Enterprise

Farmer builds a bright future one egg at a time

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Day old chicks. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Two years ago, Anastasia Mueni decided to start her own chicken farm.

She had land to house the chickens, but lacked the funds and experience to start her own money minting business.

But with a capital of Sh100,000 from her husband Ms Mueni ventured into poultry keeping.

On her farm located in the remote Manyatta village, Mivumoni location in Msambweni Sub-County, Ms Mueni bought her first batch of 100 day-old layer chicks and put up a structure to house them.

She sold the chicken after making a profits and bought some more 150 chicks.

The more she got her foot on the ground, the more she desired to enhance her production.

Driven by the force to succeed in her poultry farming Ms Mueni bought another batch of 300 layers chicks six months ago and now has several structures that accommodates her chicken.

She is now doing a booming business that has made her the envy of many in the village. She has a total of 520 chicken — 450 layers and 70 ‘kienyeji’ chicken.

The chickens give her an average of 10 crates of eggs daily.

She sells them to customers who come from as far as Mombasa and Ukunda town.

She says she gets at least Sh96,000 on average every month from selling.

"I collect close to 10 crate of eggs every day with a crate selling at Sh350 and Sh320 to customers buying in large quantities," she says.

She has turned into a beacon of success for many women who seek advice from her on poultry keeping in the village.

To attain such success Mrs Mueni says a lot of effort has to be put in taking care of the chicken.

As of now, the profits from her egg business is gradual transforming her eight- acre piece of land into a real farm.

She keeps cows and grows maize, oranges, vegetables for sale and has big plans to buy more chicks and extend her farm, saying poultry farming is a lucrative venture.

"I plan as well to plant sorghum in my land to boost production of chicken feeds," she said.