Poultry farming has its ups and downs. The good moments include high market prices, enjoying your freshly slaughtered chicken from your farm, among others. While the downs, the downs are really challenging. Some of the challenges i have experienced so far in poultry farming include:
- Unreliability of human resource. I remember one time a farm worker i had hired sent me a text message at 9 PM informing me that he would be leaving the job the next morning and demanding his pay for the days that he had worked in that month. I was caught by utter surprise since there were no complaints; everything was running smoothly on the farm. The next morning i went to the farm and tried a dialogue, but he did not want to listen to me. I let him go. Two months later he started calling and messaging me requesting i hire him back. Funny, right? I never responded to his calls and messages. After that i hired a different person. This farm worker started selling our homemade formulated feeds to neighboring farms. The chicken would loose weight and i would wonder why. I once visited one of the farms and realized they were feeding their chicken on the same exact feeds as the ones we had formulated. I had to let that one go too.
- Delay in delivery of chicks. This happened barely a month ago, i had ordered chicks and the company assured me that the chicks would be delivered within a week's time. After the one week nothing was delivered. I called them, and they said that there was a mishap with the order but assured me that i would be receiving my order the following week. The following week, no chicks were delivered. My brooder was already set up, the feeds were ready, everything was ready. The most disappointing part is that they would inform me of the delay of the chicks late on the expected day of delivery. I had to contact the regional sales manager. The chicks were delivered 3 weeks after the day that I had ordered. Worst part, on the delivery day they called me at 1 AM, yes, one hour past midnight, requesting directions to my farm. The chicks got to the farm at 6 AM. To emphasize, i had ordered my chicks from one of these large companies, the experience left a lot of questions in my head.
- Rats and Snakes in the farm. i bought 400 chicks, 4 days later, 5 chicks had been eaten by rats. I had a cat but it died due to unknown circumstances. The rats have been a real challenge on the farm. Still looking for solutions. Just the other day, a farm worker caught a five-foot snake laying in the poultry coop. Luckily none of the birds were harmed. But that left me with jitters.
- Disease Outbreaks. Early this year, our farm was hit by a serious case of coryza disease. At the time we had 100 broilers and 200 improved kienyeji chicken (dual purpose). Out of the 100 broilers, only 20 survived, but with stunted growth, barely reaching 1kg live weight at maturity. For the improved kienyeji, we lost more than 150. The remaining flock had stunted growth. We had to dispose all the birds and start fresh.
- Counterfeit chicken feeds. I once bought feed from a new feed company that i had never used before. One week after feeding the chicken with the feeds, more than half of the flock could barely stand on their own. Some were completely recumbent. The only thing i had changed on the farm was the feeds. Two days after changing the feeds all the birds were healthy and back to normal. That's when I realized that the issue was in the feeds.
- Unstable Market Prices. The market for broiler chicken in Kenya is very unstable, especially if you are not a contract farmer. During peak seasons, the price goes for as high as 400 shillings per kg dead weight, but during low seasons the market goes for as low as 150 shillings per kg. One time we sold our broilers at 240 per kg and ended up making losses. In addition, the market at city market is very readily available all year round. But if not careful, one can easily get scammed. One time, the buyer had adjusted the weighing balance and made the chicken weigh lighter than expected. Luckily, we had already weighed the chicken at home. We asked him to check his weighing scale and weigh again. After which the correct weight was recorded. Also if you do not know the current buying price at the city market, some buyers buy your chicken slightly below the market value with 10-20 shillings per kg. Selling to local restaurants is another main challenge. Some restaurants pick your chicken but take up to 3 months past the delivery date to make payments.
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