Starting a poultry farm

It's one thing to start a chicken farm, but to
start an actual business out of it is
something else entirely. You are not only
going to become a chicken farmer, but a
businessperson as well, depending on what
markets you want to target and what part of
the chicken industry you want to tap into. In
the chicken industry there are two main
sectors: Layers, which are chickens bred and
raised to produce eggs, or broilers, chickens
raised and bred to be slaughtered. Whatever
sector you choose, you have to make
responsible managerial and financial
decisions to make your chicken farm
business a profitable one.
Formulate a business plan . This is
one of the most important things to
draw up as part of your operation.
It tells of what goals you wish to
achieve and how you intend to get
there. It's also a plan of how you
want to operate your business from
not just a producer's standpoint,
but the banker's, lawyer's,
accountant's and even possibly the
hired hand's stand point.
Have land, capital and equipment .
You cannot start up nor maintain a
chicken farm or a chicken farming
business without these dire
necessities. You will need buildings
to raise your chickens in, whether
they be barns or hutches
depending on how you are wanting
to raise your chickens:
conventional or free-range? Land is
to have the buildings on and to
grow crops on to feed your
chickens. Equipment and
machinery are needed to clean
barns, dispose of deadstock, work
crops, etc.
Make a decision how to best raise
your chickens. There are two main
ways to raise them. Conventional
systems have chickens confined to
barns that are temperature and
photo-period controlled areas.
Free-range systems allow your
chickens to just about have the run
of the farm to behave as naturally
as possible.
Decide what sectors of the poultry
industry you wish to pursue .
Ultimately there are two types to
choose from: broilers, which are
chickens raised for meat, or
layers--chickens raised for their
eggs. However, there are also the
other sectors of the industry that
you can pursue. Eggs which are
not to be put on the market for
human consumption (these can be
from both broilers and layers) are
incubated and the chicks hatched
and raised until they are at the
right age to be sold to farms to be
raised as layers or broilers. Often
the business of incubating eggs
and raising chicks is separate from
that of raising the chickens
themselves. There is also the part
of slaughtering chickens for meat
that is a separate sector in itself
you may wish to pursue.
Many chicken farms (primarily
those that are not conventional)
have more than one sector of
the chicken farming business to
operate. Whether you wish to
operate all sectors or just one or
two is your choice.
Find a niche market, if possible. If
the area you are in is popular for
raising chickens a certain way
(more conventional than free-
range), you may wish to pursue a
niche market that targets the
consumer's interest in free-range
chickens rather than the
conventionally-raised ones.
Make yourself known to potential
customers and consumers .
Advertise yourself by simply letting
other people know you have eggs
or meat you want to sell. Often
selling by word-of-mouth is a lot
cheaper and still the most popular
means of advertising than paying
for an advertisement in the local
newspaper that may get read by
only a few people. However, there
is no harm in doing that either, nor
is there any harm in setting up a
website promoting your product.
Keep up with records and
accounting of your business and
operation. This is so that you can
always tell if you are making
money or not.
Raise your animals in accordance
with local, state/provincial and
federal law .