5 Tips for Scaling Your Poultry Business

Listen in! Pick up some expert advice to a reader's question that we selected from CyberSchmooz.

Have you started a poultry farm as a side-hustle and been enjoying the extra income your chickens bring in? If you’re making money from your flock, you might want to consider stepping your production up a notch.

There are many benefits to expanding your poultry production. Asides from the increased revenue and cash flow, scaling up also improves your poultry farm’s efficiency and professionalism.

Here are five things you should implement to scale up your poultry business.

1) Invest in Machinery

The first tip for scaling your poultry farm is to invest in machinery for your feeding, drinking, and ventilation systems.

For example, a Smart Minimum Ventilation system controls your building's temperature and keep your poultry warm during winter. You should also invest in feed mills, ensuring that you maintain the quality of the feed you produce in-house.

When considering machinery or equipment to purchase, it's always wise to speak to professional installers. According to Dalton Engineering, you want someone that can guarantee you rigorous quality control, combined with in-depth experience at installing and maintaining these systems.

2) Get Experienced Hires

Next, you need to hire experienced hands. Scaling a poultry business is very different than running a side-hustle, and you’ll need extra hands. Increased capacity, new equipment, and bigger production can be overwhelming to inexperienced hires.

By getting experienced hires, you prevent machines or systems from operating at below capacity, and your dollar investment brings you a positive ROI.

3) Invest in Meat Production & Packaging

Poultry’s value chain ends in meat products that are packaged for supermarkets and delis. Consumers don’t usually purchase live animals as it can be stressful to butcher and prepare them for cooking. With packaged meat, the consumer has poultry meat ready for cooking in a few minutes.

Similarly, poultry farmers rarely package their meat. However, meat production and packaging are not only easy once your poultry farm is up and running but will also boost your farm's revenue profile exponentially.

All you need to do is create space for butchering and cleaning. Then hire butchers and invest in the necessary equipment such as cutters, refrigerators to store the meat, and any other equipment needed to make the cutting and cleaning faster.

Get any required licenses from the food regulatory bodies, and you are ready to expand your business into this profitable sector.

4) Offer Your Customers Delivery Services

Most consumers are busy, and their schedules make a simple trip to the grocery store a hassle. By offering delivery services to consumers who need poultry meat, your business instantly transforms from a simple farm into a valued business model.

You would need to invest in a refrigerated van, drivers who know the area's routes, and customer service representatives to take the orders when they come in. However, this has the potential of drastically increasing your revenues.

5) Finally, Invest in a Hatchery

It's normal to purchase day-old chicks from any of the known hatcheries in town. However, it is usually cost-effective to hatch your chicks. You not only reduce the cost of obtaining day old chicks for your poultry, but you also can sell to other poultry farms around. This allows you to control the quality of your chicks.

Bottom Line

Are you still on the fence as to whether you should expand or keep your poultry operations as is? When you’re ready for the next step, these five tips are a great way to start the scaling-up process of your poultry farm.

As your revenue profile increases, you can begin to explore more complex tips such as opening a sales outlet or applying for government grants and contracts.

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