From page 20
POULTRY
investment when setting your
indicate how eggs will be
price.
classified as Grade 1, 2 or 3.
If you are going to raise
There are also regulations
chicks until they are old
governing the packaging of
enough to start laying, you
the eggs.
will not have any income
The whole document can be from them for at least 18
found at
weeks. Obviously choose a
http://www.daff.gov.za/daffwe breed that is known to
b3/Branches/Agriculturalproduce. Some experts
Production-Health-Foodrecommend commercial
Safety/Food-Safety-Qualitybreeds such as Amberlink or
Assurance/Local-and-ImportHy-line laying hens, while
Regulations/Animal-Products. more traditional good layers
are Leghorns and Rhode
The second step after
establishing your market is to Island Reds. You might also
formalise your plan by writing consider an indigenous breed
such as the Potch Koekoek.
a business plan.
The other option is to buy
A smallholder's business plan
point-of-lay pullets. They are
will not only identify your
target market, it will also look much more expensive than
day-olds or week-olds, and
at how you might grow your
more difficult to source, but
business in the future, what
price to set your eggs at, what the upside is that you will
costs contribute to producing start receiving a weekly cash
the eggs, and what profit you flow almost immediately, as
they will start laying within
can hope to generate.
two weeks after being
With your business plan in
bought, when they are 20–21
place, you can work backward from the number of eggs weeks old.
you plan to sell each week, to The hens you buy must be of
how many chicks you need to very good quality and be fully
vaccinated against all known
get to meet that goal.
poultry diseases.
During her prime, a good
The number of eggs laid also
laying hen will, on average,
peaks halfway through the
produce three to five eggs a
week, with more in the peak year and then starts dropping.
The hens should be kept for
laying season and less in the
one year and then sold as
winter. If you plan to sell ten
laid-out hens.
dozen eggs a week, or 120
eggs, you will probably decide Poultrymen will not admit to
that 25 or 30 chicks will be a it (because the practice is
good number to start with.
frowned upon by animal
rights activists, if not simply
Make sure you've done your
homework and that you have illegal) but some undertake a
a market that can support the process called forced
moulting where they withhold
number of chicks you are
food from the laid out hens to
getting for your flock.
Here, you can also figure out bring on a moult. This in turn
persuades the hen to come
pricing. What are your
expenses each month in feed back into lay when feed is
reintroduced after a few days,
and other costs? Divide that
extending her laying life,
by the number of dozens of
albeit at a slightly lower rate,
eggs you plan to sell, and
to two years or more.
make sure you're charging
How you collect and clean
well above your break-even
eggs is extra important when
point. You may have to
you are selling them. Make
spread the investment of
sure that you know how to
building a chicken coop or
properly clean your eggs so
putting up fencing over
several years in order to make that you minimise the risk of
salmonella poisoning.
a profit, however, so don'