Another season is here! How many of us are read? Let’s raise chickens
Welcome to my blog friend. I know why you’re here! You’re giving out and taking in insightful informations here.
Lets talk business now. For some of us that are low income earners and are living in developing countries, did you know that you can make good earnings this Christmas season by raising chickens for just two months; starting this coming November?
In this post, I’ll tell you things that you may need to know to be able to raise healthy chickens.
What if there’s no conducive environment for you?
Your environment may not permit you to raise chickens, you may be living in the city, or maybe the health laws guiding your environment wouldn’t all you to keep chickens around. Don’t worry 😉 I’ve got you covered.
Remember that I’m local farmer in West Africa, and there’s this huge market for every farm produce in Nigeria. Farmers in Nigeria doesn’t produce up to a quarter of market food demand. This has forced our government to be spending billions in food importation.
Therefore you can partner with me through investing in my animal farming etc.
I do my poultry farming seasonal; my reason is that I’m still building my permanent place which is almost done. I’ll settle down fully with my animal farming after I’ve secured my own permanent apartment. Christmas is around the corner and it’s a perfect time to raise broilers for sales. Chicken remains one of the demands that are always at scarcity level during Christmas season in Nigeria. So I’m taking that advantage to raise chickens, especially broilers that takes around 2+ months to be sold out.
So you too can invest few fiat or Bitcoin Cash into my poultry business for some returns in just 2 months.
These are some of the things you need to know to successfully keep chickens 🐓
So now you’ve made up your mind that want to start keeping chickens?
In today’s article, I’ll tell you everything that you’re going to need; that’s the things that you’ll have in place to be able to keep chickens successfully. I’m going to talk generally on both egg producing chickens called layers and meat producing chickens called broilers. I’ll like us to merge them so that we can move forward as we have so many other interesting topics to cover. Bear in mind that as you’re reading this part, I’m already coming up with another part as we may not finish everything here.
Do you want to keep them for eggs, for meat, or even as pets lol 😆, what matters is that you want to keep chickens around. Don’t worry friend, we’re definitely going to talk about everything!
1: You’re going to need a portion of land or a space, whichever suits you.
You will need that because chickens are moving birds that you cannot handle without giving them good space to be walking around. So you’re going to have somewhere for them to stay. Remember, the size of land portion or space that you’ll need should be in proportion to how big or small you’re planning that your poultry farm should be and also the system that you’re planning to use, eg. You’ll have to look for a larger space if you want to free rage your birds. But if you’re looking at keeping your birds in concise way and in a smaller number, you then will need a smaller space. Like I said earlier, you location and setting you’re in; if you’re in a village setting, you can go on and have the whole space you want which can accommodate as many birds as you’re capable, but if you’re in a town setting, you may need a smaller space like a wired cage for just a few chicken.
2: You’re going to need a shelter for the birds.
Don’t confuse space with shelter. The purpose of shelter is to protect the birds from predators, from too much heat, from rain, from theft etc.
3: you will have a provision for a water source.
You can build a water tank with cement and concrete, or you can go for a plastic tank that can retain good amount of water for a long time depending on your poultry size. You can harvest rain water with your reservoir which will serve you also, it’s a good idea to harvest rain water if you’re not sure for a sustainable water supply in your location.
Even if you have access to constant water supply maybe from the government, you’ll also have to look at the cost before using it in your poultry business so that you do not incur lost at the end of the day. Another problem with pump water is that it may contain a high level of chlorine which may harm your birds if they consume them regularly. The main point here is that you’ll need a good source of safe water for your birds. Remember that your chickens need water more than they need food, so you must have your water source ready at all time.
4: You’ll need a heat source and light source for breeding of chicks 🐥.
This aspect is very important at your startup seeing that the batches comes as chicks 🐣 that need a steady control of weather for them to survive cold or heat as the case may be. The light will help the chicks to eat constantly for their first three days after hatching. Well, I may have an exclusive article that explains everything about hatching and breeding of chicks.
5: You need feeders and drinkers
These are the dishes where you dish food and water for your birds. Remember, you can go for locally made feeders and drinkers assuming you’re not financially stable at your poultry kickoff. You can as well google for many types of feeders and drinkers available.
6: You need feeds
You can buy in bags or in kilograms
There’re many types of feed that your birds will need from time to time. Depending on the type of bird; we have stater feed for chicks, and we have grower feed for teenage birds and we also have finisher feed which is the last food for broilers. Finisher’s feed helps them to gain weight and meat before they’re sold.
I’m not going in details as it relates to feeds and vaccines. But in my upcoming post, I’ll speak on them.
Other things that you’ll need for an efficient poultry activities will come in part two of this article please stay tuned.
Images in the article are credited to pixabay
