Selling guinea fowls pays all my bills

Denish Ochien’g, a guinea fowl retailer. All he remembers vividly is how profitable the business has been for him. (PHOTO: COURTESY)

Until six years ago when he visited a friend in Musoma Tanzania in search of a job, Denish Ochien’g knew nothing of guinea fowls earning potential.

Having tried his hands in chicken rearing before opting out of the venture after it emerged that it was vermins and thieves who were reaping from his sweat, Ochien’g had vowed to never engage in poultry farming.

However, when he arrived at his friend’s home in Tanzania he was amazed at the number of clients his friend was tending to. The man was dealing in guinea fowl business, selling each bird at Sh1,500.

“I wondered how a bird which mainly relies on locally available feeds such as cereals, greens and grit can fetch that much. I also learned that they are not as vulnerable to infection as chicken,” he says.

Requiring no further persuasion, Ochien’g used the money he’d intended to start a new life with to purchase two birds. He immediately hoped onto the next bus and went straight home where he started the guinea fowl business.

Today, there are no regrets. Ochien’g tells me he cannot remember the number of birds he has since sold. All he remembers vividly is how profitable the business has been for him.

“I feed these birds with leftovers and they grow well. A big guinea fowl fetches me Sh1,500 while a chick costs Sh700. They also have no problem hatching — one bird lays between 20 to 30 eggs with a 100 per cent guarantee that they will hatch,” he says.

He, however, still has the occassional disappearance incidents and is currently working at better securing his 12 birds.