How profitable is guinea fowl breeding as a business?

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Guinea fowls, close relatives of poultry, were once very popular. They were served at the royal table and bred simply for decorative purposes. They are now gaining popularity again for their dietary meat and eggs. Guinea fowl breeding as a business is gaining momentum among farmers, since poultry is very unpretentious to feed and keeping conditions, unlike turkeys, and gives better quality eggs than domestic chicken.

Benefits of breeding guinea fowl

Breeding guinea fowl

Guinea fowl are also called royal or pearl barley chickens. All because of their unusual appearance. The bird's body has an elongated oval shape. The head is small with growths and earrings on it. Guinea fowls have very strong wings. Thanks to them, they can cover distances of more than 10 meters at a time. For this reason, pens are built with a mesh roof or the guard feathers on the wings are trimmed to prevent escape.

Over the past 50 years, a huge number of guinea fowl breeds have been bred, which differ in body weight and color. Generally, individuals of natural wild color predominate - gray with white dots at the end of the feather. The highest egg production is observed in white and light gray representatives.

A distinctive feature of pearl barley chickens is that they are little susceptible to many diseases of poultry. Unlike turkeys, they do not need to be fed with antibiotics and immunostimulants from the first days of life, which significantly reduces the cost of growing and improves the quality of meat and egg products.

There are also no special requirements for the maintenance of guinea fowls. They can easily withstand severe frosts and heat, but do not like dampness and drafts. It is for this reason that a shed for keeping guinea fowls should have a dressing room, well-insulated floors and

It is best to keep birds in an open-air cage. This can significantly reduce feed costs. In addition to pasture, in the morning before walking and at night, they give steamed compound feed and vegetable waste. You can not give sour and moldy food to guinea fowls, otherwise the birds may die. They also do an excellent job with crop pests. Chicks begin to prepare for eating insects from the age of one month. First, chopped insects are introduced into the feed, and then they are fed whole. Unlike chickens, guinea fowls carefully collect Colorado beetles and slugs from plants and do not rake the beds with their paws.

Benefits of breeding guinea fowl as a business

In order to figure out whether it is profitable to breed guinea fowls as a business, you need to know the good and bad sides of their maintenance, feeding and reproduction. The advantages of breeding pearl barley chickens are as follows:

1. Lack of competition in the sales market. Due to the fact that guinea fowls are not so common on farmlands, it will not be so difficult to find a market for sale.
2. High cost of production. Due to its high protein content, guinea fowl meat is very nutritious.It is also worth noting that the fat content in the carcass does not exceed 1%, which means that this dietary product can be used in the diet of young children, diabetics and people who monitor their health and weight.
3. Eggs are subject to long-term storage without compromising their quality. Guinea fowl eggs are stored at room temperature for 150 days, and this does not worsen their condition in the least. Also, due to the dense shell, it becomes impossible to infect the contents of the egg with salmonellosis.
4. Birds are not picky about the diet and can eat pasture. In order to significantly reduce the cost of feed, it is recommended to give the guinea fowl the opportunity to walk freely or to sow the aviary with annual grasses.
5. Guinea fowls do not have a predisposition to other diseases, unlike other poultry, so they can be kept with other birds in the same room or enclosure. Also, there is no need to spend money on antibiotics and probiotics for chicks.
6. The birds are not aggressive, which also makes it easier to keep them with other species. In case of aggression by other representatives of birds, they can fight back.
7. They tolerate summer heat and winter frosts well. They can be released for walking even in winter, which breeders of turkeys, ducks, and Indo-Ducks cannot afford.
8. Guinea fowl has good body weight gain with a minimum amount of feed. Females and males are ready for slaughter at 4-6 months.
9. Subject to the availability of lighting in the barn, the egg production period can last for a month. For this evenings in the barn, turn on the lamp for 3-4 hours.
10. You can use down and feathers to make pillows, feather beds, and other down items.

If there is a business plan taking into account all these points, then breeding guinea fowls is quite a profitable business. Since the consumer market is not crowded with guinea fowl meat and egg products, it will not be difficult to find consumers. It is also worth noting that it is possible to establish a business with even a minimum start-up capital. The main thing is to get healthy young growth.

Disadvantages of a guinea fowl breeding business

Birds are very stressed

Despite the fact that the business of breeding guinea fowl is quite profitable, it also has its drawbacks. The main thing is the psychological instability of birds.

Females' egg production can be significantly reduced due to stress. The reason may be the appearance of another person, an animal, or just thunder. Since pearl barley chickens are very shy, natural hatching is not suitable for them. Frightened, the female throws the clutch. To increase the livestock, you will have to use incubators.

Also, the disadvantages include the non-marketable type of carcasses. Due to the absence of subcutaneous fat and an increased content of hemoglobin in the muscles, the carcasses look cyanotic. The color is normalized by heat treatment.

Business features

Like any farm, a guinea fowl breeding business must be registered. There are three options:

1. IE is an individual entrepreneur. Suitable for people who will be solely doing business. 6% is deducted from the proceeds to the treasury.
2. Private household plots are personal subsidiary plots. This option is great for small farms, whose products are used for personal purposes, and the surplus is sold. In this case, the sale of products is possible only to individuals. Registration does not require any documents, except for papers confirming the ownership of the land plot.
3. OJSC (open joint stock company) or LLC (limited liability company). Option for large farm enterprises (thousand livestock or more), where the owners are two or more people. Registration will require the collection of a large number of securities and authorized capital.

Registration of all documents for starting a business will take time and money. Also, you can not do without the approval of the SES. For this, the place where the guinea fowls are kept must comply with sanitary standards. This also applies to feed and water.Poultry products must pass quality and sanitary inspections. You will also need a business plan to help you adjust costs.

Purchase of guinea fowls for starting a business

In order for the farm to bring good income, it is necessary to take care of the quality of purchased young stock or eggs for incubation. This has its own difficulties. If you plan to hatch chicks using an incubator, then when buying eggs, you cannot determine the percentage of females and males in the brood. Their population will have to be regulated after hatching. There should be no more than five females per male.

It is worth paying attention to the appearance of the eggs. Do not take in breeding eggs that have a double yolk, weight less than 39 grams, contamination or deviations from the shell shape. Chicks hatched from such eggs can be sick and not viable.

At what age to buy chicks

The purchase of young animals is most often done at one day of age. There may be problems with transporting chicks. Therefore, it is best to choose breeders who are as close to your farm as possible. It is profitable to buy livestock from private farms.

The cost of one chick varies from 150 to 200 rubles, and an adult is at least 2000. Laying hens will cost more - about 2500-2700 rubles. When buying, you need to know that females retain their egg production for up to two years, and then these indicators decrease. If the starting capital is small and every ruble counts, then it is worth stopping at buying eggs. One egg will cost 90-110 rubles.