Plan your poultry business
What will it cost to start, and when will it pay back? Plan a poultry farm, manure sales, making your own feed, a feed mill or a hatchery — any mix. Free, no account needed.
Plans are estimates. Prices marked “sample” have not been checked yet — use real quotes from your area before borrowing or investing.
Help choosing
Layers or broilers?
Broilers (meat)
Meat birds sold at about 6 weeks, in back-to-back batches.
- ✓ Quick cash: a batch is ready in about 6-8 weeks
- ✓ You can pause between batches or time sales for festive seasons
- ✓ Simpler housing than cages
- ✗ Prices swing a lot; you must have buyers ready on the day
- ✗ Birds cost more to feed each day, and losses hurt fast
- ✗ Income comes in lumps, with gaps between batches
Layers (eggs)
Hens kept for eggs, usually for about 18 months of laying after about 4-5 months of growing.
- ✓ Income almost every day once laying starts
- ✓ Spent hens are sold at the end, and manure is extra income
- ✓ Egg demand is steady all year
- ✗ No egg income for the first 4-5 months when starting from chicks
- ✗ Needs daily care, good records and steady feed for a long time
- ✗ Feed is most of the cost, so feed price rises hit profit hard
Which breed?
Harco Black
A black-feathered hybrid layer that many Nigerian farmers keep.
- ✓ Hardy and tolerant of local conditions
- ✓ Heavier body, so spent hens sell for more
- ✗ Slightly fewer eggs than the top brown hybrids (the planner uses a 90% peak)
- ✗ Eats a little more feed because it is heavier
ISA Brown
A popular commercial brown-egg hybrid layer, bred for high egg numbers.
- ✓ Very high egg production when well fed and managed (the planner uses a 95% peak)
- ✓ Calm birds that use feed efficiently
- ✓ Day-old chicks are widely sold by Nigerian hatcheries
- ✗ Needs good feed, water, light and vaccination to reach its potential
- ✗ Light body, so spent hens fetch less than heavier breeds
- ✗ Hybrid: you must buy new chicks for every flock
Local / indigenous
Traditional Nigerian chickens, kept mostly free-range.
- ✓ Very hardy, with good resistance to many local diseases
- ✓ Can find part of their own food when free-range
- ✓ Local eggs and birds sell at a premium in many markets
- ✗ Low egg numbers and small eggs (the planner uses a 45% peak)
- ✗ Slow growth; not suited to a large commercial egg farm
Lohmann Brown
A commercial brown-egg hybrid layer, similar to ISA Brown.
- ✓ High egg production with good laying persistence (the planner uses a 94% peak)
- ✓ Good shell quality when calcium is right
- ✗ Chicks may be harder to find in some states; check your hatchery first
- ✗ Needs the same high standard of management as other hybrids
- ✗ Hybrid: buy new chicks for every flock
Noiler
A dual-purpose bird bred in Nigeria for both eggs and meat, suited to free-range and small farms.
- ✓ Tough: copes well with free-range and backyard conditions
- ✓ Grows big, so it can be sold for meat as well as eggs
- ✓ Local-style birds often sell at a better price
- ✗ Far fewer eggs than commercial layers (the planner uses a 70% peak)
- ✗ Eats more feed per egg because it is heavier
Day-old chicks or point-of-lay pullets?
Day-old chicks
Buy chicks from a hatchery and raise them yourself.
- ✓ Much cheaper per bird
- ✓ You control feeding and vaccination from day one
- ✗ About 4-5 months before the first eggs, with feed and wages to pay meanwhile
- ✗ Brooding needs heat and care; early losses are common
Point-of-lay pullets
Buy young hens at about 16-18 weeks, just before they start laying.
- ✓ Eggs start within a few weeks
- ✓ No brooding work or early chick losses
- ✗ Costs several times more per bird
- ✗ Risk of buying poorly raised or unvaccinated birds: ask for vaccination records
- ✗ Moving birds just before lay can stress them and delay laying
Cages or deep litter?
Battery cages
Hens kept in wire cages in a roofed house.
- ✓ More birds in the same space
- ✓ Cleaner eggs, easier collection and fewer broken eggs
- ✓ Birds stay away from droppings, which lowers some disease risks
- ✗ High set-up cost for cages
- ✗ Heat builds up: the house needs good airflow
- ✗ Some buyers and export markets prefer cage-free eggs
Deep litter
Hens kept on the floor on wood shavings or rice husk.
- ✓ Much cheaper to set up
- ✓ Birds move freely; the litter becomes manure you can sell
- ✗ Needs about twice the floor space per bird
- ✗ More dirty and broken eggs, and eggs laid on the floor
- ✗ Higher risk of coccidiosis and worms if the litter gets wet
What to do with the manure?
Dried and bagged
Dry the manure, then sell it in 50 kg bags.
- ✓ Sells for a much better price per bag
- ✓ Lighter, keeps longer and smells less
- ✓ Crop farmers and fertiliser blenders buy it
- ✗ Needs drying space, sheeting and labour
- ✗ Hard to dry in the rainy season
Not for sale
Keep the manure for your own crops or give it away.
- ✓ Free fertiliser for your own crops or garden
- ✓ No bagging or drying work
- ✗ No income from it
- ✗ You still have to store or remove it safely (see the environment rules)
Fresh or semi-dry
Sell the manure as it comes out of the house.
- ✓ No drying work; it leaves the farm quickly
- ✗ Low price and heavy to move
- ✗ Smells and attracts flies if it piles up