Poultry Farming; My Favourite Real Time Investment?

As a teenager owning a poultry has always been my dream but then I'll the need to have enough money to cover the cost of a few things. There's one more huge factor that hinders this as well; apart from the fact that I needed money, I lived in an urban setting where the slightest piece of land is used to build in other to keep occupying the large numbers of people who are migrating from the smaller villages into the bigger cities. First of all, the demand for food is inelastic because there's no substitute for food and irrespective of how expensive food is, people will still buy it and that was why I felt that irrespective of the numbers of poultry owners, I'll still manage to make my money.

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The Choices/Demand

First of, meat is more valuable and expensive and Nigeria is more of a meat eating country, beef (cow) and of course chicken are the one of the most expensive and sought out meat, and while the demand for egg is zero elastic, if I owned a poultry farm I'll make money from selling the chicken itself which is meat, I'll make money from selling the egg and sometimes also the feathers as well. So the
Cornish Cross Broilers is one of the healthiest and also one of the most popular bred fowl in the country but then it's no egg layer and I'll need to invest in other fowls too. So the basic demand is meat and egg.

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Investment/Cost/Potentiality?

Now investing in poultry business comes with a lot of risk, for example the risk of loss through death; a viral ailment of a sort and you can never be able to calculate how much you might need to cover the costs. Truth is, things like prices of feed can increase. Birds are ferocious eaters and during a certain time, certain festivals like Christmas makes manufacturers increases the price of feed incessantly and everyone who's buying will be affected even if you're not ready to sell your chickens. Health expense is another factor although this amount is often predictable, you'll now be left with the probability of guessing the Potentiality of the business; can I cover my costs and still make profit? What are the uncertainties? Don't forget landed property hasn't come into mix.

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Getting It Right?

The biggest circumstance that makes profiteering worthwhile in poultry farming is attaining economics of scale. The position where you'll have to lower the cost per unit because you're making more money selling in large quantity. However as a semi-comercial farmer I might not reach this stage in earliest years because I have a limited amount of money. However getting the right tactics is essential to making money. As for me I might dive into mixed farming where I'll have to bring livestock into the mix. But then having an ariable land and an adaptable soil will be the basis.

I don't want to dive into other aspects because I'm not a professional by all means and the scale of my target consumers might not really be much. I'm just a passionate person and this is the only real time investment I feel comfortable with. Nevertheless money is everything and this will mean I'll relocate to a more remote area. My aunt already has a subsistent poultry farm of very few chickens and the images here were taken from 12 weeks old chickens and in about 8 or 10 weeks time they'll be fully matured.

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Images owned & edited by me