How possible is it to convert a simple chickens farm in Kenya into a money-minting business venture? Well, it is actually very possible as this post that was written and published by Kiprono Kalya shows:
While in my hibernation recently, I took time off to see my tree farm and embark on another farming project. As I had been scouring the internet randomly, I stumbled upon an article by Bill Gates talking about how Chicken Farming was the way out of poverty in Africa.
Bill Gates? What does he know about chicken? The more I read his article and watched his Bloomberg interviews on the same, I started regaining interest in this sector. So I planned for my new venture; Chicken Farming. Free range chicken farming to be exact.
I took off to do some research at the Kukuchick facility in Eldoret.I had heard about a new breed of improved Kienyeji chicken which I thought I should learn more about.
So before I constructed a chicken house, I went to study about the entire chicken value chain, understand the processes and risks and the market strategy. I also wanted to see testimonials and visit any farmers who were doing it successfully.
I’d like all those who have laughed at the idea that there’s no way one can be a billionaire from chicken farming to pull a stool and sit down.
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The kind gentleman at Kukuchick took me through the benefits of commercial chicken farming. When I was still uninitiated, I used to look at chicken farming with such a pedestrian outlook.
This improved Kienyeji chicken had an interesting characteristic. The rooster grew big to almost 6KGs and the hens each laid up to 25 eggs per month consistently for 1.5 years.
If you had 500 hens, you’d be harvesting 12,500 eggs monthly. If you sold that at 10Bob per egg, you had a tidy 125k revenue. In the 1.5 years you’d be selling those eggs your gross would be 2.25M.
Remember, when the hens outlive the layer phase, you would have 500 chicken to sell at 1000 per hen at that size. 500k. That would gross you 2.75M in one and a half years which you could have as capital if you saved every coin for any purpose.
But that’s on a small scale.
I had wanted to tour William Ruto’s farm but due to Covid, I didn’t want to tussle with his security officers because of a non essential visit. William has an industry scale chicken farm which stamps his authority as chief chicken farmer.
I toured K. Cheboin’s farm in Kaptagat instead.
K. Cheboin has 30,000 hens and about 10000 roosters. Let’s talk of the eggs.
His chicken produce 750, 000 eggs monthly. You see this improved chicken only lays eggs and does not sit on them. They are like live egg laying machines.
He sells the kienyeji eggs into the market at a wholesale price of 8/-. In your supermarket, kienyeji eggs retail for about 15/-.
Cheboin makes Sh. 6,000,000 per month from eggs. He sells his roosters at a rate of 1000 roosters a month at 700/- wholesale price which nets him 700k per month gross. He makes his own chicken feed which brings his costs low and he sells the same feed to local farmers netting him another 300k per month.
I saw his records. Mzee Cheboin is always parking his V8 Landcruiser at Panafric Hotel from Wednesday to Friday entertaining his friends and ‘idling’ about in Nairobi.
As I drove out with Kariuki , the expert who took me to this farm, he told me about Ruto’s farm.
William Ruto has 250,000 layers. They give him 6,250, 000 per month. This translates to 50, 000,000 Bob monthly from eggs. This is equivalent to 1.6M per day . Now, even if he gave 1m to a church every Sunday, he only has spent 4M. Very stingy of you Bill.
Now I understood why he called himself a chicken seller. It’s not what you think.
Please return your school certificates to the government and go to the school of hardknocks.
How much would I need to have 50, 000 chicken like Cheboin?
A day old chick is 100bob. I could buy the entire 50,000 chicks at 5M.
Thats expensive for young hustlers but cheap for veteran business people. To buy Ruto’s 250,000 hens I’d need 25M. Now, even a standard two kid knows 25M is petty cash to a veteran politician and business man. A simple loan from his payslip can fund this. And he can raise with it 50M a month.
Just like I debunked the myth that Raila cannot afford private jets and you mostly agreed with me, I’m here to debunk the myth that Ruto would need to be corrupt to donate his millions monthly. I’m not holding brief for him nor absolving him of anything else, but on this one, I have first hand proof.
Someone lied to you that politics causes you to be corrupt. Listen peasant, access to political power is affinity to information. Politicians use their positions to study trends, to access government data, to understand local and global markets and to make smart decisions.
If you want to be an MP just to plunder CDF peanuts yet you have potential to be a billionaire through honest living then the curse is yours. When I imagine of all Kenyans employed by some of these individuals and the opportunities they present, I became slightly assuaged .
Crucify them for toxic politics, but the reason most of these men are not charged with corruption is because the tax they pay from their hustles are huge. Stupid ones who use their time to buy houses and cars while evading tac are the ones who need to be put away. I digress.
Back to you. You can start with even 100 hens. One month old hens, since at that time its easy to tell the difference between hens and roosters.
It will cost you 30k to start. If you factor feeds and chicken coop, budget your capital at 50k. It gives you 2500 eggs. If you incubate these you have potential of having another 2500 chicken with 1000 being hens.
You can now plan your growth as either an eggs supplier or meat supplier. Either way, you’ll be on your way to beat your economic doldrums. And in few years you could be doing large-scale production.
It takes patience. You’ll need 4 months of feeding and caring for them to maturity. Make them secure and vaccinate them religiously.
You need space. Move from your Nairobi apartment. Move to cheaper towns like Machakos or Athi river and rent a house with a backyard. Or lease a farm… Or buy some cheap land somewhere. Somehow, figure out space to do it.
The fact remains that Ugandan eggs infiltrated our market because the gap is big. Let’s fill it up.
If we collectively retire our egos, we can soon have many Joan Kubai’s disturbing us on Instagram. And we shall normalize success and good stories because the more money people can make , the more others are affected positively.
Don’t start cranking up Cheboin’s profits. Your 50 hens can give you 18K a month on eggs at market rate. That’s tax free salary. The same 50 hens can be sold at 50k very 4 months. 100 hens give you 37500 per month gross on eggs, or 100k every 4 months as meat. It starts small.
We need to demystify money and wealth and grow our economy to a better place through hard work. America and Europe have some of the largest farming opportunities in the globe. With farming comes a whole ecosystem.. Transport, equipment making etc.
Retire that ego.