Chicken business

A young office executive in his late forties came by the house last weekend to talk cars and restoration. During lunch I served him tender baboy damo cooked adobo-style, brown rice and cabbage with apples, raisins bathe in apple juice and turmeric. My guest was surprised that the baboy damo actually came from our backyard farm in Lipa. I also shared that I had the beginnings of a vegetable garden on the roof deck. My guest declared that he plans to do exactly the same when he retires from the company! If you happen to be like-minded, I strongly suggest: Don’t wait until you can’t!  If you’re going to wait until retirement before starting on a backyard farm or your next new business, do it now because we have no guarantees of a tomorrow.

At the beginning of the year 2020, end of January to be exact, I was already finishing sketches of a 200 square meter breeding station for F1 Free Range chickens alongside an egg-layer housing. I already spoke to an established supplier of chickens, we had cleared and laid out the area, and we were ready to go and get prices for construction materials. And then ECQ happened and stopped us on our tracks. Ironically, when all that disruption took place, I seriously considered designing and building a hygienic pest-proof growing pen for traditional 45-day broiler chickens. But I resisted the idea because the government kept saying that quarantines would only go from 14 to 21 days at the most. That was back in February to March. But over 120 days later, I now feel like kicking myself in the rear for not doing it. I could have harvested two to three batches of chickens during the entire quarantine period.

One thing is for certain, I will be revisiting my plans and updating my information about putting up my “Chicken project” in Lipa, Batangas. While I have been blessed by God and by the MVP group to have my TV show on Cignal and this column for the Philippine STAR, I always believed in maximizing the productivity and benefits of all the talents and resources that God gives us. For many people who have found themselves out of a job, they might want to consider putting up an egg layer facility since this is more profitable and gives you cash flow subject to the size or number of layers you decide to work with. Since I regularly travel with my friends from BMeg, the country’s top manufacturer of animal feeds, I’ve learned from many backyard farmers that having an egg layer facility is very manageable if you design your shelters to be hygienic and systematic so that it require very little maintenance.

The beauty of the egg layer concept is that you can start with a dozen, two dozen, 100 heads just to learn or familiarize yourself. If you want it for business begin with 1,000 heads and a capital of P710,000++. Or 3,000 heads with a capital of P2,130,000++. Or 5,000 layers where you’ll need P3,550,000++. The numbers may have changed ever since Covid lockdown happened but they’re still good guesstimates for pencil pushing and studies. It all depends on your level of knowledge and the people who will work with you. The two most important things to remember are to make sure you have a market or multiple buyers to sell the eggs to (non-negotiable). And most important of all, make sure you and your team or workers know what you’re doing and what you are getting yourselves into. Do not be blind men leading the blind! This is a business that can give you cash flow if you pay attention to it, so study the market, get the best material, watch your birds, keep the facility clean and monitor the productivity.

While there are a number of suppliers and a variety of supplies, the only ones I would endorse are the ones I have tried for many years. As far as layers and meat type chicks or pullets go, I turn to Dr. Erwin Cruz of the Superior F1 Chicken fame. You can find him on Facebook and he is very generous with knowledge and information. As a volunteer trainer of BMeg for backyard hog raising for several years, I have unabashedly endorsed BMeg’s line of feeds for hogs, sows and piglets especially their premium line that I personally use in our farm. I also use the different high quality feeds of BMeg for game fowl and poultry as I continue to raise fighting cocks more in memory of my Dad Louie Beltran, although I also maintain several pens of hybrid Peruvian/free range poultry chickens and we also regularly raise batches of 50 broilers for meat that’s restocked every 15 days. When it comes to egg layers, BMeg has one of the best quality feeds for the purpose and many game farm owners swear by it.

I only have a few dozen layers on and off and they are actually let loose. But because of the great nutritional quality of the BMeg feeds, my team in Lipa literally “pick money” from the ground in terms of eggs. So if you happen to be my age, worrying about the future or how to keep busy, you might consider studying poultry or backyard hog raising. Get in touch with my friends at BMeg via Facebook and I’m sure you will learn much. Raise your own and taste the fruits of your labor!

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