Raising a few chickens for fresh meat and eggs is completely different from opening a real chicken farm. You would become not only a farmer, but also an entrepreneur, depending on the market you intend to target and the slice of the chicken farming industry you want to enter. In the chicken farming industry there are two main sectors: that of laying hens, that is, hens born and raised for the production of eggs, and that of broilers, born and raised to be slaughtered. Regardless of the industry, you will need to make responsible managerial and financial choices to turn your chicken farm into a profitable business.
Steps
Step 1. Develop a business plan
This is one of the most important things to outline as part of the whole operation. Your business plan defines what goals you intend to pursue, how you want to achieve them and must consider every aspect (business strategy, production, marketing, human resources, quality, controls). It is also a project that represents the way you intend to manage your business not only from the point of view of the producer, but also from that of the banker, the lawyer, the accountant and possibly also the laborer.
Step 2. Get the land, capital and equipment
You cannot start or run a farming business, or even a simple farm, without these basic requirements. You will need facilities to house your chickens, such as sheds or small chicken coops, depending on how you intend to raise them: conventional cage or outdoor? The land is needed to build the structures and grow the plants that will provide the feed with which to feed the chickens. The equipment and machines are needed to clean the facilities, to dispose of sick or dead garments, to cultivate the fields, etc.
Step 3. Decide what is the best way to raise your chickens
There are two main ways to raise them: in conventional farms the chickens are confined in sheds or similar structures that constitute zones with controlled temperature and brightness; on free-range farms, chickens are free to roam and generally live as naturally as possible.
Step 4. Choose the sector of the poultry industry you want to focus on
Essentially, there are two types of chickens to choose from: broilers, which are those raised for slaughter, and laying chickens, which are hens raised to lay eggs. However, there are other sectors of the industry that may interest you. Eggs that are not placed on the market for human consumption (which can come from both laying and meat chickens) are incubated and hatched; the chicks that are born are raised until they reach the right age to be sold to farms and subsequently reared as laying or meat chickens. Often the business of incubating eggs and rearing chicks is separated from rearing adult chickens. Yet another occupation is the slaughter of broilers, which is a sector in itself that may interest you.
Many poultry farms (primarily unconventional ones) cover more than one sector of the chicken farming industry. Whether you intend to operate in all sectors or just one or two, it is your choice
Step 5. Identify a market niche if possible
If one type of farm is more common than another in your area (for example, conventional farming is more common than outdoor), it might be a good idea to target a market niche that points to a customers interested in free-range or organically reared chickens rather than conventionally reared ones.
Step 6. Advertise to prospective customers and consumers
Promote your business by simply letting people know you have some eggs or meat to sell. Word of mouth advertising is often a much less expensive and yet much more popular method of advertising a product than a high-paying ad in the local newspaper that may only be read by a few people. Nonetheless, it doesn't hurt to try the latter route either, just as it doesn't hurt to create a website to advertise your products.
Step 7. Keep your business records and accounting up to date
This way you can always know if you are making money or not.
