or get it to a point it's controllable."

Britch said she and her volunteers aim to discourage wild birds from landing at the poultry barn by cleaning up food supplies and by reducing opportunities for wild birds to seek water near the Champlain Valley Fair's bird displays.

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