Having a profitable Poultry business in Nigeria is one of the best ways to deal an survive the current economic downtime and recession that Nigeria and other countries are facing. 

Poultry farming is on of the farming type that many people see as a dirty job and not that lucrative. This i will tell you is a very big lie. 

Farmers Guide

Is poultry farming business profitable in Nigeria? Many people have asked this question and still asking. We will address thus questions on poultry farming in this guild on how to start a lucrative poultry farming business in Nigeria by Farmers Guide team.

What is poultry farming 

Poultry farming can be said to be the careful process of rearing different domestic birds from their tender age (birth) to maturity, like chicken, turkey, ducks, geese, and many others either for their eggs or meat.

This agricultural process have been in practice in Nigeria for many years and have provided the needed protein as in the meats and eggs for the human body. Starting a poultry farming business in Nigeria today can be very rewarding. 

We will be going through some of the practical ways of raising farm birds in a lucrative way in this articles. Stay tight as we unfold many secrets of successfully raising a profitable chikens and other farm birds.

Why start poultry farming 

You might wonder while it is good to have a poultry farm or start on. Let me tell you something, you do not need to have a big expanse of land before you can venture into poultry farming, you can start at you present house depending on the number of birds you want to start with.

Today in Nigeria, there is an increasing demand for farms products and poultry products is in high rate. Thise can be in eggs or meats. This will continue to increase as the population increases too.

Poultry farming is one of the fastest growing segments in the Agricultural sector in Nigeria and Africa today. These is particularly so due to the population surge and the quest for good and healthy living. In 2007, it was reported that poultry products worth 1.2trn naira was consumed by Nigerians. You can see while we said it is a big sector to invest.

Also it is important to note that starting from 2003, the Nigerian government has put a ban on the importation of poultry products into the country to eneble the home grown birds to be profitable to the farmers. 

So asking is poultry farming business profitable in Nigeria now is not a bad idea and it is very profitable. 

Looking at the size of the market for the products (chicken, ducks, emus, Turkey etc), Nigeria has the highest production rate followed by south Africa in the African continent. 

The market is a very big one which can Favour anyone who ventures into it today. There are many segments in irds farming, 

• Hatching 
• Brooding 
• Raising 
• Marketing 
• Feeding production 
• Medications

Any of the segments above is very lucrative and you can venture into any of them.

5 basic ways in starting lucrative poultry farming business in Nigeria 

The question is poultry farming business profitable in Nigeria is always asked by those who might be interested in venturing into this type of farming. The answer  to that quest is yes as i said before, but there are basic things you must know and put in place for chicken rearing to be profitable. 

If you have decided to start a poultry business, either chicken rearing, Turkey, ducks and other birds, you must take it as a Business and be serious with it. All of the farming process for these birds are almost thesame, so this guild to poultry farming will be of great help to you. 

In this article we will be focusing mainly on chicken rearing and broiler breed to be precise. This guild will let you know what you need to do from the onset (day of birth) to maturity. The feeding and medications. 

Also in this guild on how to start broiler farming in Nigeria, you will also know the right procedures in bringing up your birds and the equipments need for day to day running of the poultry farm.

Now let us go to the 5 basic to know in poultry farming 

1. Choose the type if bird to rear
2. Choose farm location and size
3. Prepare a suitable  housing 
4. Feeding and Medication 
5. Marketing 

Poultry bird selection. 

As it is in any type of business one wants to go into, having a clear picture of thebusiness brant and type is very important. So in poultry farming today, it is not advisable to go into all the birds farming at thesame time. Even if you want to farm many of the burd types, you need to start one at a time. Choose the poultry bird type that best suits your plan and locality. 

There are many poultry birds available for local farming like chicken, Turkey, ducks and others, choose the best for you and while choosing anyone, remember that the availability of market for the birds must be paramount. 

As i said before, i will be using chicken for this article, so in chicken as a poultry bird, there are 3 basic types here, we have the broilers, the layers and the cockerels.

Let us look briefly what these birds are known for and the best of them.

Broiler bird: Broilers are type of poultry birds that are grown mainly for meat. There are both male and female that grows to maturity in 6 weeks to 8 weeks. Broiler farming is very lucrative since the demand for poultry meat is high and can be achieved just in weeks.

Layers: From the name, layer birds are female chickens that are reared basically for the purpose of geting eggs. The layer can start laying eggs in 4 months from birth and lays egg upto 1 year and six month from then. After there can be killed for meat

Cockerels: this is another type of poultry birds that are reared mainly for meat. Onlike the broilers that matures in few weeks, cockerels takes up to 4 to 6 months before maturity. There are both male and female birds grown mainly for meats.

Farm location and size

After considering the type of chicken to raise and you have selected one, the next stage in starting poultry farming business in Nigeria is choosing a good site to locate the farm. The farm must be located in a place that is not busy, a quite place and a place that is save from predators like foxes, soldier ants and thiefs. 

Also when locating your poultry farm, make use there is availability of constant clean and potable water. Water is very important in your poultry farm, it is used for washing of the farm before bringing in the birds and for washing of drinkers and other equipments in the farms.

So it is important to locate you farm in a suitable environment as this will reduce stress for you. Also when located in a good environment, it will enable possible customers to locate you and you will not struggle in taking then to the market and vis versa.

The size of your farm is dependent on the number of birds you want to rear. It is advisable to start small until you are acquainted of the business before you go big. So you can start poultry farming at the back of your house. When it grows, you can then chose a bigger land for farming. 

Poultry Housing 

Proper housing for your birds is very important in having a profitable Poultry business in Nigeria. The type of birds that you are raising depends on the type of house you need to provide for them but the following must be taken care of

• The house must be well ventilated 
• The poultry farm must be very spacious to allow free movement of the chickens
• Must be able to prevent penetration of predators 
• The farm must be high to prevent flooding. 
• The floor of the poultry farm must be well cemented to avoid attack by ants and bugs.

In summary, in building your poultry farm, make sure that it will be very simple to enable the birds grow in a well arranged place and have enough space for running and feeding. 

Feeding and Medication 

When you are going into commercial quantity in poultry business, you must be ready to provide quality, fresh foods for the birds and in good quantity depending on the number of birds you have on your farm. Enough food for the birds will enable good growth and healthy living for the birds. 

It has also been reported that when you feed your chicken with quality and enough food and water, it prevents some diseases from affecting them and they will grow to the required size in time.

Medications are very important in commercial poultry farming business in Nigeria and other countries too. When rearing broilers and other birds, care must be taken when it comes to medicine forthe birds. 

There are several drugs that are made to give the poultry birds at every particular stage. Vaccines too are given to birds too, you must know the time to give all of them for healthy living of the birds.

Marketing and sales 

As it is commercial poultry farming, it is your business and need to get you some returns. When your birds are matured, for broilers, in about 6 weeks to 10 weeks,  you will be ready to sell your matured poultry birds.

This is a crucial aspect of poultryfarming business in Nigeria that you must be taken seriously. You need to approach potential buyers in yout city like hotels,  Bar’s and restaurants. This will enable you sell them fast so as not to have more expenses. 

How much is needed in starting a poultry farm. 

Like other business, Starting a poultry business that will be profitable requires initial capital. But unlike other businesses, Poultry production does not require too much money and you will start seeing returns in two (2) months time.

The following is the breakdown of how much that is needed in starting poultry farming business in Nigeria. 

Cost of bird              = 22, 000

Cost of feeding       = 60, 000

Cost of medication = 5, 0000

The following cost of poultry farming business in Nigeria is given based on the cost of broiler birds as at September 2020 and it is for raising 50 birds.

Summary 

Poultry farming is a very profitable business in Nigeria that anybody who wants to be independent and make some money can start today. There is a huge market for poultry products  (eggs and meat ) in Nigeria and the demand for them will continue to increase. 

Asking if poultry farming business in Nigeria is profitable will not do you any good because for sure, it is and very lucrative too.

You can contact us at Farmers Guide for any help in starting poultry farming business.