8 Proven Ways On How to Starts and Maintain A Poultry Farm

Getting tips on how to start and maintain a poultry farm is very crucial to your overall success. Be it in any venture knowledge is power, it’s like forearming yourself before the real battle.

Starting and maintaining a poultry farm will be a great success when you understand the intricacies involved from the onset.

A lot of farmers get frustrated along the line, simply because they started on a wrong footing.

In this article, we will be more than delighted to put you through some basics on how to start and maintain a poultry farm.

It doesn’t matter whether you are starting a poultry farm either as a hobby, additional source of income, means of livelihood, or employment for yourself and others.

Poultry farming can be financially rewarding, especially if you adhere to the rules of the game and do the needful.

Demand for poultry products is huge in most parts of the world today.

A Young Rooster Bird

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Advantages of poultry meats

People eat poultry meats more than any other meat in most parts of the world because it has so many advantages over other products i.e no cultural taboo is attached to it.

It is widely accepted anywhere anytime and is a meat of choice, it has less cholesterol.

Most people are advised to consume it due to the advantages it has over other red meat that is high in cholesterol such as pork or beef meat.

Poultry meat is very sumptuous and tasty, if well prepared and cooked.

They provide a source of livelihood to many families around the world and have succeeded in putting food on their table.

Demand for poultry meat world over is high

Confused and don’t know where to starts from, here are some useful and wonderful advice on how to starts your poultry farm:

1. When you want to start and maintain a poultry farm Concentrate on a particular bird:

Starting poultry farming at once with duck, goose, turkey, and let say layers at the same time can be a little bit challenging to a new poultry farmer.

Each of these species of bird has a peculiar demand when it comes to the degree of hardiness, resistance to disease, management, feeding pattern, and housing requirement.

Starting with a particular specie of bird, and understanding it fully before gradually adding others to your flock. Will give you ample opportunity to understand each species of birds in terms of its basic needs and requirement.

Depending on your financial capabilities and what you want out of the poultry farming venture.

You can always start from small scale, medium scale, and large poultry production.

Whether you just want to venture into poultry farming as a hobby, irrespective of what you want, there is always room for everyone.

when starting and maintaining a poultry farm concentrates on one specie of bird first

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Poultry farming is a very wide industry which comprises of the following:

• Broilers production (meat)
• Layers (for egg production)
• Chicken breeding (hatchery )
• And then other poultry species such as turkey, goose, geese duck, etc. Depending on your environment and the market trends.

You will always have what to produce and sell at a given point in time. Choose a particular type of bird specie

As a beginner, it is always advisable to start small and watch your business grow.

But if you have the financial resources to start big by employing and hiring experts in the field of poultry farming, such as farmworkers, farm managers with good track records, in poultry production and management and a veterinary doctor, etc.

2. Many farmers make the mistake of starting big without putting some factors into consideration, factors such as:

• Feeding 
• Housing 
• Medication
• Marketing strategies.

For example, feeding accounts for over 60% of the running cost in any poultry farming. As a result, you have to make sure for instance if you are starting with 500 laying hens.

You might have calculated the total number of feed you will be needing to feed your chicks from day old to point of lay so that you don’t run into trouble along the line when feeding them.

If they are not properly fed, you are going to run into trouble, because they will have a lot of issues during their laying periods. They may take longer than normal before they start laying eggs.

And they will even start having health challenges, which in the long run will reduce or affects your profits margin.

It is always better to decide what to starts with either with layer, broiler, or turkey.

Just choose what you can start and finish well not just finishing well but making profits out of it so that you can expand your business enterprise.

It is not a good idea to starts rearing or breeding everything at the same time especially if you are not financially buoyant.

A lot of farmers have done that but in the end, they ended up quitting poultry farming altogether. So choose a particle specie of bird and concentrates on it and you will see your farm grow from strength to strength if you do the right thing.

3. Starting and Maintaining a Poultry Farm Choosing a Convenient Location Is a Very Serious Matter

Choosing an appropriate or suitable location in starting a poultry farm is paramount to your success in the long run. And is going to save you a lot of trouble in the nearest future. Different states or countries have laws or rules governing the sighting or location of farms in their domain.

Before you locate your farm make inquiries about the laws governing the running and location of poultry farms in the municipal council or local government in question.

These will help in avoiding breaking any rules or laws that may lead to the destruction or relocation of your farm to another place. After heavily investing in your poultry farm project.

Most developing countries particularly in Africa, where they lack good access roads, especially from the hinterland or villages to the big cities.

It is highly advisable to locate your farm in areas that have good access road and is closer to a big city and markets.

This will enable you to sell your farm produce and be able to transport them to where the market is readily available.

Choosing the countryside with good access road isn’t a bad idea. For your farm location.

4. Get help or assistance from financial institutions

As earlier mentioned above depending on the type of farming business you want to be it small scale, medium scale, or large scale farming.

Securing a loan from financial institutions could be a daunting task, especially in developing countries such as Nigeria.

You still need a substantial amount of money to begin with. You need money for the following purposes:

• For acquiring land
• Farm construction
• Farm machines and equipment
• Pay your staff
• Medical expenses etc.

The list can be endless. On a small scale, you can save to starts or gets finance or help from family and friends.

Farming is not something you can gamble with or play with you have to take serious planning and calculation, so that you can make substantial progress and succeed in the end.

5. Starting and Maintaining Poultry Farm, Health Management and Bio-security Should be Your Top Priority 

One of the greatest mistakes I see a lot of newbie poultry farmers do is, they treat their birds as if they are some kind of commodities or items pile up somewhere in their store.

The high time you realize you are dealing with living things with blood vessels running inside them the better for you.

Your birds are living things, as a result, you have to provide them all the care they need to thrive and stay alive. If you take care of their health and they are always healthy. This will guarantee your profits and success in the long run.

READ: How to Ensure Good Hygiene and Bio-Security in Your Poultry Farm

6. Take Preventive Measures

Prevention they say is always better than cure, ensure that you vaccinate your birds at every stage of their life.

When they need such vaccination particularly against viral infection such as bronchitis, Marek’s disease, new castle disease, etc.

They are highly infectious and devastating to poultry farms, particularly in developing countries.

Adequate vaccination and the proper use of antibiotics will ensure your success.

Avoid the indiscriminate use of antibiotics consults with your veterinary doctor before using them.

Poultry birds are susceptible to disease at each stage of their life. Both viral and bacterial infection as a poultry farmer you are supposed to equip yourself with the basic knowledge of vaccines and antibiotics.

From time to time have a veterinary doctor check your birds in case of any infection to take precautionary measures.

Make sure you don’t allow visitors into your poultry farm without proper visitors permits. Especially other poultry farmers, so that you can minimize the spread of disease or infection in your farm.

Do not visit farms that have a history of viral and bacterial infection.

Anybody visiting your farm must observe all bio-security rules on your farm. By wearing protective clothing and disinfecting his boots before entering your farm to avoid bringing in infection.

7. Before You Start and Maintain a Poultry Farm It Is Important, You Makes Friends with Other Farmers

Visiting and making friends with other farmers that are already vast in poultry farming is crucial to your learning curve.

Those that are already there where you are hoping to be a few years from now. They have most of the experiences you are looking for.

Ask a lot of questions, understand how they run their farms. I am sure most of them will be happy to share one or two experiences with you. Most especially when you go about it politely.

Read a lot of books that are related to the field of agriculture and poultry production.

Also, make a lot of research online, you will have a lot of ideas from around the world. These are several ways you can equip yourself for the challenges ahead.

Establishing friendship with other farmers is crucial to your overall success.

8. Before You Start Poultry Farming Ensure That There Is a Market for Your Products within and Outside Your Locality

No woman will like to go through the hassle of preparing a delicious and sumptuous meal all day long only to realize, nobody is interested in eating it.

There is nothing as frustrating as not having a market for your products after caring, tending, and feeding your poultry birds to maturity.

To avoid all these situations it will be proper to starts marketing your products to your prospective customers well ahead of time.

Visits them tell them about your products, go to restaurants, cooperative societies, talk to individuals, groups, corporate organizations, religious bodies, etc. That may need your products.

If you can sell your products within the stipulated time, it will encourage you to do more.

And also creates room for expansion and diversification in the future. Thereby creating means of livelihood and employment for yourself, your family, and the wider community.