Poultry Business in Nigeria - Ultimate Guide on How to Start

The Ultimate Guide To Starting a Poultry Business in Nigeria

There’s no business on earth that is profitable on its own, business only become profitable and successful depending on who is behind it, same applies with poultry business most people in Nigeria thinks that poultry business is all about buying a good number of chicks feed them day and night and make millions at the end of every sale, poultry business is not as easy as that if it was by now everyone in the country would have ventured into poultry business.

If truly you intend to venture into poultry business and get something out of it, you need to learn the in and out of this business.

In this article we going to discuss the major things you should know about poultry business, the things you should consider before going into poultry business and the challenges you might face as a starter in the business, its very important you read this article carefully as knowing this things will help you succeed in your poultry business

Starting a Poultry Business in Nigeria

MAKE A PLAN

Before you start a poultry business you need to mark out a plan, you can’t wake up one day and go into poultry business without having a laid out plan for your business. To truly succeed in poultry business in Nigeria you need to have a plan.

Firstly you need to make a plan or an estimate about the cost of feeding your birds at least for the first five or six months depending on the size of your birds, its important you have an estimate of the cost of feed in the market and how much feed or maize they would eat in the first five or six months of starting your poultry business.

Remember at the first five or six months of starting your poultry business you would not get any income from your poultry business so in this case its advisable to set aside a particular amount of money to rear your birds for the first five or six months before they can return any profit to you.

SECURE A PIECE OF LAND

Depending on the plan you are having for your project, you can select a plot of land i.e 120 by 60, 2 hectares, 6 plots etc depending on the size of your project. There are few things you need to have in mind when selecting a land for your poultry business.

1.Don’t get a land around a residential or industrial area – due to the noise and odour that these birds produce I won’t advice you to set up the business around a residential area as the noise and odour from these birds might inconvenience people living around that area, and if its an industrial area the noise and pollution from those industries will disturb and inconvenience the birds, I would suggest you set up poultry business in developing areas i.e areas that are not yet congested

2.The area should have basic amenities like water and electricity and should be neat – basic amenities like water and electricity should be available and easily accessible in any area you are choosing, you wouldn’t want your birds to die of thirst or stay in darkness every night, its important they provided with neat water and light at night.

EMPLOY WORKERS

If you are planning on setting up a large and serious poultry business, you would consider getting workers. Its very important that you train every person that would work and and be involved in your poultry business, you can get a good and experience poultry farmer who has been in the business for at least 3-4years to train your workers, telling them his/her experiences,things to do and things to avoid.

POULTRY PENS /CAGES

We have different kinds of pens for poultry birds depending on their stages, it is recommended to use brooding pen if your birds are still very young

Brooding pen – This pen is specially designed for chicks that are still very young, it serves their needs and protects them from too much cold and heat i.e chicks that are a month, 2 months, or 3 months old are kept in this pen. As a poultry farmer I want you to also note that the first few months of starting your poultry farm are the most important and most dangerous period, if you are not careful your chicks could die at any slightest mistake you make.

GETTING YOUR CHICKS

For a starter its very important for you to consider which types of chicks to rear, There are basically two types of chicks you can rear in poultry farming

Broilers – This type of birds are specially reared for meat purposes
Layers – This birds are specially reared for purpose of producing eggs

Choosing the type of chick to rear helps you know how to handle them i.e the type of food to give them, the type of vaccine to give them in case they fall sick etc

You have to be very careful from where you buy your chicks, buying your chicks from the wrong source could cause a very negative effect to your poultry business.

Challenges of Poultry Business in Nigeria

FEED

There are lots of feed in the market with different standards, you need to be very careful about the one to purchase for your birds as a lot of poultry farmers face the challenge of buying new feed everyday for their birds due to poor quality of the one they have being buying.

During the season some feeds becomes very wet, having lots of sand and sometimes become rotten, feeding these to your birds might cause a continuous infection among your birds leading you to spend a lot of money treating your birds and sometimes these infection if not properly treated might lead to the deaths of most of your birds if not all.

MARKETING OF YOUR POULTRY PRODUCTS

Imagine when you have to sell your poultry products at a particular price that offers you no profit at the end of the day all because the prices are fixed in the market, I’m sure no poultry farmer would be happy about that especially when you spend a lot of money in feeding, treating and managing your birds not forgetting the money you pay to workers in your poultry farm.

CONCLUSION

Poultry business is a good and lucrative business idea that will yield huge returns to you if only you are patient and follow the right guidelines, hopefully today you have learnt something that will help you in your poultry business I implore you to stick with these guidelines and be patient while climbing the ladder to being a successful poultry farmer, See You At The Top!.