After graduating from Bukura Agricultural College in 2013 with a Diploma in Agricultural Extension and Biotechnology, Isaac Mudavadi, 30, tarmacked for five years but none of the doors he knocked opened.
After the fruitless search, Mudavadi who hails fom Shimanyiro village in Lurambi Constituency, tried his luck in poultry farming.
He says in mid-2017, he secured a bank loan and bought 850 day old chicks from Kampala, Uganda at Sh50 each. He went for the improved kienyeji kuroiler breed.
When the chicks were one month old, he started selling them at Sh200 each.
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“I sold around 500 chicks and made around Sh150,000 which I used to buy feeds for the remaining ones. I also spent part of the money on buying more chicks also in Uganda,” said Mudavadi.
Six months into the venture, 120 birds died after he was supplied with feeds that had high quantities of aflatoxin from a Kakamega based agro vet and made a loss of at least Sh75,000.
“I remained with 230 birds which laid eggs for about five months and disposed them off when they were 12 months old. Each bird was sold at Sh750 totaling to Sh172,500. I changed my strategy and started rearing broilers after making huge losses,” said Mudavadi.
He buys day old broilers at Sh80 which he disposes off after four weeks and each chicken goes for Sh400.
“So far so good, I can’t regret trying out broilers since within four weeks I am able to get the money I invested back as well as my profits. Since January 2018 to date, I have sold over 5,000 birds,” said Mudavadi.
Currently, he has over 2,000 birds in his farm.
“The demand for chicken meat has been on the rise, nowadays I get a request for about 500 birds every week, I hope to expand my farm soon, I am looking into having around 5,000 birds,” he added.
However, Mudavadi said he hasn’t given up on rearing improved Kienyeji chicken despite his bad experience.
According to the Kenya Agricultural Research and Livestock Development Organisation (KARLO) – Kakamega Non Ruminant Research Centre director, Ludovicus Okitoi, one of the mistakes poultry farmers commit is failing to seek guidance and help from professional bodies whenever faced with challenges such as those Mudavadi faced when he started rearing chicken.
Just like human beings, chicken love comfort.
“Poultry farmers should always try to use wood shavings where the birds are housed in addition to avoiding water spillage in the houses as the water becomes a breeding ground for bacteria. Also, don’t always rush to an agro-vet for antibiotics whenever your chicken show a sign of sickness. Always talk to a vet first,” said Okitoi.
Kalro’s improved indigenous chicken, matures faster and lays between 220 to 280 eggs every year.
The breed starts laying eggs only five months after being hatched and produces an average meat weight of 1.5kg. The breed requires no special care and can be fed just like other indigenous chicken, hence low cost of production.
nochunge@standardmedia.co.ke
