HELLO HIVE
The cost of poultry farming is becoming really scary now with the cost of the birds, their feed and the cost of maintaining the farm is skyrocketing by the day.
It took me a lot of courage to get few broilers in and to get their feeds as well, a bag of feed is currently being sold for a cost of 11000 naira depending on if the kind of feed and age of the bird. I got two bags for a start and that's for 22000 naira which is equivalent to 13,84 dollar it might not look like a lot of money in dollar but I naira with the current economy that's a lot.
The two feeds are the starter feed for now and the growers mash when the birds get a little bit older.The nutritional contents are different for each stage of growth that's why the feeds are of different types.
This is just the feed I got for four birds that are still very young now how much will it cost to actually go large scale, now this whole narration that I have given isn't meant to make prospective poultry farmers scared but to let them know that there are lots of calculations needed to survive and Excel as a poultry farmer.
Some farmers are coming up with other ways to cope in some instances the birds are only given their feed in the first one or at most the second month and after that the the just take the birds off their feeds and start feeding the birds maize that's either grinded or not and other things that don't usually have all the requirements that this birds need just to save cost .
It is a good way of improvising and also a wrong way altogether if we look at this carefully it makes no difference because the will take longer to grow and the birds will be less healthier compared to when the birds get their feed.
The more heavier and healthier the birds are the more the market opportunity.the cost will eventually affect the cost of birds on the long run and farmers will be forced to increase the price that are sold eventually so that they can meet up with the money spent.