Unlike most graduates who embark on a job search after graduating, Brian, a University of Nairobi Actuarial Science graduate, dipped his net in poultry farming and has become one of the large scale chicken farmers in Bungoma.
In his parents’ backyard in Bungoma, Brian runs Actuary Farm where he performs various forms of poultry farming, including hatching day-old chicks, raising improved kienyeji chickens, and making chicken feed.
The idea to start poultry farming popped while he was still a student at UoN between 2016 and 2020. During holiday he started making and selling bricks, which earned him Sh4,850, which he used as seed capital for the venture.
“I got a lot of money from bricks; around Sh20,000, but I ate around the 15,000. So I remained with around Sh4,850. Then I got a supplier who was supplying me with chicks at an affordable price of Sh50 per chick,” he said in an interview with YouTuber Lenox Junior.
The farmer who started with 50 chicks in 2018 now has 1,200 birds. Even though he had no knowledge in poultry farming, Brian managed to raise 46 out of the 50 chicks he started with, as only 4 died.
Things I changed on my poultry farm and increased egg production instantly
He revealed that he relied on information from YouTube and Google. He sold the birds for Sh200 each, making Sh9,000.
“I would raise them for one month and sell,” he adds.
He later switched to hatching eggs after noticing a high demand for day-old chicks. Currently, he has 1,200 birds producing 24-25 trays of eggs per day.
“We usually collect between 21 to 24 trays of eggs per day because these chickens are a bit aged as per now, but back then we were collecting between 30 to 33 trays,” he says.
Brian does not sell eggs from his farm as he uses them for incubation and hatching. He explains that chick hatching is more profitable than selling eggs.
“One tray of eggs is currently selling at Sh450. Let’s take the one tray of eggs and incubate it so it can be able to produce chicks. Out of the 30 eggs, let’s say seven of them spoiled; we get 23 chicks. One chick is Sh100, meaning you will get Sh2,300 from one tray,” he explained.
Brian has employed three people on his farm who assist in running the firm.
