CHRISTMAS IS ALMOST HERE! HOW TO MAKE YOUR CHICKENS GROW BIG ENOUGH FOR CHRISTMAS SALES
Every poultry farmer knows that Buyers want BIG chickens for Christmas.
If you are rearing chickens for this Xmas, you should be working towards getting them ready by 20th December when sales begin to peak.
But then, how big should your chicken be to attract customers?
What size does the Christmas chicken buyer actually want?
Let me attempt answers to these.
The Christmas buyer wants big chicken.
But then the Nigerian poultry market does not have a uniform standard for dividing chicken into big and small sizes. There are customers who consider 3.5kg chicken as big while there are others who consider any chicken less than 5kg as small.
The size of chicken considered as “BIG” therefore depends on your type of customers.
Now, most buyers of live chicken are sensory based buyers. They gauge size by what their eyes see and what their hands feel. They do not usually rely on any weighing scale for measurement.
It is therefore important that your birds are both big to the eyes and heavy to the hands. Big birds that do not have weight will not sell.
From my personal experience, I categorize Xmas buyers into regular and premium customers.
The regular customer buys chicken weighing between 3kg to 4.5kg. With the right care, these Broilers should be between 6 weeks to 10 weeks of age.
The premium customer however buys Broilers weighing above 5kg and aged 12 weeks above.
Now, if you have chickens on ground, you should by their age, already know the type of customers you are targeting. Is it regular or premium?
No matter your target customers, it is important your birds add weight quickly so that you can meet up with the Xmas deadline.
I will briefly itemize a few things you should do to achieve the desired weight gain quickly.
CHRISTMAS IS ALMOST HERE! HOW TO MAKE YOUR CHICKENS GROW BIG ENOUGH FOR CHRISTMAS SALES
Every poultry farmer knows that Buyers want BIG chickens for Christmas.
If you are rearing chickens for this Xmas, you should be working towards getting them ready by 20th December when sales begin to peak.
But then, how big should your chicken be to attract customers?
What size does the Christmas chicken buyer actually want?
Let me attempt answers to these.
The Christmas buyer wants big chicken.
But then the Nigerian poultry market does not have a uniform standard for dividing chicken into big and small sizes. There are customers who consider 3.5kg chicken as big while there are others who consider any chicken less than 5kg as small.
The size of chicken considered as “BIG” therefore depends on your type of customers.
Now, most buyers of live chicken are sensory based buyers. They gauge size by what their eyes see and what their hands feel. They do not usually rely on any weighing scale for measurement.
It is therefore important that your birds are both big to the eyes and heavy to the hands. Big birds that do not have weight will not sell.
From my personal experience, I categorize Xmas buyers into regular and premium customers.
The regular customer buys chicken weighing between 3kg to 4.5kg. With the right care, these Broilers should be between 6 weeks to 10 weeks of age.
The premium customer however buys Broilers weighing above 5kg and aged 12 weeks above.
Now, if you have chickens on ground, you should by their age, already know the type of customers you are targeting. Is it regular or premium?
No matter your target customers, it is important your birds add weight quickly so that you can meet up with the Xmas deadline.
I will briefly itemize a few things you should do to achieve the desired weight gain quickly.
