I kept hope alive even after losing 180 birds

The passion former soldier Kwendo Ngonze had for the military is the same for his poultry venture.

“The same zeal I served my country while in the forces is the same one I brought to my poultry farm,” Ngonze tells Smart Harvest while on a tour of his farm in Ebutongoi Essunza village, Vihiga County.

After spending years in the barracks and foreign missions, Ngonze chose to retire early to nurture his passion for chicken rearing.

But it’s a journey full of challenges. He first tried his hand in rearing indigenous chicken in Nairobi’s Buruburu estate, but it flopped. After burning his fingers for a while, in 1992, he relocated upcountry to reflect.

Never give up

In 2015, after attending an enriching training on how to rear improved Kienyeji chicken as a profitable commercial venture, he gave it another shot.

To start off, he visited a friend in Uganda who helped him secure 100-day old chicks at Sh100 each. From that stock, he started Khunyala Smart Farm.

“I demolished the mud walls of my late parents’ house and converted it into a poultry house. When they attained five months, I had 30 cocks which I sold at Sh1,500 each and 70 layers which I sold at Sh800 each. I recovered my production costs,’’ recalls Ngonze.

Along the journey, he encountered more hurdles. One time, he bought 200 day-old chicks in Uganda at Sh20,000. Out of the 200 chicks, 180 died a week later under unclear circumstances. That was a big blow for his business.

Lows of lows

“This was the lowest moment of my life. I felt like quitting but I kept walking. I was even the laughing stock in the village. People wondered why I left a plum military job to come struggle with chicken. I wanted to prove them wrong,” a determined Ngonze says.

In a bid to work smart, he convinced the Uganda supplier to visit his farm and establish why the chicks died prematurely. The official did a thorough investigation and concluded that the eggs were already non viable by the time they reached his farm and were therefore not suitable for hatching of chicks.

As a kind gesture, the supplier compensated him half of the chicks to help him start afresh.

Second time wiser, he followed a strict feeding and vaccination regime for the new stock and none of them died. “The birds fed on chick mash for eight weeks and I substituted it with grower’s mash until they started laying eggs and then I changed the feeds to layers’ mash. Occasionally, I would feed them on sukuma wiki, cabbage and amaranth.”

The 100 chicks from Uganda had already been vaccinated against Marex disease and four days later, he administered the Newcastle vaccine together with the Infectious Bronchitis vaccine and at day 10, he administered Gumboro vaccine.

He repeated the Gumboro vaccine at day 18, Newcastle vaccine at day 21 and then Fowl pox after four weeks. When the birds were two months old, he repeated the Newcastle vaccine and then at week 9, he administered the Fowl Typhoid vaccine.

Ever a risk taker, he was exploring new opportunities.

“When the birds started laying eggs, I decided to venture into the chick hatching business as opposed to selling eggs locally because I did not want to compete with egg imports from Uganda which had flooded the market,” says Ngonze.

He sells day-old chicks at Sh100, a week old at Sh150, two weeks at Sh200 and four weeks at Sh300.

“I have a big market in Mombasa, Rift valley, Siaya, Kisumu and Vihiga,” says Ngonze.

In 2016, Ngonze bought an incubator with an egg capacity of 1,320 at a cost of Sh95,000.

When the demand for the chicks increased, he bought two more incubators with a capacity of 2,460 eggs and 2,121 eggs at a cost of Sh200,000 and Sh160,000 respectively.

“Since May 2018 to date, I have sold more than 30,000 chicks and made ‘good’ profit,” says Ngonze.

The biggest challenge is feeds. Because feed is expensive in the Kenyan market, he says, a farmer could end up with losses.

He buys the same from an agro dealer at Luanda market, where a 50-kg sack of chick mash is sold at Sh3,050, while growers mash is Sh2,700 and layers Sh2500.

Nothing goes to waste at the farm

“I use the birds’ feathers to make mattresses and pillows.”

After he slaughters the birds, he uses the dried blood to make feeds for his cows and pigs.

And like all ambitious farmers, he is eagerly waiting the festive season to make more money.

“... this festive season I have more than 4,000 birds in place to cater for the needs of our customers. I hope to make good cash.”