Are you a beginner ready to break into the world of chicken farming? You’re not alone in your ambition! To give you a leg up on your poultry farming journey, we’ve collected some of our most useful and inspiring articles and resources on chicken farming for beginners.
Even amidst outbreaks of avian influenza and other diseases and a tug-of-war between local producers and importers of frozen chicken meat, poultry farming remains one of the most accessible industries to start an agriculture business.
This is because it is relatively light on land and capital. Farming with broilers or layer chickens is intensive and thus doesn’t require extensive areas of land. With a relatively low initial capital outlay, farmers can dip their toes into commercial agriculture relatively easily.
How to start your own chicken farm
A step-by-step guide, this article is a shortened version of our Farmer’s Inside Track guide “How to Start a Chicken Farm,” which you can download for free here. It provides guidance on aspects like choosing between broiler and layer farming and finding a market for your produce.
It also features links to handy online research resources on chicken farming for beginners. Read the story here.
Chicken farm guide: Preparing the poultry house
“One of the things you must know about farming with chickens is that you never mix batches. It’s an all-in, all-out system that you must implement in poultry,” says Manyano Rasmeni, an Eastern Cape poultry farmer. He advises that one of the most important measures you can take when farming with chickens is cleaning and disinfecting the coop between new batches.
Chicken farming: How to keep the litter clean and dry
Chicken litter is the layer of material used on the floor of the poultry house. For the health of your chickens, the litter must be kept clean and dry. Dry litter hinders bacteria and mould growth in the poultry house and also helps to control ammonia levels.
Podcast: Focus on the importance of poultry biosecurity
Jo-Andra Gregory Cloete, a poultry farmer from the Western Cape, defines biosecurity as the protective actions poultry farmers take to safeguard their flocks. She says that one of the mistakes smallholder and new poultry farmers make is that they do not consider coop layout as part of their biosecurity measures. She explains that the correct coop layout is vital to animal health.
Reality check: The economics behind broiler farming
The poultry industry in Mzansi continues to attract new farmers. In this episode of the Farmers Inside Track podcast we learn more about the economics behind running a poultry farming operation in Mzansi.
Find the podcast interview here.
Inspiration: It’s a poultry paradise for #SoilSista Mbatha
Tired of a hand-to-mouth salary that only covered her rent and transport, Thobeka Mbatha took a bold decision to hand in her resignation letter and pursue poultry farming. All she wanted was to make a better life for herself, and she succeeded.
Read her inspiring story here.
Related stories:
- Limpopo chicken farmer soars from 100 to thousands of chickens
- Transforming chicken manure into farming treasure
- Healthy chicken manure: Discover the key indicators
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