If you are a poultry farmer or you wish to enter into poultry farming and will want to use day old chicks as a start then there are certain things you need to do or take notice of before any other thing comes to mind and these things must be strictly followed the way it should be.
Do not take certain things for granted because they will just be the main causes or reasons why you are experiencing what might be happening to you and these things you will experience is not good news. Some of the things you need to do or consider before buying day – old chicks are;
- The hatchery should be a reliable source of quality chicks; when buying day old chicks you need to make sure that the place where the chicks are hatched is a registered facility and has a valid license. The hatchery should also be known for producing good healthy and quality chicks to give you the hope that when you buy them to also grow for business you won’t have any problem at all when it comes to losses.
- The chicks should be known for high production; the chicks you are buying from the hatchery, you need to get enough information about their production rate and if they can produce to what you are expecting of them and whether if they are efficient feed converters. Don’t buy them because it is just a famous hatchery, you are a customer and you need to know every detail about the chicks you want to buy because you are buying them to start your own business and you don’t want to lose any profits. You have every right to know what happens around the hatchery and in it.
- The chicken breed should be well adapted to area and selected management system; your area where you wish to transport these chicks to, you need to know if the type of breed you wish to use for the business can survive and thrive well in their new environment to be transported. The system of farming you want to use too should also be another thing you need to find out about whether if there can really survive that kind of system of management without any difficulty. It is important to know all these things before you buy them than to buy them and send them to your farm and find out that they find it difficult surviving there and the only thing you do is to record mortality rate all the time than production record.
- The product from chicken should be acceptable to consumers; the chicks you are buying from the hatchery, you need to make sure that when you raise them for sale or process their carcass consumers should buy them and not reject them because the consumers you are the reason you are buying the chicks for production and sale. Now a day’s people are stricter about their health and the kind of food that is being introduced to them to eat. The product should be acceptable by everyone and should not be of poor quality and hindrance to the human being.
- The price of chicks too is also what you need to consider; the pricing of chicks should be fairly priced and not to be too expensive or too cheap as this will determine the kind of profit/loss margin you would make through the business you want to do. When you buy them at a high price and wish to start the business customers will not buy because the prices are too high and they will go somewhere else to buy and this will make you lose profit. Don’t also price them too cheap because customers will come in alright but in the end you are the one who loses. So it is advisable you buy them at a fair price and bring them to your farm and as you take good care of them and they reach maturity you can price them too fairly for sale and get your money back plus enough profit. This you will know if your business is growing and wish to continue or just a onetime business you need to do. It’s all up to you.
Transporting day old chicks
- It is advisable to use special containers because chicks are quiet delicate; when transporting day old chicks from their current location to the destination you want to send them it is proper to use containers that are hard on the outside and inside very soft. When the inside of the container is very soft it will act as shock absorbers to protect the chicks from bruising. Day old chicks are very delicate and find it difficult to sustain injuries when they are bruised and they may die. The container should be put in a place that will prevent strong shaking and somersault because when that happens your chicks will crash into each other strongly and some will get their limbs and other parts of their body broken.
- Ventilation in transit to avoid draughty conditions; they type of transport you are using to carry the chicks should be well ventilated to enable proper breathing of the chicks because they will need the breadth to get energy to be able to continue the journey. The portions allocated for the ventilation shouldn’t be too much as to expose the chicks to the strong wind because when that happens they suffocate and may die too. Care must be taken to ensure that there will not be any mortality during the journey.
All these steps must be adhered, to prevent financial lost because every business man or woman hate losses even though losses are part of business. The losses is also what drives the business and are challenges that determines whether you are a serious business person or just trying to joke around with the losses, trust me when you get caught up in the loss web of losses there’s no way it will let you go. It is best you put all necessary measures in place to prevent been caught up.