For most Filipinos, poultry farming is one of the most obvious and straightforward farming enterprises that they venture into. There are many advantages with venturing into poultry farming in the Philippines. For one, it is an agricultural enterprise with very low barrier to entry: you don’t need a lot of capital to venture into poultry farming in the Philippines, there are good breeds that you can choose in order to succeed in your poultry farming ventures and there is also a largely, a ready market for your poultry produce be they meat or eggs.
However, not everyone who ventures into poultry farming succeed or manage to create any wealth of the enterprise. What I think distinguish those who succeed and make millions from poultry ventures is not money but the dedication, approach and ambition. If you treat this venture as a business and make determined steps to grow your poultry enterprise, you are going to succeed and expand your poultry farming operations across the Philippines. If you treat it as a subsistence enterprise that is meant to raise the “extra” income and supplement your diet, it will likewise remain so, a small family enterprise that you run from your backyard.
So what exactly do you need to be a successful poultry farmer in the Philippines? We can summarize it into two main things: knowledge and a plan. You need knowledge of the best breeds to keep, the kind of system to use in raising your poultry, what to feed and in what amount, the health care and biosecurity that you need to provide to improve their survivability, how to reduce stress and boost production, knowledge of the best vaccines to use, knowledge of the local markets and how to leverage these to market your poultry and so on. And then you need a solid plan that will make your poultry enterprise work. While this business is capital intensive, you will not go far in your venture if you lack the knowledge and passion in poultry farming as well as a good plan.
Here are some steps that you can take to ensure you are running a poultry business that will earn you a few millions in a few years:-
Choose your poultry niche
Do you want to be an egg farmer, broiler farmer, native chicken farmer, free range chicken farmer or an organic chicken farmer? Your poultry business will have a higher chance of success if you have your niche and are focused on delivering on this niche. Know your niche and target market and then work on developing this niche. With the massive market for poultry in the Philippines, there is a large market waiting for you in each of these poultry niches.
Choose the right breed to raise
Generally, go for the poultry stocks that have excellent production characteristics. If you are planning to raise chickens for meat, look at the age of maturity, feed conversion efficiency, weight at the age of maturity and good survivability.
For the egg production, look at the number of eggs the chicken produces on average during its laying cycle, how big the eggs are, age at which they begin laying eggs, number of eggs at peak production and other important egg laying characteristics.
Here are other important factors to keep in mind when choosing the right chicken breeds that you are planning to raise:-
- Make sure you buy your day old chicks or stock from a quality and certified hatchery or a franchised dealer of the parent stocks of the birds that you are planning to raise. Ensure that the hatchery is well managed and generally adheres to the highest quality and industry standards.
- Buy stock based on the purpose for which you plan to raise the birds. This should be a no-brainer. If you are planning to raise poultry in the Philippines for egg production, then choose excellent layers.
- Buy chicks that have been vaccinated according to schedule.
- The chicks that you purchase should be free of diseases and deformities.
- Buy chicks that have uniform sizes and colours. If you are buying broiler chicks, make sure the weight for one day old chickens is at least 33 grams.
- Choose chicken breeds which are the most popular in your community. If it is a popular in your community, that is a good indication of the birds excellent characteristics and market viability in your community.
- If you are buying broilers, go for those that have excellent livability and which are also fast growers.
- For layers, go for chickens with good egg sizes, which are excellent layers and which will also sustain the high egg production for a longer duration of time.
Build Good Housing
Build a spacious and well ventilated poultry house with the right stocking density. Ideally, the house should be built in an East West orientation. There are various housing designs that you can work with. Check out our Philippines Layer Management Guide or Native Chicken Farming Guide for some housing designs.
You must also ensure proper housing management throughout the cycle of the chicken’s life. Some of the proper housing management practices that you can incorporate in your poultry venture include the following:-
- Provide adequate and proper feeders and waterers: When the chicks are young, you will need to use smaller feeders and drinkers and then upgrade to larger ones after a month to six weeks. Provide adequate feeders and drinkers to prevent overcrowding, contamination and dissuade pecking and other antisocial behaviour.
- Good lighting: Supplement daylight with artificial lighting at night so as to allow for optimal feeding and production.
- Heating: Heating is required during the first few weeks but as the chicks mature, you will need to step down the temperatures. Check out our manuals for information on layer management temperature step down.
- Nesting areas: If you are raising layers, nesting areas should be adequately provided throughout the poultry house. They should in corners or areas in the poultry house with little chicken traffic. Ideally, you should provide a single nest for every 4 females.
- Ventilation: Ensure you provide good ventilation in the poultry house. This will not only prevent respiratory diseases but also prevents broodiness in your layers.
Ensure excellent biosecurity
Biosecurity is an all-encompassing term that refers to all the measures that you will need to take to protect your poultry from diseases, predators and other external agents. That starts from choosing good location to building good housing and shelter, ensuring cleanliness and proper sanitation in your day to day poultry husbandry.