At 32, Peter Irungu Kunyonya believes he is not where he says he aspires to be.
“I want to be the most sought-after ornamental bird farmer in Kenya and across East Africa in the next three years,” he puts across quite clearly.
As more and more new generation farmers choose to venture into unique and diverse kinds of farming techniques, Kunyonya’s name definitely does not miss in that category.
This, he says, is an approach that can take him way ahead in the sector.
Having entered the business of ornamental chicken farming in 2011, the father of two reveals that he only started off with 12 chickens.
What started as a side occupation for his stay-home wife with his full support is now a highly successful venture.
NEVER-ENDING INTEREST
“I entered this field just because of my never-ending interest in chickens from a very tender age.
“I brought in 12 kienyeji chicken at my small town farm at Githunguri, Kiambu County, just to keep my wife busy at home.
“I bought them at Sh500 each. Never for one minute had I thought of keeping them as a money-making venture.
“Within no time, I had 300 chickens in my yard by the end of December 2011. That is when the thought of making money out of them came in.
“Obviously my family could not consume all of them,” recalls the excited farmer adding that he used to get 30 eggs a day from the hens.
The excess eggs, he says, he sold at his shop that he had set up in the nearby Nairobi’s Utawala Estate. Business was not bad.
In December 2012, he sold off 240 kienyeji chickens during the festive season at a clean Sh120,000 and there was no turning back.
After realising that chicken rearing was a lucrative project, Mr Kunyonya embarked on stocking other types of birds in his backyard. It is in that small space that he rears the most sought-after and expensive birds on the globe, including the bantams — a highly priced special breed of chicken.
“It was after my first sale that I started to research in newspapers, farm magazines and the Internet. I wanted to have all kinds of birds then.
On the Internet I came across a farmer from Nyeri who was also rearing ornamental birds as a lucrative business.
“After a few consultations and interactions with other farmers in the sector, I came to realise that I was but throwing away my birds. While others were selling off a pair of mature ducks at Sh10,000, I was here selling mine at Sh800,” adds the enthusiastic farmer. But he never relented. He now boasts of four different breeds of ducks. These are Pekin, Swedish Blue, Khaki Campbell and the Muscovy ducks.
Next were the turkeys, then came the geese, guinea fowls, bantam chicken, burgess, doves and the list is endless. For him, experimenting on different kinds of birds became addictive. However, this keen bird farmer is quick to note that the turkeys had problems growing.
So he went back to the Internet and learnt that turkeys survive well when they are fed on boiled eggs and milk, especially goat milk.
“Aside from their poor development in growth from which most ended up dying, I endeavoured not to nurture them to an “old” age. They are also heavy eaters.
“Four mothers could consume three bags of feeds in a week. So I started selling them strictly a day after hatching.
“That was after buyers started trickling to my home after referrals from neighbours. Their eggs fetching Sh100 each,” states the digital farmer. Mr Kunyonya points out that he has made at least 80 per cent of his sales through online platforms.
“The Internet has made things very easy now,” he notes. Besides ornamental hens, ducks and turkeys, he sells the pet burgess and a variety of love birds. He says that he sells the love birds in pairs with a pair of the colourful pet burgess fetching Sh4,000.
He has also reared the white guinea fowl, which is an endangered species with a mature one going for Sh8,000 because of its rare nature while the ordinary guinea fowl fetches him Sh4,000.
Even though he looks at this not just as a business venture, Mr Kunyonya agrees that it really is a profitable business, with a bit of hard work and dedication.
“I cannot think of taking a rest on any day. I look after them as if they are my own children,” says the father-of-two.
Over this period of four years he has learned a lot about ornamental birds and he does not miss at least Sh4,000 daily from sold eggs.
“I boast of over 400 ornamental birds. But eventually I would love to focus on the guinea fowls and the ducks as that is where the money is,” he says.
Ornamental bird farming, Mr Kunyonya states, is proving to be a very successful venture.
With an initial capital of as little as Sh10,000, or even less, one can be quite successful through ornamental bird farming, he reiterates.
