A hatchery is one avenue that aspiring entrepreneurs can venture on due to its huge prospects. There are several choices from which one can choose to specialize in. Hatcheries can be done for broiler chickens, free range chickens, layer chickens, ducks, turkeys and so on. The most tried and tested choice is to settle for a chicken hatchery, which can be for broilers, free rangers or layers chickens – or a combination of all three. There is a large and ever-growing demand for chicken day old chicks for poultry businesses. That is why this article will make chickens its mainstay – however, the content can still be used to apply to other types of hatchery businesses. This article will outline how to start the hatchery business, and the hatchery business plan – PDF, Word and Excel.
Market Research
Just like in any business, market research is a fundamental prerequisite. You must find out what the market demand is so that you choose the most appropriate line of business. Hatcheries can be for chickens (broilers, layers & free range chickens) , ducks, turkeys and so forth. That points to the importance of conducting market research to know what the market wants and the market size. The other important activity to do here is to take a look at existing players (your subsequent competitors). Find out how they are doing their businesses, their business strategy, pricing and logistical arrangements amongst several other details. The culmination of all activities here will be the crafting of a unique value or selling proposition for your incoming business. A hatchery is a highly sensitive and technical business so learning from established businesses in the same trade is most advisable. Taking part in learning courses or workshops can actually be a smart move to acquire relevant information on market research and even more. This will help you in coming up with a good hatchery business plan.
Business Model
You raise chicken parent stock, which then lay eggs, that you will hatch to produce day old chicks. You make money from selling day old chicks. This is because day old chicks are highly sought after by poultry farmers. You can diversify your focus by providing day old chicks for broilers, layers, and free range chickens. The individual proportions of those 3 will be informed by market demand.
Location And Housing
Choice of location is central to the overall success of the hatchery business. It is paramount that you setup this business close to main road networks and close to prospective clients. A hatchery will entail having to transport and deliver day old chicks to clients who would have ordered. The mere fact that you must pack up and transport chicks timeously (note – day old) makes the prior point critically important. The shorter the distance to be travelled the less likelihood of adverse conditions that can affect the day old chicks before being delivered. The chicken housing should be sufficiently large enough to accommodate all the male and female chicken parent stock. Uninterrupted power and water supply must also be a key feature of your premises. The hatchery business plan should include the costs of purchasing or leasing the premises and housing.
Equipment
There is a broad range of specialized equipment required for a hatchery business. The most basic things you will need are incubators, feeding troughs, water troughs, brooders and nest boxes. Air conditioners are also necessary for the regulation of temperatures at optimum levels. You will also need back-up power generators or solar system. Electric equipment for de-beaking and testing the eggs will be needed. You must also have the relevant weighing equipment and safety clothing. All the costs of purchasing the equipment should be included in your hatchery business plan.
Parent Stock
You can start off with sourcing parent day old chicks. These will be your parent stock. Parent stock refers to the breeders that will produce your broilers, layers, and free range chickens day old chicks. In other words, parent stock are the male and female chickens that will mate, and lay eggs that will subsequently hatch into other chickens. For a broiler hatchery, you will need broiler parent stock, for a layers egg hatchery, you will need layers parent stock, and for a free range chicken hatchery, you will need free range chickens parent stock. The fact that you are starting with day old chicks parent stock means you will have to feed them for a while.
This is up to a time when they are grown enough and ready to start laying eggs. It can take between 21-25 weeks for the parent stock to start laying eggs. Once they start laying eggs you will hatch the eggs into day old chicks which you then sell. As a rule of thumb, that parent stock will have to be replaced after 12 months of laying. This will maintain vitality and productivity, amongst other things.
Feed And Nutrition
Feed and nutrition needs for parent stock are aimed at production of fertile eggs. These are the eggs that then get hatched to produce day old chicks. This is important to know because feed and nutrition needs for the parent stock differ from poultry meat production. Feed the parent day old chicks with a starter feed for 6 weeks. This usually contains as much as 20 percent protein. This must be followed by grower feed from week 7 to around week 20 or 21 (or when egg laying sets in). Grower feeds typically contain roughly 15 percent protein. After that you bring in the layer or breeder feeds. They have a bit more protein and vitamins. All of this must be optimized by ensuring the birds have access to clean and fresh water.
Incubating And Hatching Eggs
Incubation is best done using incubators which can be powered by electricity or solar energy. Any delay in starting incubation reduces chances of the eggs hatching. The ideal time to start incubation is between 7 and 10 days after eggs are laid. During incubation the eggs need to be turned (rotated); between 3 and 6 times per day. Do this up to day 18 only after which . The whole incubation process takes 21 days after which the eggs start hatching thus producing day old chicks.
Products
The sole product in our context here is day old chicks. That is 3 choices for a hatchery business, namely day old chicks of broiler chickens, layer chickens, or free range chickens. The most popular broiler chicken breeds include Cobb 500, Ross 308 and Arbor Acres. Some of the most popular layer chicken breeds are the Dekalb (Amberlink), Hyline (Silver Brown and Brown) and Lohmann (Lite), Leghorn. Some common free range chicken breeds are White Leghorn, Ancona (Black Leghorn), Buckeye, Egyptian Fayoumi, Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island Red, Orpington, Australorp, Sussex and Boschveld.
Strategic Market Gaps For Small Hatcheries
Common scenario is that hatcheries are usually big companies. Whole towns or cities can be supplied by one Hatchery Company. It is not particularly surprising because starting and running a hatchery business is costly. However, that scenario of big hatchery companies presents some problems. Most of these hatchery companies are failing to meet the demand. Even if they were to increase capacity, they still would not meet the demand. That is why it is imperative for small-scale hatchery businesses to rise up. These will go a long way in filling certain market gaps. After all, filling those gaps comes with profitability. Plus the hatchery business is scalable if you are financially disciplined.
Staff And Management
There is a dire need for hands-on personnel most of the time. There are several processes involved in the hatchery businesses so many hands are needed on deck. For instance laid eggs need to be cleaned and transferred to various places within the hatchery along the way. Eggs also have to be examined and sorted before the actual hatching process. Not to mention the basic feeding and watering so there are so many things that need attention. Your staffing and management needs will obviously depend on your scale of production. The wages and salaries of all your staff should be accounted for in the hatchery business plan.
Marketing Plan
Make Your Premises Alluring
The simplest marketing strategy is to attract customers to your hatchery. You can do this by using alluring signage, banners, and posters around your hatchery’s vicinity. All these multimedia materials must have comprehensive details relevant to generating leads. There is already a huge demand for day old chicks so word will spread immediately.
Establish A Solid Online Presence
Augment that by setting up a website and social media accounts. If you use WhatsApp then it is best to set up a WhatsApp Business account. The great thing about this is that it is integrated to Facebook and Instagram. There are countless online platforms e.g. product listing websites, online marketplaces, and online communities (e.g. groups on poultry farming). Make your hatchery business visible on such platforms.
Diversify Your Marketing Strategies
Consider community radio stations, podcasts, influencer marketing, and sponsoring worthy causes. All these are effective means to market your hatchery business. The other strategy is to reach out to companies majoring in livestock products and services. You can enter strategic partnerships with them where you regularly supply them day old chicks. They will then in turn sell to their clients. This takes much less marketing effort and you can have guaranteed sales via this approach.
This forms the foundation of what you need to know in starting a hatchery business. Many people hesitate to start this business in part due to cost implications. The initial startup costs can be daunting for some. Plus the vaccines tend to be costly. Regardless, these are costs that are gradually offset in due course. The demand for day old chicks is inexhaustible, meaning sustainable profits are attainable.
In the hatchery business you must cultivate and adhere to high standards of hygiene. Disease outbreaks can be ruthless in this line of business. Even worse the diseases involved here can degenerate to become extremely harmful to humans. So it is crucial that you promote and maintain pristine levels of cleanliness when doing this business.
Pre-Written Hatchery Business Plan (PDF, Word And Excel): Comprehensive Version, Short Funding/Bank Loan Version and Automated Financial Statements
For an in-depth analysis of the hatchery business, we encourage you to purchase our well-researched and comprehensive chicken hatchery business plan. We introduced the business plans after discovering that many were venturing into the hatchery business without enough knowledge and understanding of how to run the business, lack of understanding of the financial side of the business, lack of understanding of : the industry, the risks involved , costs and profitability of the business; which often leads to disastrous losses.
The StartupBiz Global hatchery business plan will make it easier for you to launch and run your poultry hatchery business successfully, fully knowing what you are going into, and what’s needed to succeed in the business. This is a complete business plan for a poultry hatchery business. It will be easier to plan and budget as you will be aware of all the costs involved in setting up and running the hatchery business.
Uses of the Chicken Hatchery Business Plan (PDF, Word And Excel)
The poultry hatchery business plan can be used for many purposes including:
- Raising capital from investors/friends/relatives
- Applying for a bank loan
- Start-up guide to launch your hatchery business
- As a hatchery business proposal
- Assessing profitability of the chicken hatchery business
- Finding a business partner
- Assessing the initial start-up costs so that you know how much to save
- Manual for current business owners to help in business and strategy formulation
Contents of the Poultry Hatchery Business Plan (PDF, Word And Excel)
The business plan for hatchery includes, but not limited to:
- Marketing Strategy
- Financial Statements (monthly cash flow projections, income statements, cash flow statements, balance sheets, break even analysis, payback period analysis, start-up costs, financial graphs, revenue and expenses, Bank Loan Amortization)
- Industry Analysis
- Market Analysis
- Risk Analysis
- SWOT & PEST Analysis
- Operational Requirements
- Operational Strategy
- Why some people in the chicken hatchery business fail, so that you can avoid their mistakes
- Ways to raise capital to start your hatchery business
The poultry hatchery business plan package consists of 4 files
- Hatchery Business Plan – PDF file (Comprehensive Version – 117 Pages)
- Hatchery Business Plan – Editable Word File (Comprehensive Version – 117 Pages)
- Hatchery Business Plan Funding/Bank Loan Version- Editable Word File (Short version for applying for a loan/funding – 43 pages)
- Hatchery Business Plan Automated Financial Statements – (Editable Excel File)
The business plan can be used in any country and can be easily edited. The financial statements are automated. This implies that you can change eg the costs, salaries etc, and all the other financial statements will automatically adjust to reflect the change.
Click below to download the Contents Page of the Hatchery Business Plan (PDF)
Get the Hatchery Business Plan (PDF, Word And Excel)
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We wish you the best in your hatchery business! Check out our collection of business plans , and more business ideas.
