Many aspiring poultry farmers think the venture yields generous returns in a short time, but Elizabeth Obonyo knows what it takes to make it.

She has been keeping chicken since 2006 during which time she has learned the ropes on what it takes to profitably rear chicken from day one to the market. At any one time, Ms Obonyo rears about 1,000 chickens at her one-eighth acre land in Kamiu area of Embu West sub-county.

The poultry house occupies a small portion of the land on which her family house stands and where she also rears pigs and grows sukuma wiki. Before she started rearing poultry, she had tried her hand in salon, clothes and a retail shop business but they all flopped due to high overheads hence small profit margins. In poultry keeping, however, she is assured of a profit of at least Sh40,000 which comes with less hustles unlike her previous ventures.

The steady income has enabled her grow economically and she has purchased three plots of land and assists her husband in paying school fees. Her entry into rearing chicken happened almost spontaneously and in the next few years incurred heavy losses, but she has no regrets. In 2006, her family settled at Kamiu area and before they could complete building a house, they rented a home where the previous owner had reared poultry.

“They had about 50 birds which I purchased together with the equipment. The returns were good, which motivated me to expand,” she says. She took a loan of Sh10,000 which she added to her savings and purchased 100-day-old layers chicks that she reared to maturity and the returns were even better.

However, her journey in poultry farming has not been smooth sailing. In 2009, when she moved to her current house, a colleague farmer gave her a piece of advice that she rues to date.

“My friend reasoned that Kamiu area has no poultry diseases hence there was need of vaccination. I failed to vaccinate a batch of 200 two-week old chicks that I had bought at Sh200 each. All perished and the loss was close to Sh50,000,” she recalls. She also remembers a time when her 150 pullets worth Sh50,000 died from an outbreak of poultry disease.

“Sometimes I also incur losses when there is prolonged power outage leading to spoilage of eggs in my incubator. I keep 350 eggs at any one time and sell each chick at Sh100. You can imagine the loss,” she says. “If you are passionate about chicken farming you do not lose hope but keep on trying. To avert losses, you have to vaccinate your birds as per scheduled without fail. You must also follow instructions to the letter such as vaccinating when temperature is cool, ensuring the vaccine is in a refrigerator and using water with no chlorine such a river water or rain water,” she says.

She has named her entity Emo Business Ventures and her years in poultry farming has earned her tenders hence she has ready market for her products, especially eggs. Currently she has 334 layers, 600 broilers and 350 rainbow roosters. She recently sold 100 broilers and 350 rainbow roaster chicks. While she is a supplier of chicks to many farmers in the area, sometimes she also buys eggs for hatching from the same farmers and mature chicken for slaughter to meet market demand. Interestingly, three weeks ago, she bought mature 210 layers at Sh700 each, to maintain a regular supply of eggs so as not to lose clients who include supermarkets, schools and institutions.

“I bought them at Sh140,000. In buying mature layers one must check the parent chicken from agents and vaccination records from vets and agro-vets to ensure they are properly vaccinated. If you find one chicken hurdled, you must consult a vet immediately,” says Ms Obonyo. From her layers, she collects 50 trays of eggs per week which she sells at Sh15,000 and after deducting feeds and other expenses is left with a profit of Sh5,000.

Thus in a month, from layers alone she makes Sh25,000 and from her chicks and broilers at profit of at least Sh15,000. Every now and then she also sells 20 bags of poultry manure at Sh8,000 and when her layers end their laying cycle she offloads them at between Sh350 and Sh500 each.

Ms Obonyo has introduced many farmers to poultry farming and she especially proud to the successful cases where some of them are now large-scale farmers. One thing she loves about rearing chicken is that it does not require a lot of labour.

For instance, she works on feeding and watering her birds, checking their health, cleaning the house and collecting eggs early in the morning.

She does all the farm work alone with minimal assistance from her family. But during slaughtering, she hires extra labour. Apart from the losses she has faced other challenges include low egg laying rate during cold seasons and high cost of commercial feeds.