poultry abattoir business plan

Abattoir Business Plan [Sample Template]

By: Author Tony Martins Ajaero

Home » Business ideas » Agriculture Industry » Agro Processing & Allied Industry » Meat Shop and Abattoir

Do you want to start an abattoir and need to write a plan? If YES, here is a sample abattoir business plan template & FREE feasibility report. It can be truly challenging starting any business , but one business that you can start with little challenges and wide market coverage is an abattoir.

An abattoir is a business that slaughters animals to produce meat. Abattoirs also produce fresh or frozen meat as carcasses and cuts, in addition to by-products like rendered lard, tallow and pulled wool and they also bone, preserve and pack meat.

Starting an abattoir comes with its own fair share of challenges, but that does not rule out the fact that it is indeed a profitable business. An aspiring entrepreneur can either choose to start an abattoir business on a small scale or on a large scale depending on their financial status.

So, if you have decided to start your own abattoir, then you should ensure that you carry out thorough feasibility studies, market survey and secure the needed public health and hygiene certificates and permits. Below is a sample abattoir business plan template that can help you to successfully write your own with little or no difficulty.

A Sample Abattoir Business Plan Template

1. industry overview.

Abattoir business falls under the Meat, Beef & Poultry Processing industry and players in this industry basically slaughter poultry birds and animals, process the meat and package them into products and by-products. The industry is also known to be involved in purifying and refining animal fat, bones and meat scraps.

Products are sold to other food manufacturers , renderers, grocers, meat wholesalers and retail traders. It is important to state businesses that primarily cut and pack meats from purchased carcasses are also part of this industry.

Even though meat consumption based on per capita income is expected to remain stagnant in the next half a decade, economic woes before this period aggravated consumption drops. Because of recovering consumer sentiment, population growth and strong export demand, meat-processing revenue is projected to increase going forward.

In spite of the stability of consumer demand for meat-based products, unpredictable weather conditions and disease outbreaks can cause instability in the revenue generated by industry players.

The Meat, Beef & Poultry Processing Industry is indeed a very large industry and pretty much thriving in all parts of the world. Statistics have it that in the united states of America alone, there are about 5,664 licensed and registered Meat, Beef & Poultry Processing companies directly responsible for employing about 480,178 employees.

The industry rakes in a whooping sum of $225 billion annually with an annual growth rate projected at 1.4 percent. It is important to state that the establishments with lion shares of the available market in this industry are Cargill Inc., JBS SA, Inc., Tyson Foods and Smithfield Foods.

Several researches conducted linked red meat consumption with increased risks of several diseases, hence the need for nutritional awareness among consumers. As a result of this, consumers have started choosing white meat (chicken) instead of beef and pork.

Nonetheless, the prices of these products have risen faster than those of poultry products, leading this segment’s share of revenue to also increase.

Statistics also have it that an estimate of about 35 companies are involved in the business of raising, processing and marketing chicken on a commercial level. It is on record that Americans consume more chicken than anyone else in the world – more than 90 pounds per capita in 2015.

So also, in 2015, almost 9 billion broiler chickens, weighing 53 billion pounds, live – weight, were produced. More than 40 billion pounds of chicken product was marketed, measured on a ready-to-cook basis.

The abattoir or slaughterhouse business will continue to blossom because people will always want to purchase fresh meat. Despite the fact that the industry seems over – saturated, there is still room big enough to accommodate aspiring entrepreneurs who intend opening their own abattoir in any part of the United States of America.

Some of the factors that encourage entrepreneurs to start their own abattoir business despite the required licensing and permits could be that the business is a thriving business. Lastly, if you are looking towards leveraging on the beef, meat and poultry processing industry to generate huge income, then one of your best bet is to start an abattoir.

One thing is certain about starting this business, if you are able to conduct your market research and feasibility studies , you are more likely not going to struggle to sell your products because there are loads of distributors and consumers out there who are ready to buy from you.

2. Executive Summary

East – Coast Abattoir®, LLC is a registered slaughterhouse that will be involved in the slaughtering and retailing of fresh meat. Our slaughterhouse facility will be located close to one of the largest farming community in Trenton – New Jersey.

We have been able to lease a storage facility that is big enough for the kind of abattoir that we intend launching and the facility is centrally located in the heart of town. East – Coast Abattoir®, LLC will be involved in slaughtering animals, producing cuts of beef, lamb and mutton, pork, other red meats and selling by-products from the slaughtering process to a wide range of customers.

We are aware that there are several abattoirs and even well – established farm markets and meat processing companies all around Trenton – New Jersey that are also into meat and beef retailing, which is why we spent time and resources to conduct our feasibility studies and market survey so as to offer much more than our competitors will be offering.

We have robust collection and distribution network, strong online presence and modern storage facilities and we are armed with the various payments options available in the United States. Beyond selling slaughtered animals, our customer care is going to be second to none in the whole of Trenton – New Jersey and our deliveries will be timely and highly reliable.

We know that our customers are the reason why we are in business which is why we will go the extra mile to get them satisfied when they patronize our products. East – Coast Abattoir®, LLC will ensure that all our customers are given first class treatment whenever they visit our abattoir.

We have a CRM software that will enable us manage a one on one relationship with our customers no matter how large they may grow to. We will ensure that we get our customers involved in the selection of the types of animal to be slaughtered and also when making some business decisions that directly affects them.

East-Coast Abattoir®, LLC will at all times demonstrate her commitment to sustainability, both individually and as a firm, by actively participating in our communities and integrating sustainable business practices wherever possible. We will ensure that we hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards by meeting our client’s needs precisely and completely.

East-Coast Abattoir®, LLC is a family business that is owned by Silas Joshua and his immediate family members. Silas Joshua has a B.Sc. in Animal Science, with over 8 years of hands on experience in the agribusiness industry, working for some of the leading brands in the United States.

Although the business is launching out by focusing on Trenton – New Jersey, but there is a plan to expand our distribution network all across the state of New Jersey.

3. Our Products and Services

We are in the agribusiness industry to make profits and we will ensure that we do all that is permitted by the law in the United States to achieve our business aim and objectives. Our products and services offerings are listed below;

• Slaughtering animals
• Producing cuts of beef
• Producing cuts of lamb and mutton
• Producing cuts of pork
• Producing cuts of other red meats
• Selling by-products from the slaughtering process

4. Our Mission and Vision Statement

Our vision is to become one of the leading brands in the abattoir line of business in the whole of Trenton – New Jersey. Our mission is to establish an abattoir business that will slaughter and sell a wide range of animals at affordable prices to wholesalers and retailers in Trenton and other cities in New Jersey where we intend marketing our produce.

Our Business Structure

East-Coast Abattoir®, LLC do not intend to start a slaughterhouse business like the usual mom and pop business around the street corner; our intention of starting our business is to build a standard slaughterhouse in Trenton – New Jersey.

We will ensure that we put the right structures in place that will support the kind of growth that we have in mind while setting up the business.

We will make sure that we hire people that are qualified, honest, customer centric and are ready to work to help us build a prosperous business that will benefit all our stakeholders. As a matter of fact, profit-sharing arrangement will be made available to all our senior management staff and it will be based on their performance for a period of ten years or more.

In view of that, we have decided to hire qualified and competent hands to occupy the following positions that will be made available at East – Coast Abattoir®, LLC;

• Manager (Owner)
• Warehouse / Storage Facility Manager
• Merchandize Manager

Sales and Marketing Manager

• Abattoir Workers
• Drivers/Distributors

5. Job Roles and Responsibilities

Manager / Owner:

• Increases management’s effectiveness by recruiting, selecting, orienting, training, coaching, counseling, and disciplining managers; communicating values, strategies, and objectives; assigning accountabilities; planning, monitoring, and appraising job results; developing incentives; developing a climate for offering information and opinions.
• Responsible for fixing prices and signing business deals
• Responsible for providing direction for the business
• Creates, communicates, and implements the organization’s vision, mission, and overall direction – i.e. leading the development and implementation of the overall organization’s strategy.
• Responsible for signing checks and documents on behalf of the company
• Evaluates the success of the organization
• Ensures operation of equipment by completing preventive maintenance requirements; calling for repairs.
• Defines job positions for recruitment and managing interviewing process

Warehouse cum Storage Facility Manager:

• Responsible for organizing the safe and efficient receipt, storage and dispatch of slaughtered animals and byproducts
• Responsible for liaising with customers, suppliers and transport companies
• Responsible for using space and mechanical handling equipment efficiently and making sure quality, budgetary targets and environmental objectives are met
• In charge of coordinating the use of automated and computerized systems where necessary
• Ensures that proper records of goods are kept and warehouse does not run out of products
• Ensures that the slaughterhouse facility is in tip top shape and goods are properly arranged and easy to locate
• Controls meat, beef and poultry meat distribution and supply inventory
• Supervises the workforce in the abattoir floor.

Merchandise Manager

• Manages vendor relations, farm cum market visits, and the ongoing education and development of the organizations’ buying teams
• Responsible for the purchase of cows, goats, pigs, turkeys and chickens et al directly from farmers for the organizations
• Responsible for planning sales, monitoring inventory, selecting the merchandise, and writing and pricing orders to vendors
• Ensures that the organization operates within stipulated budget.
• Responsible for slaughtering animals, producing cuts of beef, producing cuts of lamb and mutton, producing cuts of pork, producing cuts of other red meats and selling by-products from the slaughtering process.
• Responsible for cleaning the abattoir before and after slaughtering of animals
• Handles any other duty as assigned by the manager (owner)
• Manages external research and coordinate all the internal sources of information to retain the organizations’ best customers and attract new ones
• Models demographic information and analyze the volumes of transactional data generated by customer purchases
• Identifies, prioritizes, and reaches out to new partners, and business opportunities et al
• Identifies development opportunities; follows up on development leads and contacts; participates in the structuring and financing of projects; assures the completion of development projects.
• Responsible for supervising implementation, advocate for the customer’s needs, and communicate with clients
• Develops, executes and evaluates new plans for increasing sales
• Represents the company in strategic meetings
• Helps to increase sales and growth for the company

Accountant/Cashier:

• Responsible for preparing financial reports, budgets, and financial statements for the organization
• Provides managements with financial analyses, development budgets, and accounting reports; analyzes financial feasibility for the most complex proposed projects; conducts market research to forecast trends and business conditions.
• Responsible for financial forecasting and risks analysis.
• Performs cash management, general ledger accounting, and financial reporting
• Responsible for developing and managing financial systems and policies
• Responsible for administering payrolls
• Ensuring compliance with taxation legislation
• Handles all financial transactions for the organization
• Serves as internal auditor for the organization

Distribution Truck Drivers

• Assists in loading and unloading live and slaughtered animals
• Maintains a logbook of their driving activities to ensure compliance with federal regulations governing the rest and work periods for operators.
• Keeps a record of vehicle inspections and make sure the truck is equipped with safety equipment
• Assists the transport and logistics manager in planning their route according to a distribution schedule.
• Local-delivery drivers may be required to sell meat, beef and poultry et al to stores on their route, obtain signatures from recipients and collect cash.
• Inspect vehicles for mechanical and safety issues and perform preventative maintenance
• Complies with truck driving rules and regulations (size, weight, route designations, parking, break periods etc.) as well as with company policies and procedures
• Collects and verifies delivery instructions
• Reports defects, accidents or violations

6. SWOT Analysis

Our intention of starting our abattoir in Trenton and work with cattle farmers only within Trenton – New Jersey is to test run the business for a period of 2 to 5 years to know if we will invest more money, expand the business and then open our abattoir in major cities throughout the United States of America.

We are quite aware that there are several slaughterhouses all over Trenton and even in the same location where we intend locating ours, which is why we are following the due process of establishing a business. We know that if a proper SWOT analysis is conducted for our business, we will be able to position our business to maximize our strength, leverage on the opportunities that will be available to us, mitigate our risks and be equipped to confront our threats.

East – Coast Abattoir®, LLC employed the services of an expert Business Analyst with bias in the meat, beef, and poultry processing industry to help us conduct a thorough SWOT analysis and to help us create a Business model that will help us achieve our business goals and objectives. This is the summary of the SWOT analysis that was conducted for East – Coast Abattoir®, LLC;

Our location, the business model we will be operating on, varieties of payment options, healthy environment and our excellent customer service culture will definitely count as a strong strength for East – Coast Abattoir®, LLC. So, also our management team members have what it takes to grow a business from startup to profitability with record time.

A major weakness that may count against us is the fact that we are a new abattoir business and we don’t have the financial capacity to compete with leaders in the industry for now.

• Opportunities:

The fact that we are going to be operating our abattoir business in Trenton – New Jersey which happens to be among the top 5 food producing states in the US provides us with unlimited opportunities to sell our fresh meats to a large number of wholesale distributors and retailers.

We have been able to conduct thorough feasibility studies and market survey and we know what our potential clients will be looking for when they visit our abattoir. We are also aware that free-trade agreements and interest in biofuels benefit industry performance, and continued vertical integration of the farm process will open more opportunities for us.

Some of the threats and challenges that we are likely going to face when we start our own slaughterhouse business are global economic downturn that can impact negatively on household spending, bad weather cum natural disasters, unfavorable government policies and the arrival of a competitor (a new abattoir or even a well-organized farm market) within same location where we have our abattoir.

There is hardly anything you can do as regards these threats and challenges other than to be optimistic that things will continue to work for your good.

7. MARKET ANALYSIS

• Market Trends

In recent time, consumers are becoming conscious or what they eat especially as it relates to meat. Those advocating for healthy eating are against the consumption of meat especially red meat, and it takes extra effort for those in the abattoir business to canvass to such people to patronize them.

The truth is that slaughtering animals for food has been in existence for as long as humans started trading goods, but one thing is certain, the meat, beef and poultry processing industry is still evolving. The introduction of technology has indeed helped in reshaping the industry.

Lastly, it is now a common phenomenon for abattoirs to leverage on technology to effectively predict consumer demand patterns and to strategically position their business to meet their needs; in essence, the use of technology helps slaughterhouses to maximize supply chain efficiencies.

8. Our Target Market

The meat, beef and poultry processing industry has a wide range of customers; a large chunk of people on planet earth consume different types of meat or poultry products and it is difficult to find people around who don’t.

In view of that, we have positioned our abattoir business to service consumers in and around Trenton – New Jersey and every other location we will cover all over the state of New Jersey. We have conducted our market research and we have ideas of what our target market would be expecting from us.

We are in business to engage in the slaughtering and selling of freshly butchered meats to the following businesses;

• Restaurants
• Retailers of meat
• Grocery stores
• Supermarkets
• Wholesale Distributors of meats

Our Competitive Advantage

A close study of the meat, beef and poultry processing industry reveals that the market has become much more intensely competitive over the last decade. As a matter of fact, you have to be highly creative, customer centric and proactive if you must survive in this industry.

We are aware of the stiff competition and we are prepared to compete favorably with other leading abattoirs in and around Trenton – New Jersey.

One thing is certain; we will ensure that we have a wide range of meats  in our warehouse/storage facility at all times. One of our business goals is to make East – Coast Abattoir®, LLC a one stop abattoir. The fact that our output is sold under contract – incorporate long-term sales contracts, and that we enjoy upstream vertical integration (ownership links) and economies of scale gives us edge over our competitors.

So also, our excellent customer service culture, neat and healthy environment, timely and reliable delivery services, online presence, and various payment options will serve as a competitive advantage for us.

Lastly, our employees will be well taken care of, and their welfare package will be among the best within our category in the industry meaning that they will be more than willing to build the business with us and help deliver our set goals and achieve all our aims and objectives.

We will also give good working conditions and commissions to freelance sales agents that we will recruit from time to time.

9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

• Sources of Income

East – Coast Abattoir®, LLC is in business to engage in slaughtering animals and retailing fresh meats and byproducts. We are in this industry to maximize profits and we are going to go all the way to ensure that we achieve our business goals and objectives.

Our source of income will be;

• Selling by-products from the slaughtering process.

10. Sales Forecast

One thing is certain when it comes to abattoir business, if your business is centrally positioned coupled with reliable supply of healthy meats and effective distribution network, you will always attract customers cum sales and that will sure translate to increase in revenue generation for the business.

We are well positioned to take on the available market in Trenton – New Jersey and we are quite optimistic that we will meet our set target of generating enough income from the first six months of operation and grow the business and our clientele base.

We have been able to critically examine the meat, beef and poultry processing industry, we have analyzed our chances in the industry and we have been able to come up with the following sales forecast. The sales projections are based on information gathered on the field and some assumptions that are peculiar to startups in Trenton – New Jersey.

• First Fiscal Year: $340,000
• Second Fiscal Year: $650,000
• Third Fiscal Year: $1 million

N.B : This projection was done based on what is obtainable in the industry and with the assumption that there won’t be any major economic meltdown and there won’t be any major competitor offering same products and services as we do within the same location. Please note that the above projection might be lower and at the same time it might be higher.

• Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy

Before choosing a location for East – Coast Abattoir®, LLC, we conducted a thorough market survey and feasibility studies in order for us to penetrate the available market and become the preferred choice for households, meat wholesale distributors, retailers, grocery stores and supermarkets in and around Trenton – New Jersey.

We have detailed information and data that we were able to utilize to structure our business to attract the number of customers we want to attract per time.

We hired experts who have good understanding of the meat, beef and poultry processing industry to help us develop marketing strategies that will help us achieve our business goal of winning a larger percentage of the available market in and around Trenton – New Jersey.

In summary, East – Coast Abattoir®, LLC will adopt the following sales and marketing approach to win customers over;

• Open our business in a grand style with a party for all.
• Introduce our business by sending introductory letters alongside our brochure to households, restaurants, hotels, caterers, BBQ joints, wholesale distributors, retailers, grocery stores , supermarkets and other key stake holders in and around Trenton – New Jersey
• Ensure that we have a wide range of meat in our abattoir at all times
• Make use of attractive hand bills to create awareness of our business
• Position our signage / flexi banners at strategic places around Trenton – New Jersey
• Create a loyalty plan that will enable us reward our regular customers
• Engage on roadshows within our neighborhood to create awareness for our abattoir cum slaughterhouse business.

11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy

Despite the fact that our abattoir business is well structured and well located, we will still go ahead to intensify publicity for the business. We are going to explore all available means to promote the business.

East – Coast Abattoir®, LLC has a long-term plan of opening distribution channels all around the state of New Jersey and key cities throughout the United States which is why we will deliberately build our brand to be well accepted in Trenton before venturing out.

As a matter of fact, our publicity and advertising strategy is not solely for winning customers over but to effectively communicate our brand. Here are the platforms we intend leveraging on to promote and advertise East – Coast Abattoir®, LLC;

• Place adverts on community based newspapers, radio and TV stations
• Encourage the use of word of mouth publicity from our loyal customers
• Leverage on the internet and social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and other platforms to promote our business.
• Ensure that our we position our banners and billboards in strategic positions all around Trenton – New Jersey
• Distribute our fliers and handbills in target areas in and around our neighborhood
• Advertise our abattoir business in our official website and employ strategies that will help us pull traffic to the site
• Brand all our official cars and distribution vans/trucks and ensure that all our staff members and management staff wears our branded shirt or cap at regular intervals.

12. Our Pricing Strategy

Pricing is one of the key factors that gives leverage to wholesale distributors and retailers and abattoirs are not left out, it is normal for retailers to purchase products from distribution companies that they can goods at cheaper price.

We will work towards ensuring that our meat is retailed at highly competitive prices compare to what is obtainable in the United States of America. We also have plans in place to discount our meat once in a while and also to reward our loyal customers from time to time.

• Payment Options

The payment policy adopted by East – Coast Abattoir®, LLC is all inclusive because we are quite aware that different customers prefer different payment options as it suits them but at the same time, we will ensure that we abide by the financial rules and regulation of the United States of America.

Here are the payment options that East – Coast Abattoir®, LLC will make available to her clients;

• Payment via bank transfer
• Payment with cash
• Payment via credit cards / Point of Sale Machines (POS Machines)
• Payment via POS machines
• Payment via online bank transfer
• Payment via check
• Payment via bank draft

In view of the above, we have chosen banking platforms that will enable our client make payment for meat, beef and poultry purchase without any stress on their part. Our bank account numbers will be made available on our website and promotional materials.

13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)

In setting up any business, the amount or cost will depend on the approach and scale you want to undertake. If you intend to go big by renting a place, then you would need a good amount of capital as you would need to ensure that your employees are well taken care of, and that your facility is conducive enough for workers to be creative and productive.

This means that the startup can either be low or high depending on your goals, vision and aspirations for your business. The tools and equipment that will be used are nearly the same cost everywhere, and any difference in prices would be minimal and can be overlooked.

As for the detailed cost analysis for starting an abattoir business; it might differ in other countries due to the value of their money. These are the key areas where we will spend our startup capital on;

• The total fee for registering the business in the United States of America – $750.
• Legal expenses for obtaining licenses and permits as well as the accounting services (software, P.O.S machines and other software) – $3,300.
• Marketing promotion expenses for the grand opening of East – Coast Abattoir®, LLC in the amount of $3,500 and as well as flyer printing (2,000 flyers at $0.04 per copy) for the total amount of $3,580.
• The cost for hiring business consultant – $2,500.
• The cost for insurance (general liability, workers’ compensation and property casualty) coverage at a total premium – $2,400.
• The cost for payment of rent for 12 months at $1.76 per square feet warehouse facility in the total amount of $105,600.
• The total cost for abattoir facility remodeling (construction of drainages et al) – $20,000.
• Other start-up expenses including stationery ( $500 ) and phone and utility deposits ( $2,500 ).
• Operational cost for the first 3 months (salaries of employees, payments of bills et al) – $60,000
• The cost for Start-up inventory (purchase of livestock and slaughtering tools) – $200,000
• Storage hardware (bins, rack, shelves, food case) – $3,720
• The cost for counter area equipment (counter top, sink,  etc.) – $9,500
• The cost for store equipment (cash register, security, ventilation, signage) – $13,750
• The cost of purchase and installation of CCTVs – $5,000
• The cost for the purchase of furniture and gadgets (Computers, Printers, Telephone, TVs, Sound System, tables and chairs et al) – $4,000.
• The cost for the purchase of distribution vans / trucks – $25,000
• The cost of launching a website – $600
• The cost for our opening party – $7,000
• Miscellaneous – $10,000

We would need an estimate of five hundred and fifty thousand dollars ( $500,000 ) to successfully set up our abattoir business in Trenton – New Jersey.

Generating Startup Capital for East – Coast Abattoir®, LLC

East – Coast Abattoir®, LLC is a private business that is solely owned and financed by Silas Joshua and his immediate family members. They do not intend to welcome any external business partners which is why he has decided to restrict the sourcing of the startup capital to 3 major sources. These are the areas we intend generating our startup capital from;

• Generate part of the startup capital from personal savings
• Source for soft loans from family members and friends
• Apply for loan from the Bank

N.B: We have been able to generate about $200,000 ( Personal savings $150,000 and soft loan from family members $50,000 ) and we are at the final stages of obtaining a loan facility of $300,000 from our bank. All the papers and documents have been signed and submitted, the loan has been approved and any moment from now our account will be credited with the amount.

14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy

The future of a business lies in the number of loyal customers that they have, the capacity and competence of their employees, their investment strategy and business structure. If all of these factors are missing from a business, then it won’t be too long before the business closes shop.

One of our major goals of starting East – Coast Abattoir®, LLC is to build a business that will survive off its own cash flow without the need for injecting finance from external sources once the business is officially running.

We know that one of the ways of gaining approval and winning customers over is to retail / distribute our meat, beef and poultry a little bit cheaper than what is obtainable in the market and we are well prepared to survive on lower profit margin for a while.

East – Coast Abattoir®, LLC will make sure that the right foundation, structures and processes are put in place to ensure that our staff welfare are well taken of. Our company’s corporate culture is designed to drive our business to greater heights and training and retraining of our workforce is at the top burner.

We know that if that is put in place, we will be able to successfully hire and retain the best hands we can get in the industry; they will be more committed to help us build the business of our dreams.

Check List/Milestone

• Business Name Availability Check: Completed
• Business Registration: Completed
• Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts: Completed
• Securing Point of Sales (POS) Machines: Completed
• Opening Mobile Money Accounts: Completed
• Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
• Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
• Application for business license and permit: Completed
• Purchase of Insurance for the Business: Completed
• Leasing of abattoir facility and remodeling the facility: In Progress
• Conducting Feasibility Studies: Completed
• Generating capital from family members: Completed
• Applications for Loan from the bank: In Progress
• Writing of Business Plan: Completed
• Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
• Drafting of Contract Documents and other relevant Legal Documents: In Progress
• Design of The Company’s Logo: Completed
• Printing of Packaging/Promotional Materials: In Progress
• Recruitment of employees: In Progress
• Purchase of butcher tools: In progress
• Purchase of distribution vans: Completed
• Creating Official Website for the Company: In Progress
• Creating Awareness for the business both online and around the community: In Progress
• Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement (License): Secured
• Opening party/launching party planning: In Progress
• Compilation of our list of products that will be distribute: Completed
• Establishing business relationship with farmers within and outside of Trenton – New Jersey: In Progress

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Poultry Farm Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Poultry Farm Business Plan

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their poultry farms. On this page, we will first give you some background information with regards to the importance of business planning. We will then go through a poultry farm business plan template step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

What is a Poultry Farm Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your poultry farm as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategy for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan for a Poultry Farm

If you’re looking to start a poultry farm, or grow your existing poultry farm, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your poultry farm in order to improve your chances of success. Your poultry farming business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Poultry Farms

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a poultry farm are personal savings, credit cards, USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) loans, bank loans, and angel investors. With regards to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to confirm that your financials are reasonable, but they will also want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business. Personal savings and USDA FSA loans are the most common funding paths for poultry farm.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

How to write a business plan for a chicken farm.

If you want to start a poultry farm or expand your current one, you need a business plan. We detail each section of a traditional business plan for a poultry farming business.

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of poultry farm you are operating and its status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a poultry farm business that you would like to grow, or are you operating poultry farm businesses in multiple locations?

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan. For example, give a brief overview of the poultry farm industry. Discuss the type of poultry farm you are operating. Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers. Provide a snapshot of your marketing plan. Identify the key members of your team. And offer an overview of your financial plan.  

Company Analysis

In your company analysis, you will detail the type of poultry farm you are operating.

For example, you might operate one of the following types of poultry farms:

• Breeder Farms : this type of poultry farm produces hatching eggs for delivery to the hatchery. After the 21 day incubation period, the hatchery then delivers the baby chicks to the broiler houses.
• Broiler Farms: this type of farm produces a 2.5 lb. to 8 lb. bird in 4 to 8 weeks which is processed for various types of retail sale to consumers, grocery stores or fast food chains as whole birds, cut-up breast, wings, thigh, drumsticks, deboned breast meat, or further processed pieces.
• Pullet Farms: this type of poultry farm produces pullets and roosters to be delivered to a breeder hen house at 20-22 weeks old when they are sexually mature to breed and lay eggs.

In addition to explaining the type of poultry farming business you will operate, the Company Analysis section of your business plan needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to question such as:

• When and why did you start the business?
• What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include the number of chickens and/or turkeys produced, number of production contracts, etc.
• Your legal structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry analysis, you need to provide an overview of the poultry farm industry.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the poultry farm industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your strategy, particularly if your research identifies market trends.

The third reason for market research is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section of your poultry farming business plan:

• How big is the poultry farm industry (in dollars)?
• Is the market declining or increasing?
• Who are the key competitors in the market?
• Who are the key suppliers in the market?
• What trends are affecting the industry?
• What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
• What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential market for your poultry farm business? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your target market.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section of your poultry farming business plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: processors, grocery stores, and restaurants.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of poultry farm business you operate. Clearly, processors would respond to different marketing promotions than restaurants, for example.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, include a discussion of the ages, genders, locations and income levels of the customers you seek to serve. Because most poultry farm businesses primarily serve customers living in their same region, such demographic information is easy to find on government websites.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can understand and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.

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Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other poultry farm businesses.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t direct competitors. This includes producers of other meat such as beef, pork, or fish, as well as producers of meat alternatives. You need to mention such competition as well.

With regards to direct competition, you want to describe the other poultry farms with which you compete. Most likely, your direct competitors will be poultry farms located very close to your location.

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their businesses and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as:

• What types of customers do they serve?
• What kinds of poultry do they produce (breeders, broilers, pullets)?
• What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
• What are they good at?
• What are their weaknesses?

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

• Will you use superior production methods?
• Will you provide services that your competitors don’t offer?
• Will you provide better customer service?
• Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.  

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a poultry farm business plan, your marketing plan should include the following:

Product : In the product section, you should reiterate the type of poultry farm company that you documented in your Company Analysis. Then, detail the specific products you will be offering. For example, in addition to traditional poultry, will you provide organic or cage-free poultry?

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your marketing plan, you are presenting the products and services you offer and their prices.

Place : Place refers to the location of your poultry farm company. Document your location and mention how the location will impact your success. For example, is your poultry farm located near a processing facility, near a transportation hub, etc. Discuss how your location might be the ideal location for your customers.

Promotions : The final part of your poultry farm marketing plan is the promotions section. Here you will document how you will drive customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

• Advertising in trade papers and magazines
• Reaching out to local agriculture extension offices
• Social media marketing
• Local radio advertising

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your poultry farm, including animal care / feeding, flock supervision, animal transportation, sourcing feed, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to sign your 20th production contract, or when you hope to reach $X in revenue. It could also be when you expect to expand your poultry farm to a new location.  

Management Team

To demonstrate your poultry farm’s ability to succeed, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.

Ideally you and/or your team members have direct experience in managing poultry farms. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act like mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in managing farms or successfully running small businesses.  

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statements.

Income Statement

An income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenues and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you supply 50 restaurants, or produce 2,000 birds for processing each month? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets

Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $50,000 on building out your poultry farming business, this will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a bank writes you a check for $50,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement

Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and make sure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt.

In developing your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a poultry farm business:

• Location build-out including design fees, construction, etc.
• Cost of equipment and supplies
• Payroll or salaries paid to staff
• Business insurance
• Taxes and permits
• Legal expenses

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your farm title or lease, or blueprints of the production facility.  

Putting together a business plan for your poultry farm is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will really understand the poultry farm industry, your competition, and your customers. You will have developed a marketing plan and will really understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful poultry farming business.  

Poultry Farm Business Plan FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my poultry farm business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily complete your Poultry Farm Business Plan.

What is the Goal of a Business Plan's Executive Summary?

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of poultry farm business you are operating and the status; for example, are you a startup, do you have a poultry farm business that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of poultry farm businesses?

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Other Helpful Business Plan Articles & Templates

Sample Slaughterhouse Business Plan

Slaughterhouse business plan sample.

Thinking about setting up a slaughterhouse business? Are you having difficulty putting together good poultry, chicken, or cattle abattoir plan? Well if you do, we’re here to help.

Our slaughterhouse business plan targets people within this category. We offer reliable insights into how your plan should look like and some important areas you shouldn’t overlook.

Before we go further, we’d like you to know that simplicity should be the watchword. In other words, you should try as much as possible not to complicate the process.

Hence, this sample should provide enough guidance on how it should look.

EXAMPLE OF AN ABATTOIR BUSINESS PLAN FOR CATTLE, POULTRY, AND CHICKEN

– Executive Summary

Clean-cut Slaughterhouse Inc. is a business that handles the meat needs of our City. Located in the outskirts of Madison, Wisconsin, we are poised to offer top of the range slaughterhouse services.

Founded by the duo of Carlos Henderson and Louis Douglas, Clean-cut Slaughterhouse Inc. will compete favorably with the big players. To achieve this, we are putting in place the right structures necessary.

The founders have worked with major slaughterhouse brands in America. This has given them critical experience and expertise. As a result, we will not be starting from a position of disadvantage. We are deploying all our experience into making sure we succeed.

Our Services

At Clean-cut Slaughterhouse, our services are varied and include the slaughter of 7 types of animals which include cattle , pigs , sheep, horses, goats , poultry , and chicken.

Our other services include deboning and cutting of carcasses as well as the supply of butcher shops with our products. We have 2 main slaughter lines. But before animals are loaded onto the line, they undergo a healthy inspection.

This is done to ensure our products are safe for consumption. Hence the need for an inspection unit headed by qualified veterinarians .

We have seen the need to enhance the quality of services provided by slaughterhouses. As a result, we are coming with 3 decades of experience. By bringing our expertise and experience to bear, we are on course to establish one of the best slaughterhouses in Wisconsin and beyond.

Hence within 8 years of our operations, we expect to listed among the top 20 slaughterhouses in Wisconsin.

Our Mission

Quality of products and services are held dear at Clean-cut Slaughterhouse Inc. To achieve this, we have put our efforts at ensuring that only healthy animals are accepted.

Also, our state-of-the-art facility enhances hygiene as well as humane treatment slaughter of animals. As a result, only the best products are supplied to butcher shops .

Adequate financing is the lifeline of our operations. As such, we seek to source for a capital amounting to $1,500,000.00. This amount will be used for the purchase of equipment, building a slaughterhouse as well as for running costs. We have identified a bank through which the loan will be sourced.

However, only loans with considerably low-interest rates will be applied for.

SWOT Analysis

We have been careful to identify potentials as well as likely pitfalls for our business. This has led us to call for an assessment of our operations. As expected, important findings were made. This has enabled us to adjust and redouble our efforts where necessary.

i. Strength

We have the advantage of expertise and experience. In addition to these, our extensive network within the industry gives us a unique opportunity to boost our business operations significantly.

ii. Weakness

By objectively assessing our areas of weakness, we have identified them to include our immediate financial limitations. This is seen concerning major/established slaughterhouses who have bigger budgets.

This is key because the budget determines output or capacity. Luckily, this will only be short-lived as we will pursue an aggressive expansion drive.

iii. Opportunities

Opportunities are boundless. Hence our passion to float a business. Apart from the domestic market, the international market beckons. Markets within developing countries offer the biggest potential. Thus, while supplying the domestic market, we have plans to grow international.

iv. Threats

Our business can be disrupted by animal diseases. As a result, there is a huge drop in demand. Most importantly, having this knowledge helps us prepare beforehand. But in Inspite of preparations, we can only lessen the effects of such misfortunes.

Competitive Advantage

This is the language of business and we have structured our operations around it. Our areas of advantage include our use of the latest technology. We have discovered that most slaughterhouses used older equipment.

Although this is true, they carry out an overhaul after some years. This places us at an advantage. We have decided to always update our operations with the latest technology.

What more? Our personnel is our pride. In other words, they bring experience to the job. In addition to this, our wide network allows us to operate seamlessly.

Marketing Strategy

There’s little a business can achieve without marketing. Thus having an effective marketing strategy is necessary. At Clean-cut Slaughterhouse, we have decided to work closely with meat shops. These and more will be targeted.

All such activities will be headed by our marketing department. A lot of work was put into choosing our team.

Hence we’ve chosen people with a deep understanding of how our business works. Our result-oriented approach will spur us to achieve our target.

Sales Projection

We are in business for profits and growth. This is in addition to providing quality slaughter services. Hence we’ve seen the need for profitability assessment. Consequently, using available data, we’ve done a three-year projection.

This has considered several aspects of our operations. Results obtained show the following;

• First Financial Year.   $500,000.00
• Second Financial Year. $1,100,000.00
• Third Financial Year.  $3,500,000.00

Have you found the information provided here useful? We hope you have.

We’ve been able to simplify the process. We also advise that you strip your plan of ambiguity. But why? Because it gives greater clarity.

So what’s better than having a highly implementable slaughterhouse business plan ? Writing your plan isn’t enough. Implementation is equally important.

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How To Start An Abattoir Business

An abattoir is a facility where livestock is slaughtered for the processes of meat preparation along with the production of other meat products. The meat and meat products produced are predominantly meant for the human food consumption market though other products and by-products are earmarked for other uses. With the incessant rise in the number of people starting livestock businesses it comes as no surprise why starting an abattoir is a strategic venture. Most livestock farmers still heavily rely on commercial abattoirs most of which are usually run poorly or are distant from them. Some of these abattoirs are in a deplorable state of filth thus posing health hazards for the subsequent consumers of products produced. This article shall take you along explaining how you can start an abattoir business and some abattoir business plan tips.

There is a deliberate reason as to why we mentioned how some abattoirs are not hygienic. This is meant to show you a loop hole or gap that you as an aspiring entrepreneur can capitalize on. The most prudent approach will be to establish a small scale abattoir that offers service to a particular geographical location (i.e. communities or localities). This is akin to opening private abattoirs which is a strategy that neutralizes the effect of a somewhat saturated commercial market (referring to the big players here). The small scale aspect will help ease financial burden and also makes it easier to uphold high quality control standards.

Another benefit will be that you would have created convenience to most livestock farmers who cannot easily access abattoir services usually far from them. This is not to say that you cannot start on a large scale – if you have the funds then you can do it. Some of the most commonly slaughtered livestock are cattle, pigs, goats and sheep . Thus your core focus can be on any of these or all of them and even more. Some abattoirs also incorporate the slaughtering of birds which is a broad domain that includes birds like poultry. Though meat is the major focus for most abattoirs you can diversify into making meat products or by-products.

There is a whole load of by-products that can be produced by an abattoir. We believe that if aspiring abattoir business owners seriously look into this they can make a whole lot more money. One common by-product is offal which is a hit amongst many customers in several parts of the world. Not forgetting leather which is a high-value by-product made from cattle hides. Bones and rendered meat can be used in stock feeds and fertilizers. By-products such as gelatin ( mainly from pigs ) can be used in making medications. Animal fat can be used in the making of detergents whilst other by-products such as lanolin can be used in the making of beauty products . By-products must be taken very seriously in an abattoir business – do not just dispose certain things as waste. Your abattoir business plan should clearly specify which products your abattoir will deal with.

Market Research

This is a precursor to commencing business operations because there are things you must ascertain beforehand. You have to find out the availability of a market, its segmentation, its needs and its characteristic demographics such as location, scale of operations and the like. You must also study current players on how they are conducting business. We are looking at things like services offered, business processes, strategies, marketing approaches, pricing and so on. In your market research you must take time to find out about pertinent regulations that you are required to adhere to when operating an abattoir business. There are certain health and environmental certifications that one must acquire from relevant authorities. So you must research on that or better still you can find out from established players. This will help you come up with a well detailed abattoir business plan.

Make Sure You Have A Comprehensive Abattoir Business Plan

The failure to plan is the beginning of business failure. The abattoir business plan must be clear and succinct enough to give your potential partners, clients and investors an overview of what your objectives are. At the same time, it must be detailed enough to explain the operations of the business that you propose. At the very minimum you need to have the following included in your abattoir business plan:

• The mission, vision and operational strategy
• Market Analysis And Customer Segmentation
• A business case showing that the business is financial viable and sustainable
• A marketing and customer care plan
• An organizational chart and human resource policy
• A three-year expansion outlook
• A risk and rewards Analysis

Location And Premises

It is wise to establish the business close to livestock farming locations. This can actually give you a competitive edge over other abattoirs that might be situated quite far from livestock farmers. Be somewhere where there is an excellent road network for ease of accessibility. The actual place where the abattoir will be must have a reliable water source. For smooth disposal of effluent or other waste the terrain must be a gentle slope to avoid water logging or settling of waste in one place. The premises must be sufficiently large, well-lit, well-aerated and easily cleanable. The costs of purchasing or leasing the premises should be included in your abattoir business plan.

There is a range of equipment required for the smooth running of this business. An abattoir business is technical and that is why specialized equipment is needed. Slaughtering machines and slaughtering tools are required – manual and automatic. Other handling equipment such as bins, knives, sinks; counter tops, trays, tables, weighing scales and so on are needed. Some of the specialized equipment necessary is scalding and de-hairing machines, conveyor belts, hoists, splitting saw, shears and scalding tanks. Trolleys, stunners, de-hiders, de-horners, rail systems, stunners, gambrels and protective clothing are also needed. As you can see there is a broad range of equipment needed which will depend on your funds, scale of operations or types of services you will be offering. The abattoir business plan should include the costs of acquiring the equipment.

Staff And Management

It is highly advised that you hire or outsource people with qualified expertise who know what they are supposed to do. As usual the management needs can be effectively run by you and family members where applicable. Generally the staff and management requirements are informed by your scale of operations. When looking for people to work with look out for people with qualifications in abattoir processes, abattoir supervision, slaughtering processes, meat examination and classification amongst other related skill sets. The salaries and wages of all your staff should be included in the abattoir business plan.

This must be enough information to equip you with the necessary traction to kick-start your abattoir business. Ensure you stick to high standards of hygiene and adhere to all regulatory requirements. The abattoirs industry is growing and as long as you keep in mind the details discussed herein you will definitely make it.

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Poultry Farm Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Poultry Farm Business Plan

You’ve come to the right place to create your Poultry Farm business plan.

We have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans and many have used them to start or grow their Poultry Farms.

Below is a template to help you create each section of your Poultry Farming business plan.

Executive Summary

Business overview.

Smith Poultry Farm is a new farm business located in Mason City, Iowa. The business is a newly established farm founded by John and Sue Smith. As native Iowans, the couple has spent their life in the farming industry as their families have established farms throughout Iowa. Currently, there is a poultry shortage throughout the midwestern United States as some farms have been forced to shut down their business due to rising costs, labor shortage, and higher technology standards. John and Sue have decided to take this opportunity to alleviate the poultry shortage as well as finally establish the farm they have been planning to do for the past six years.

As native Iowans, John and Sue have already recruited a team of farmhands that have extensive experience working in poultry farms. Most of them have been recently laid off from other poultry farms that have shut down their operations.

John and Sue plan on starting with 5,000 chickens, 500 turkeys, and 100 ducks on 10 acres of land. Their business operations will be centered around daily processes and procedures to tend to the chickens and prepare them for packaging for resale and distribution.

Product Offering

The following are the products that Smith Poultry Farm will provide:

• Chicken for consumption
• Turkey for consumption
• Ducks for consumption

Customer Focus

Smith Poultry Farm will target all residents residing in northern Iowa and throughout the state. They will target families, individuals, supermarkets, large retail chains, and restaurants.

Management Team

Smith Poultry Farm will be owned and operated by John and Sue Smith. They will recruit a very experienced and knowledgeable operator to manage the day-to-day operations of the poultry farm.

John Smith was born and raised on a local farm and has been working in farms most of his life. He left to pursue his agriculture degree from Iowa State and returned to work full-time at his father’s large farm. That farm produces beef, poultry, pork, and vegetables. Once he married Sue, the couple decided that they would begin to save up to pursue a farm of their own.

Sue Smith was raised on a farm as well. Once she graduated from high school, she attended Iowa State to pursue a degree in Business Administration. It was there where she met John and planned for their future farm where he would manage the farm operations and she would be in charge of the financial management and administration of the poultry farm operations.

Success Factors

Smith Poultry Farm will be able to achieve success by offering the following competitive advantages:

• Ownership has extensive experience and knowledge in the poultry farming industry.
• Owners will invest in the latest technology and equipment to make their poultry farm the most superior in the Midwest.
• Smith Poultry Farm will breed high quality chickens, turkeys, and ducks in order to produce the freshest and quality poultry.

Financial Highlights

Smith Poultry Farm is seeking $500,000 in debt financing to launch its property management business. The funding will be dedicated towards securing the farm land and purchasing the necessary equipment and supplies. Funding will also be dedicated towards three months of overhead costs to include payroll of the staff, mortgage, and marketing costs for the poultry farm. The breakout of the funding is below:

• Purchase 10 acres of farmland: $100,000
• Farm equipment, supplies, and materials: $100,000
• Three months of overhead expenses (payroll, rent, utilities): $150,000
• Marketing costs: $50,000
• Working capital: $100,000

The following graph below outlines the pro forma financial projections for Smith Poultry Farm.

Company Overview

Who is Smith Poultry Farm?

Smith Poultry Farm is a new poultry farm business located in Mason City, Iowa. The business is a newly established poultry farm founded by John and Sue Smith. As native Iowans, the couple has spent their life in the farming industry as their families have established farms throughout Iowa. Currently, there is a poultry shortage throughout the midwestern United States as some farms have been forced to shut down their business due to rising costs, labor shortage, and higher technology standards. Growing up in the farming industry, John and Sue have decided to take this opportunity to alleviate the poultry shortage as well as finally establish the farm they have been planning to do for the past six years. The couple plans to raise chickens, turkeys, and ducks to produce poultry for food consumption as well as eggs. Once the business is established, the couple will add more birds to the farm and purchase additional land.

As native Iowans, John and Sue have already recruited a team of farmhands that have extensive experience working in poultry farms. Most of them have been recently laid off from other poultry farms that have shut down their operations. John and Sue have already identified the lead farmhand who will assist John in the day to day farm operations oversight.

Smith Poultry Farm History Smith Poultry Farm is owned and operated by John and Sue Smith, Iowa natives who have extensive experience in farm operations and business administration. John has worked for his father’s large farm for most of his life and wants to finally pursue his own poultry farm since a number of poultry farms have ceased operations due to increased labor and distribution costs. John has already pursued a number of local grocery stores, large retail stores, and restaurants to have contracts to be their sole poultry distributor.

Since incorporation, Smith Poultry Farm has achieved the following milestones:

• Registered Smith Poultry Farm, LLC to transact business in the state of Iowa.
• Has 6 contracts in place to provide poultry for local restaurants, grocery stores, and large retail chains.
• Reached out to numerous individuals and households to purchase their household’s poultry directly from Smith Poultry Farm.
• Began recruiting a staff of farmhands to assist in the day to day operations of the poultry farm.

Smith Poultry Farm Products

The following will be the products Smith Poultry Farm will provide:

Industry Analysis

Customer analysis, demographic profile of target market.

Smith Poultry Farm will target all residents of  Mason City and the surrounding states. The target market will consist of households, grocery stores, restaurants, and large retail chains.

The precise demographics for Mason City, Iowa are:

• 503,642 residents
• 310,000 households
• 1,000 restaurants
• 500 grocery stores
• 6 large retail grocery stores

Customer Segmentation

Smith Poultry Farm will primarily target the following customer profiles:

• Individuals and households
• Grocery Stores
• Restaurants
• Large Grocery Chains

Competitive Analysis

Direct and indirect competitors.

Smith Poultry Farm will face competition from other companies with similar business profiles. A description of each competitor company is below.

Myson Poultry Farm

Myson Poultry Farm is a modern, multi-national, protein-focused food company that produces approximately 20% of the beef, pork, and chicken in the United States. Along with its subsidiaries, the company operates a food company worldwide. The company began during the Great Depression when the eldest Myson began selling chickens. A few decades later, Myson’s son grew it into the large company it is today and is one of the largest poultry producers and distributors in the world.

By investing in technology, Myson was able to grow the brand. Through the development of better feeds and better disease control methods, chickens were maturing more quickly. These improvements, combined with increased competition, meant lower prices for consumers and households were able to purchase their poultry products in larger quantities.

Iowa Poultry Farm

Iowa Poultry Farms started in the 1920s when Liam Nelson sold and traded eggs by the dozen as a means to put food on the table for his family. Four generations later, the Nelson family has grown the business year-over-year to continue to meet the changing needs of the egg and pullet industry. More than 90 years of experience has established Iowa Poultry Farm as a well-respected pullet and hatching business as well as a reliant commercial egg producer under the current leadership.

The strength of Iowa Poultry Farm began when master plans for growth from the late 1980s to present day have produced new and improved pullet production facilities that have the capacity to accommodate the growth of the majority of the pullets in NPF’s proprietary facilities. Recent capital development has been invested in hatchery and breeder facilities that have the capacity to produce up to 9 million female chicks per year as well as supplementary aviary growing facilities for both cage-free and floor-grown conventional pullets.

Iowa Poultry Farm continues to innovate as a pullet and hatching business under the leadership of Frank and his son, Brett.

Good Cluck Poultry Farm

Good Cluck Poultry Farm maintains more than 50,000 breeders on its company owned farms. The company currently hatches and sells 79 standard chicken breeds/varieties, 58 breeds/varieties of bantams, 9 breeds of ducks, 3 breeds of geese, and 4 breeds/varieties of guineas. In addition, Good Cluck has available, as a service to its customers, 9 heritage breeds of turkeys, pheasants, and chukar.

Good Cluck certainly has good luck. While many hatcheries have been forced to close, Good Cluck Poultry Farm has become a leader in producing non-commercial poultry annually, selling more than six million items of baby poultry.

Good Cluck’s full list of products are white egg layers, brown egg layers, colored egg layers, standard assortments, broilers, crested chickens, feather legged bantams, bantam assortments, clean leg bantams, ducks, geese, guineas, turkeys, pheasants, chukar, and supplies.

Competitive Advantage

Smith Poultry Farm will be able to offer the following advantages over their competition:

• Ownership has extensive experience and knowledge in the poultry farming industry and has over 20 years of experience managing poultry farm operations
• Smith Poultry Farm will breed high quality chickens, ducks, and turkeys in order to produce the freshest and quality poultry.

Marketing Plan

Brand & value proposition.

Smith Poultry Farm will offer the unique value proposition to its clientele:

• All farming practices will utilize the latest technology and equipment for safe breeding practices, production, and distribution of all farm animals.
• The farm will only breed the highest quality poultry.
• Unbeatable pricing to its clients and customers – Smith Poultry Farm does not mark up its poultry products at a large percentage. All poultry will be on par with competition.

Promotions Strategy

The promotions strategy for Smith Poultry Farm is as follows:

Word of Mouth/Referrals

John Smith has built up an extensive list of contacts over the years by living and working in the midwestern farming industry. Since a number of local poultry farms have ceased operations, they have committed to John that Smith Poultry Farm will be their poultry supplier. They trust his work ethic and commitment to the local community.

Professional Associations and Networking

Smith Poultry Farm will become a member of American Farmland Trust, Farming NGO, National Farmers Union, and the Iowa Chamber of Commerce. They will focus their networking efforts on expanding their client network and marketing their new brand.

Print Advertising

Smith Poultry Farm will invest in professionally designed print ads to display in programs or flyers at industry networking events.

Website/SEO Marketing

Smith Poultry Farm will hire a third-party marketing company to design their print ads and design their website. The website will be well organized, informative, and list all the poultry products they plan to offer. The website will also list their contact information and directions to the poultry farm. The marketing company will also include SEO tactics so that anytime someone types in the Google or Bing search engine “Iowa poultry farm” or “poultry farm near me”, Smith Poultry Farm will be listed at the top of the search results.

Zero po, hindi rin po kami mahilig malabas ng mga panood.

The pricing of Smith Poultry Farm will be moderate and on par with competitors so customers feel they receive value when purchasing their poultry products.

Operations Plan

The following will be the operations plan for Smith Poultry Farm.

Operation Functions:

• John Smith will be the Owner and President of the company. He will oversee all staff and manage client relations. John, along with Sue, has spent the past year recruiting the following staff:
• Sue Smith – will oversee all administrative aspects of running the poultry farm. This will include bookkeeping, tax payments, and payroll of the staff.
• George Hargrove – Head Farmhand who will oversee the farming staff and day to day operations.
• Ben Loya – Assistant Farmhand who will assist George.
• Frank Johnson – Distribution Manager who will oversee the packaging and distribution of all poultry products.

Milestones:

Smith Poultry Farm will have the following milestones complete in the next six months.

1/1/202X – Finalize purchase of farm land

2/15/202X – Purchase farm equipment, supplies and materials

3/1/202X – Finalize contracts for grocery store, chain, and restaurant clients

4/15/202X – Begin networking at industry events

5/1/202X – Purchase initial set of poultry animals

5/15/202X – Hire and train farm staff

6/1/202X – Smith Poultry Farm begins farm operations

Smith Poultry Farm will be owned and operated by John and Sue Smith. John will manage the oversight of all farm operations with the help of his lead farmhand. Sue will manage all administrative and financial aspects of the farm business.

Financial Plan

Key revenue & costs.

The revenue drivers for Smith Poultry Farm are the revenues it will receive from poultry products, eggs, and the breeding fees they will charge to individuals who have high-quality chicken, turkeys, or ducks they want to breed.

The cost drivers will be the overhead costs required in order to staff and maintain successful farm operations. The expenses will be the payroll cost, mortgage payment, utilities, farming supplies, equipment maintenance, and marketing materials.

Funding Requirements and Use of Funds

Smith Poultry Farm is $500,000 in debt financing to launch its property management business. The funding will be dedicated towards securing the farm land and purchasing the necessary equipment and supplies. Funding will also be dedicated towards three months of overhead costs to include payroll of the staff, mortgage, and marketing costs for the poultry farm. The breakout of the funding is below:

Key Assumptions

The following outlines the key assumptions required in order to achieve the revenue and cost numbers in the financials and in order to pay off the startup business loan.

• Number of Poultry Animals: 5,600
• Average Revenue per Animal: $20
• Number of Poultry Products Sold Per Year: 1,000,000

Financial Projections

Income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, poultry farm business plan faqs, what is a poultry farm business plan.

A poultry farm business plan is a plan to start and/or grow your poultry farm business. Among other things, it outlines your business concept, identifies your target customers, presents your marketing plan and details your financial projections.

You can easily complete your poultry farm business plan using our Poultry Farm Business Plan Template here .

What are the Main Types of Poultry Farms?

There are a number of different kinds of poultry farms , some examples include: Breeder Farms, Broiler Farms, and Pullet Farms.

How Do You Get Funding for Your Poultry Business Plan?

Poultry farms are often funded through small business loans. Personal savings, credit card financing and angel investors are also popular forms of funding.  Having a chicken farming business plan will help show investors you are well-prepared to start your own business.

What are the Steps To Start a Poultry Farm Business?

Starting a poultry farm business can be an exciting endeavor. Having a clear roadmap of the steps to start a business will help you stay focused on your goals and get started faster.

1. Develop A Poultry Farm Business Plan - The first step in starting a business is to create a detailed poultry business plan that outlines all aspects of the venture. This should include potential market size and target customers, the services or products you will offer, pricing strategies and a detailed financial forecast.  

2. Choose Your Legal Structure - It's important to select an appropriate legal entity for your poultry farm business. This could be a limited liability company (LLC), corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship. Each type has its own benefits and drawbacks so it’s important to do research and choose wisely so that your poultry farm business is in compliance with local laws.

3. Register Your Poultry Farm Business - Once you have chosen a legal structure, the next step is to register your poultry farm business with the government or state where you’re operating from. This includes obtaining licenses and permits as required by federal, state, and local laws. 

4. Identify Financing Options - It’s likely that you’ll need some capital to start your poultry farm business, so take some time to identify what financing options are available such as bank loans, investor funding, grants, or crowdfunding platforms. 

5. Choose a Location - Whether you plan on operating out of a physical location or not, you should always have an idea of where you’ll be based should it become necessary in the future as well as what kind of space would be suitable for your operations. 

6. Hire Employees - There are several ways to find qualified employees including job boards like LinkedIn or Indeed as well as hiring agencies if needed – depending on what type of employees you need it might also be more effective to reach out directly through networking events. 

7. Acquire Necessary Poultry Farm Equipment & Supplies - In order to start your poultry farm business, you'll need to purchase all of the necessary equipment and supplies to run a successful operation. 

8. Market & Promote Your Business - Once you have all the necessary pieces in place, it’s time to start promoting and marketing your poultry farm business. This includes creating a website, utilizing social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, and having an effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. You should also consider traditional marketing techniques such as radio or print advertising. 

Learn more about how to start a successful poultry farm business:

• How to Start a Farm Business

Additional Helpful Template

Farm Business Plan

How to write a business plan for a poultry farm?

Writing a business plan for a poultry farm can be an intimidating task, but with the right pointers it doesn't have to be.

This guide is designed to provide aspiring and existing poultry farmers with the information they need to create a comprehensive and effective business plan that covers all of their bases. 

Whether you are starting up or looking to grow your current operation, this guide will walk you through the steps necessary to write a successful business plan for your poultry farm. 

We'll cover why writing a business plan is necessary, what information is needed, what should be included in your business plan, and which tools can help make the process easier. 

With this guide as your roadmap, you'll have everything you need to create an effective and comprehensive business plan for your poultry farm!

In this guide:

Why write a business plan for a poultry farm?

• Information needed to create a business plan for a poultry farm
• What goes into your poultry farm's financial forecast?

The written part of a poultry farm business plan

• What tool should I use to write my poultry farm business plan?

Writing a business plan for your poultry farm is an essential exercise because of the following reasons:

• A business plan acts as a roadmap for your business
• A business plan is indispensable if you want to secure financing
• A business plan helps you keep track of the progress of your poultry business

A business plan as the roadmap for your poultry business

A good business plan will clarify how your business should move forward, what steps are necessary to ensure success, and how best to use the available resources. 

It also helps identify potential risks before they become problems that might detract you from meeting your business goals.

A business plan helps you to secure financing for your poultry company

Writing a poultry farm business plan is essential if you need to raise capital to start or expand, as investors and banks will use your business plan to determine if an investment in your poultry farm can generate a good return on their investment. They want to see healthy growth, profitability and cash generation outlined in your business plan.

Financiers look at your revenue projections, costs, assets, liabilities, and cashflows to make informed decisions about investing in your business. If the figures in your business plan are not persuasive, your hope of securing financing may become a distant memory. 

Therefore, your poultry business plan must be comprehensive and convincing enough to get the attention of investors and banks.

Tracking the progress of your poultry business

A well-thought-out poultry business plan allows you to evaluate your financial performance to your initial objectives: this enables you to identify any discrepancies between your expectations and reality so that corrective measures can be taken.

For example, if the operating expenses of your poultry business go up 5% more than what is in your business plan: you could make adjustments to correct the situation. 

You may also define goals and targets for the next 3 to 5 years and use your business plan to track your progress.

Now that we've covered why it's vital, let's look at the information you need to construct a business plan for a poultry farm. 

Create your poultry farm business plan online!

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What information is needed to create a business plan for a poultry farm?

Carrying out market research for a poultry farm.

Carrying out market research before writing a business plan for a poultry farm is crucial to forecasting revenues and devising an effective strategy. 

Market research offers insightful information on the state of the sector, including competitor analyses, consumer preferences, and trends that could influence upcoming sales. 

You should seek to answer critical questions like:

• How has the poultry sector fared in recent years?
• Who is the competition? What is my competitive edge?
• Which market segments - production, processing, and breeding - are the most lucrative?
• What are pricing and profit margins like?
• What have been the upcoming trends in consumer behaviour in the poultry sector?
• How long does it take from breeding to bird sales?
• Is the poultry sector highly seasonal? Putting into consideration festive periods.

Knowing these details will allow you to make informed decisions when creating your poultry business plan and ensure your goals are realistic and achievable.

Developing the marketing plan for a poultry farm

Before writing a poultry business plan, you must develop a comprehensive marketing plan. This will account for the budget allocated towards sales and marketing activities such as advertising, promotion, and pricing strategies.

Your marketing plan should also outline strategies you will use to sell your products/services to your target customers and any measures put in place to track progress.

The staffing and equipment needs of a poultry farm

It is critical to consider all necessary investments, such as staffing and equipment requirements, and any potential overhead costs.

For a startup entrepreneur in the poultry business sector, some of the initial costs required to bring the idea to life may include:

• Cost of renting land
• Construction costs
• Cost of buying the birds
• Vaccination
• Hiring a veterinary doctor
• Labour costs
• Equipment costs

Once you have gathered the information needed to create a business plan for a poultry farm, it is time to take the next step and make a financial forecast. This will help you determine how much money you need to invest in your farm and what kind of returns can be expected from your investments. 

What is the financial forecast for a poultry farm?

The financial forecast for a poultry farm includes the Profit and Loss (P&L) statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement. 

The projected P&L statement

A projected P&L statement for a poultry business plan provides an estimate of how much money the farm may make in the near future (3-5 years). 

It tells investors and banks if your business is expected to be profitable and by how much it is anticipated to grow. This information helps your financiers decide if they want to finance your poultry farm.

The projected balance sheet of your poultry farm

The balance sheet for a poultry business plan is an essential financial statement that helps to examine a company's present financial situation. 

It provides a snapshot of all the assets a business owns, such as cash, inventory, equipment, buildings, and property; as well as all of its liabilities like loans and accounts payable (an account that tracks credit purchases). 

This information assists lenders and investors in understanding how the poultry farm is spending its finances and evaluating your company's ability to pay its long-term debt (solvency) and short-term debt (liquidity).

The projected cash flow statement

A cash flow statement for a poultry business plan shows how much money comes in and goes out of the farm during the period under observation. 

A projected cash flow statement helps you plan and ensure that you have enough cash to operate the farm. In addition, Investors are interested in seeing how their cash will be used to grow your business.

The initial financing plan

An initial financing plan helps you keep track of the money needed to start a poultry farm. It shows how much money you need and where it should come from. The initial financing plan is also called the sources and uses table. 

The table shows all the different sources of funds, like loans or investments, and how they will be used for expenses such as buying equipment. 

A trustworthy financial forecast is a necessary component of any business plan for a poultry farm, but it is not the only piece of information needed. 

To get a holistic view of your business, readers will also need to understand the context behind the numbers - and that comes from the written part of your poultry farm business plan, which we are going to be looking at next.

The written part of a poultry business plan is composed of seven main sections:

The executive summary

The presentation of the company, the products and services section, the market analysis, the strategy section, the operations section.

• The financial plan

The executive summary section of your poultry business plan should give an overview of the other six sections of the business plan (above) and should cover the following:

• A thorough overview of the poultry business
• Your goals and objectives
• Your business strategy
• The target market
• The organisational structure of your business
• Key financials and funding requirements

The executive summary section of your business plan should grab the attention of readers and encourage them to read the rest of the business plan

When writing this section of your business plan, you should cover the structure and ownership of the farm, its location, and its management team. 

The legal structure of the farm, such as whether it is a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, etc., as well as any ownership details, such as who owns what stake in the business and how that might influence decision-making, should be clearly described.

Next, information regarding the poultry farm's location must be presented to give readers a better understanding of its potential customer base. Providing location data, such as the street address and nearby cities and transport infrastructure will give potential investors an idea of how accessible the farm is for customers.

Lastly, a description of the management team and each individual's qualifications and experience in operating a poultry farm should be included. 

Through this information, potential investors will be able to assess the level of expertise and experience that exists within the team. 

For potential investors and lenders, the products and services component of your poultry farm's business plan is critical.

It should provide detailed information on what types of poultry (chicken, duck, turkey, etc.) your farm will be raising, how many birds it plans to produce, how much land and equipment is needed to run the operations and any other relevant details about production capacities.

This section should also include an analysis of the market for your products or services to demonstrate that there is enough demand for your business to be profitable. 

This includes researching competitors’ prices and marketing strategies, understanding customer needs, identifying areas where there may be untapped potential markets, and developing a strategy to differentiate yourself from the competition.

Additionally, this section should discuss any long-term goals or objectives related to product development or expansion into new markets that may help increase profitability over time.

When writing the market analysis section of your poultry business plan, it is vital to include information about demographics and segmentation, target markets, barriers to entry and competition. 

Demographics and segmentation should focus on the characteristics of the different customer segments in your target market. This information demonstrates to lenders and investors that there is demand for what you offer, that demand is sufficient, and that you have a reasonable grasp of the market.

Additionally, including information about your target market in your business plan ensures that the products and services your business offers are in line with market demands.

Finally, the competition analysis, when effectively presented, shows how viable your target market is and how well-positioned you are to compete.

When writing the strategy section of your poultry farm business plan, it is essential to include information on your competitive edge, pricing strategy, sales and marketing plan, milestones and risks and mitigants (how you will reduce risks). 

The competitive edge should explain why customers would choose your poultry farm over other businesses offering similar services, and discuss factors such as location, quality of product or customer service standards. 

Also, the pricing strategy should detail how you intend to price products for maximum profitability while remaining competitive within the market. 

It may also be useful to explain your sales and marketing strategy, which should describe how you intend to reach your potential customers and raise brand awareness through various channels, such as social media and print advertising. 

Furthermore, milestones that demonstrate to investors that you have defined growth and development objectives should also be mentioned. 

Lastly, describing potential risks with mitigations shows that you are aware of potential difficulties and have strategies in place to deal with them.

Presenting this information clearly in a business plan helps demonstrate that you have thoroughly considered all aspects of running your poultry farm successfully before launching operations.

The operations section of your poultry farm business plan should include detailed information about your staffing team, roles of staff members, and recruitment plan. It is also vital to list the specific positions that need to be filled, including those necessary for daily operations and those needed for administrative tasks. 

This section of the business plan should also include:

• The operating hours and any shifts or required rotations.
• The essential resources and intellectual property the company needs to run, such as permits and licenses.
• Information about which suppliers you plan to partner with, what kind of services they will provide and their commercial terms. 

When you provide investors with a comprehensive overview of the operations of your poultry farm, they will be better informed about how the business is expected to run and can make an educated decision about whether or not to invest in it. 

The presentation of the financial plan

In the financial plan section, you should talk about the financial forecast that we talked about earlier in this guide. 

This section is crucial because it contains all the facts necessary to demonstrate how much cash you will require and the costs associated with operating a poultry farm.

Now that you know what to include in a poultry farm business plan, it's time to discuss the tools and resources that can be used to create one. 

What tool should I use to write my poultry farm's business plan?

The three main options for drafting a business plan for a poultry farm are: using Word and Excel, paying a consultant to write the plan, or using online business plan software.

Create your poultry farm's business plan using Word or Excel

Creating a poultry farm business plan using Word or Excel might look like a cheap solution, but these programs have their challenges. 

• You start from a blank screen with no guided instructions
• It can’t be used to construct a financial forecast
• You have to be an expert in financial modelling to come up with an accurate forecast
• It takes a long time to create a complete forecast with Excel

Even if you successfully employ Word and Excel to create your company strategy, the problem of trust still exists. Will investors trust the outcome of your forecasts? That brings us to the next point.

Hire a consultant to write your poultry farm's business plan

Outsourcing a poultry farm business plan to a consultant or accountant is a viable option that can provide you with useful assistance while developing your business plan. 

Consultants are often experienced in writing business plans and accountants can create accurate financial forecasts. 

The only drawbacks to this solution are:

• Hiring a consultant or an accountant is expensive. The bare minimum for hiring a consultant is usually $2,000 (£1,500), excluding any additional changes required after the first version.
• An accountant will only help with the financial forecast section of your plan (you’d have to hire a consultant separately).
• There is the risk of them not understanding the poultry industry adequately to make recommendations or make a strong case to your financiers.

This leaves us with the third option.

Writing the business plan for a poultry farm yourself with an online business plan software

You might want to take matters into your own hands and write your poultry business plan using online business plan software. After all, nobody understands and is more passionate about your business than you do.

Some of the advantages of using an online business plan software are:

• It makes creating a financial forecast that will wow investors a breeze
• You don’t have to start from a blank screen (like in Word) and step-by-step instructions are provided for you for each section
• Helps you to confidently create your plan without worrying that you left out a crucial part
• Detail outline ensures that everything is covered
• Ensures that your plan follows the structure that investors and lenders expect
• You save time with the clear instructions provided
• Relevant examples are provided
• No knowledge of accounting required
• You don’t have to be a financial modelling expert
• No confusing Excel formulas
• A professional business plan template is provided, in which you could replace the texts and numbers with your business details to make it your own.

If you're interested in using this type of solution, you can try our software for free by signing up here .

We hope that this article has helped you to better understand how to write the business plan for a poultry farm. If you still have questions, do not hesitate to contact us.

Also on The Business Plan Shop

• Internal business plan guide
• Supplier business plan
• How to format a business plan
• Business plan steps
• How to write a five-year business plan?
• Mistakes to avoid in a business plan

Know someone in the poultry farm industry? Share this article with them!

Founder & CEO at The Business Plan Shop Ltd

Guillaume Le Brouster is a seasoned entrepreneur and financier.

Guillaume has been an entrepreneur for more than a decade and has first-hand experience of starting, running, and growing a successful business.

Prior to being a business owner, Guillaume worked in investment banking and private equity, where he spent most of his time creating complex financial forecasts, writing business plans, and analysing financial statements to make financing and investment decisions.

Guillaume holds a Master's Degree in Finance from ESCP Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Business & Management from Paris Dauphine University.

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Slaughterhouse and poultry wastes: management practices, feedstocks for renewable energy production, and recovery of value added products

• Review Article
• Published: 10 February 2022

Cite this article

• Velusamy Mozhiarasi 1 &
• Thillai Sivakumar Natarajan 2  

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The slaughterhouse and poultry industry is possibly one of the fastest-growing sectors driven by the increasing demand in food availability. Subsequently, the wastes produced from the slaughterhouse and poultry industry are in huge quantities, which could be a promising resource for the recovery of value added products, and bioenergy production to minimize the dependence on fossil fuels. Furthermore, the wastes from slaughterhouses and poultry are a hub of pathogens that is capable of infecting humans and animals. This demands the emerging need for an effective and safe disposal method to reduce the spread of diseases following animal slaughtering. In light of that, the state of the production of slaughterhouse and poultry wastes was presented at first. Following this, the impact of solid waste exposure in terms of air, water, and soil pollution and the associated health challenges due to improper solid waste management practices were presented to highlight the importance of the topic. Secondly, the potency of these solid wastes and the various waste-to-energy technologies that have been employed for effective management and resource utilization of wastes generated from slaughterhouses and poultry were reviewed in detail. Finally, this review also highlights the opportunities and challenges associated with effective solid waste management, future requirements for the development of effective technologies for the recovery of value added products (like keratin, fibreboards), and biofuel production.

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Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

1 Introduction

Solid waste generation is an alarming issue worldwide due to the significant rise in population growth along with industrialization and urbanization, which retains terrific pressure on the environment and public health [ 1 , 2 ]. Similarly, the management of these solid wastes is another worldwide problem because of the complexity associated with waste segregation, collection, transportation, treatment, and disposal, which greatly affect environmental sustainability. Furthermore, the improper disposal of solid wastes also creates several environmental (water, air, and soil pollution) and health issues like waterborne diseases and respiratory illness resulting from the open burning of wastes.

Global solid waste generation is estimated to be about 11.2 billion tons per year, which is projected to increase by 19 billion tons per year by 2025 [ 3 , 4 ]. Out of the solid wastes, global municipal solid waste (MSW) generation was found to be about 2.01 billion tons per year resultant from the global population of 7.8 billion [ 5 , 6 ]. It is estimated that the global population is projected to increase to 9.9 billion by 2050 which is approximately 26.9% increase than the present population during which the MSW generation is estimated to increase approximately by 70%, i.e., 3.4 billion tons per year. Out of the 2.01 billion tons of MSW generated annually, it was reported that about 33% is not treated properly, and thus, improper management of solid waste is quite common in many developing countries. Along with waste-handling issues, solid wastes also contribute 3% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [ 7 ]. Among these solid wastes, animal byproducts are well-recognized drivers of GHG. It was also investigated from the life cycle assessment study that meatless meals showed a 40% reduction in environmental impacts while compared to the meat-containing meals in the assessed indicators like carbon footprint, resource consumption, water use, and health impacts [ 8 ].

Generally, slaughterhouse wastes are animal byproducts that remain unutilized after slaughtering. The wastes from slaughterhouses are one of the major solid wastes that need to be accounted for. Because rising population ultimately increases the rate of meat consumption, thus abattoir waste management becomes a huge challenge, especially in urban centers. Furthermore, the amount of solid waste generation depends on the scale of the slaughtering process. Improper disposal of abattoir waste not only affects the air and water quality but also increases the threats to human health due to the presence of pathogenic microbes [ 9 ]. It is reported that about one-third to one-half of the total weight of slaughtered animal remains as unutilized or partly utilized byproducts of livestock and poultry industry [ 10 , 11 ]. Similarly, the poultry industry is growing worldwide and provides huge employment opportunities, and alleviates poverty. In the poultry industry, huge quantities of wastes are being generated in terms of solid wastes (bedding material, feathers, hatchery wastes, blood, offal, shells, poultry manure/litter, etc.) and wastewater [ 12 ]. Though the poultry industries alleviate poverty, still abattoir wastes create a huge amount of environmental pollution by means of improper waste disposal or underutilization of wastes’ potency. However, similar to large animal slaughterhouses, poultry wastes also have great potential for value added applications.

In many of the developing countries, like India, almost 3/4 th fund allocated to urban solid waste management is utilized for waste collection and transportation [ 13 ]. This becomes a major constraint for the effective treatment of solid wastes. The main problem is the mixing of the segregated wastes like organic wastes from slaughterhouses or abattoir shops or from wholesale-centralized markets with other inorganic waste fractions. Hence, the segregation of organic wastes from centralized wholesale complexes like slaughterhouses or horticultural markets is highly essential to designing a sustainable and effective waste management system. The wastes from slaughterhouses and abattoir shops have huge potential for energy recovery or product recoveries like protein hydrolysate synthesis, enzymes, and lipids,however, they should be properly collected and treated in order to utilize their maximum potency. Hence, segregation of these bulk generators of organic wastes from Indian urban centers could prevent the inefficient use of the potency of this huge quantum of wastes [ 14 , 15 ]. The suitable treatment options need to be explored to find their appropriateness based on each context. Thus, effective management of slaughterhouse and poultry wastes and their proper treatment and disposal and the value addition of slaughterhouse and poultry wastes has become one of the most significant thrust areas for the research community.

Recently, extensive researches have been focused on the development of techniques for the management of municipal solid wastes and their utilization in value-added industrial applications. So, plenty of literature and reviews exist on municipal solid waste management; however, this review article specifically intended to focus on slaughterhouse and poultry wastes, which often pose huge threats to the health and environment. Accordingly, this article reviewed several treatment alternatives suitable for the efficient utilization of slaughterhouse and poultry wastes and the process efficiencies. In addition, this review article presented in detail the quantum of waste generation and its composition, its impact on the environment, utilization potentials, and disposal options for effective utilization of the potency of these huge growing urban solid wastes. The results of this review could provide directions for the effective utilization of these bulk wastes to the stakeholders/municipal corporations to meet the urban waste management targets.

2 Global solid waste generation

Growing population along with urbanization and industrialization increases solid waste generation. Furthermore, the standards of living, disposable incomes, and consumption of goods and services increase the amount of solid waste generation. The World Bank indicated the global waste generation trend along with the projection from the year 2016–2050, which is shown in Fig.  1 , which demonstrated that most of the world’s waste is generated from East Asia and the Pacific region.

Obtained from [ 16 ])

Trend of the global waste generation and projection (

2.1 Municipal solid wastes generation and its composition

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is a major and critical component among the solid wastes which includes different types of waste such as household waste, commercial, construction, and demolition, institutional, retailers and shops, garden, and park waste [ 17 ]. Population increase and the associated industrialization encourage the migration of people from villages to cities for improvement in their lifestyle that generates thousands of tons of MSW daily. Globally, the composition of MSW includes 44% food and green waste, 17% paper and cardboard, 12% plastics, 5% glass, 4% metal, 2% wood, 2% rubber and leather, and 14% others. Similarly, in India, the composition of MSW include food and garden waste (40%), paper (27%), textile (6%), glass and ceramics (5%), plastic and rubber (4%), metals (3%), and inert (15%) [ 16 ]. However, the composition of MSW varies with time, and hence, the management of increasing trend of MSW generation creates significant problems in different countries, particularly in developing countries due to lack of knowledge, technical, financial, regulatory, and public participation [ 18 ]. Therefore, there is no denying that significant researches have been focused on the management and proper disposal of MSW and also effective utilization of resource-rich MSW for various applications.

2.2 Wastes of slaughterhouses and poultries

Slaughterhouse and poultry wastes are the commercial waste of MSW. The population growth increases the demand for meat products, livestock, and poultry products. It is estimated that the total world meat production is 220 million tons and is mainly contributed by buffaloes (31%), cattle (31%), sheep (5%), goats (10%), pigs (10%), and poultry (11%) [ 19 ]. Generally, slaughterhouse/abattoir operations produce a considerable amount of organic waste with relatively high levels of suspended solid, liquid, and fat [ 20 ] (Table 1 ). It is estimated that about 50–54% of each cow, 52% of each sheep or goat, 60–62% of each pig, 68–72% of each chicken, and 78% of each turkey is utilized for meat and the remaining is disposed of as waste [ 21 , 22 ]. Furthermore, the bovine slaughterhouse generates solid waste of 27.5% of the animal weight, i.e., 275 kg/ton of total live weight killed. In the case of goat and sheep slaughterhouse, the waste generation is 2.5 kg/head that is equivalent to 17% of animal weight. Similarly, during pig slaughtering, an average waste generation is 2.3 kg/head that is equivalent to 4% of animal weight. In abattoir shops, on an average, 32.5–37.0% of poultry waste is being generated while a chicken is slaughtered, with the waste composition consisting of 57.37% of feathers and skin; 20.35% of intestines; 14.8% of legs and others (< 1%) [ 10 , 23 , 24 , 25 ].

The slaughterhouse processes and the corresponding waste generation are schematically depicted in Fig.  2 . The solid wastes from the slaughterhouses are categorized into two types namely vegetable matter (type I consisting of ruminal, stomach, and intestinal contents, dung) and animal matter (type II consisting of offals like inedible offals, tissues, and meat trimmings) [ 35 ]. Sheep, goats, buffaloes, cattle, pigs, and poultry are the major livestock used for slaughtering. It is understood from the literature that slaughtering of cattle, pigs, and lambs generates byproducts of about 66.0, 52.0, and 68.0% of the live weight respectively. The byproducts are organs, fat or lard, skin, feet, abdominal and intestinal contents, bone, and blood. So, the slaughterhouse waste is majorly comprised of rumen (80 wt.%), dung/manure (12 wt.%), blood (5 wt.%), and others (3 wt.%). In addition, more than half the animal by-products are not suitable for consumption; however, these are potential resources for energy production and also offer benefits to the animal by-product processors.

Flow chart diagram of slaughtering process and the waste generation. (The cattle and pig images were obtained from [ 36 , 37 ]

Similarly, the poultry industry is growing rapidly which generates large amounts of solid and liquid wastes. The process of poultry slaughtering and the corresponding waste generation is shown in Fig.  3 . It is estimated that globally, an excess of 90% of poultry waste is spread on land close to the poultry farms. These poultry solid wastes majorly comprise feathers, bedding material, excreta, feed, hatchery waste (empty shells, infertile eggs, dead embryos, and late hatchlings), dead birds, and mortality waste. Liquid waste generation includes faeces, urine, saw dust, remnants of drugs, pesticides, disinfection of chicken houses, and abattoirs. It is further estimated that approximately a chicken produces 1 kg of fresh manure with variable water content for each kilogram of feed consumed, whereas a commercial layer produces about 20 kg waste per year. These wastes comprise potential nutrients, which can be used for crop production; however, it requires crop nutrient requirement and soil testing. Moreover, poultry waste management and its potential application are mostly driven by the economic viability and environmental safety regulation of a country as well as the awareness of the public.

Poultry waste generation during broiler farming and slaughtering process

Animal by-products can be categorized as edible and inedible. For instance, organs like kidneys, heart, and liver are examples of edible by-products whereas horns, hooves, and hair are inedible by-products. The inedible parts of slaughtered animals vary for different categories, i.e., 49%, 47%, 44%, and 37% for cattle, sheep and lambs, pigs, and broilers respectively [ 25 , 38 ]. However, parts of these wastes are being processed by the rendering industry for conversion into animal feed, pet food, poultry meal, and animal fats. Recently, slaughterhouse byproducts are being utilized in several applications such as anaerobic digestion, synthesis of a protein hydrolysate, lipids, enzymes, bioactive peptides, and synthesis of protein-based adhesive formulations [ 10 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ]. The blood from the slaughterhouses is one of the major animal byproducts that are rich in protein (about 18%) [ 44 ]. The dry protein could be used for the production of yogurt, cakes, and cheese due to its excellent gelling and emulsifying properties. The potential use of these huge quanta of slaughterhouse and poultry wastes would not only pave a way for sustainable waste management but also would increase industrial development and employment opportunities. Hence, there is an alarming need to focus on sustainable waste management technologies for the treatment and effective utilization of slaughterhouse and poultry wastes.

3 Impact of solid waste exposure

Inefficient and improper management of solid wastes creates potential risks to health and the environment. Although there is prominent development in various key sectors like socio-economic and environmental sectors, still the handling issues with effective disposal of solid wastes becomes questionable especially in most populated countries like India [ 45 , 46 ]. The methane and carbon dioxide emissions from solid waste disposal dumpsites by anaerobic decomposition of wastes alleviate the global warming potential. The health impacts resulting from waste disposal may vary depending on several factors like the nature of wastes, population exposure, concentration of the pollutant, and time of exposure.

The improper disposal of solid wastes greatly imparts air quality through the burning of wastes and releases several noxious air pollutants like sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter [ 47 ]. These air pollutants could greatly affect human health with a wide range of diseases like cold, allergy, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, and even cancer [ 48 ]. Similarly, improper means of solid waste disposal greatly affect surface and ground water quality by leachate, and especially the people residing nearby the dump yards who are relying on the ground water as a source of drinking and domestic applications are greatly affected. Furthermore, the illegal discharge of blood and animal faeces into streams causes oxygen depletion as well as nutrient enrichment which could increase the rate of toxin compounds accumulation leading to water borne and respiratory diseases [ 49 ]. The contamination of public water supplies or leaks from surrounding dumpsites could increase the potential health risk of livelihood by means of infection due to the presence of pathogens and water pollutants [ 50 , 51 ]. For instance, contaminated food or water could cause gastro-intestinal diseases like typhoid fever, cholera, and hepatitis E infections [ 52 ]. The residents living close to dump yards are facing the nuisance of scavenging birds and animals that could affect their psychological health. Furthermore, diseases are being spread by different vectors such as mosquitos, birds, insects, and rodents. Similarly, mental disorders result from heavy metal poisoning [ 53 , 54 ]. Furthermore, soil contamination also occurred through direct waste contact or leachate, which decreases the quality of soil and reduces the soil nutrients. Thus, these pieces of literature strongly evidenced the linkage between improper solid waste management practices and their adverse environmental and health impacts. In addition to the environmental pollution by means of affecting air, water, and soil quality, the health challenges due to poor solid waste management demand a sustainable approach for effective treatment and disposal of these solid wastes in an eco-benign way.

4 Solid wastes as renewable resources and their potential usage

Municipal solid wastes are rich in organic contents that vary from 40.2 to 51.0%, which could be a potential resource for recovery of energy and value added products [ 55 , 56 , 57 ]. In developing countries, out of the collected wastes, less than 12% are being treated and the rest is disposed of in dumpsites [ 58 ]. This increases the organic load to the dumpsites/landfills and also under-exploits the potential of these organic wastes as a resource [ 14 , 15 ]. The consumption of broiler chicken meat production exceeds 22.85 billion chickens worldwide and the approximate waste from poultry is estimated as 32.5 to 37% [ 10 , 23 , 25 , 59 ]. Although a huge quantum of organic solid wastes is being generated, still the recovery of value added products from these wastes would benefit society in an eco-benign way. Hassan et al. [ 60 ] experimented with the utilization of food wastes for bio-hydrogen and bio-methane recovery whereas Isarankura et al. [ 61 ] evaluated the extraction of keratin protein from waste chicken feathers. The chicken feather waste is reported to contain approximately 91% keratin proteins[ 62 , 63 ]. Likewise, the waste produced from citrus processing industries exceeds 40 million tons worldwide [ 64 ]. However, these wastes are rich in carotenoids and flavonoids that provide a good source of provitamin A and antioxidants [ 65 ]. These existing studies evident the potency of organic solid wastes as a valuable resource that needs to be valorized through suitable and efficient treatment options.

5 Solid waste disposal management practices and their efficiencies

The management of solid waste is the most essential process while considering the increasing trend of solid waste generation. Solid waste management majorly comprises functional elements such as generation of waste, on-site handling, storage, and processing, collection, sorting, processing and transformation, transfer and transport, processing and recovery, reuse and recycle, and disposal. However, these processes create significant challenges and are hazardous to the environment and public health. Therefore, the treatment of organic solid wastes is one among the urging research areas that have gained attention to create an alternative for the waste dump yards/landfills. There are several technologies that exist for the treatment and disposal of organic solid wastes (Fig.  4 ); furthermore, solid wastes are potential resources for valuable products. Thus, the description of solid waste treatment techniques and details of the recovery of valuable products, especially for slaughterhouse and poultry waste are given below (Table 2 ).

Solid waste treatment and disposal techniques

5.1 Open dumping and landfilling

Open dumping is defined as the disposal of solid waste in an open environment or wherever the empty land is available in which the disposal does not follow the disposal guidelines, which are susceptible to burning and harmful to the environment, wildlife, and public health. Landfilling is the disposal of the solid wastes at a specific place permitted by the competent authority; however, it is susceptible to creating serious problems to the surrounding environment if the proper-engineered design is not adopted. In most developing countries, municipal solid wastes (MSW) including slaughterhouse and poultry wastes are either dumped directly in open dumpsites or in landfill sites, which underutilizes the potency of the organic wastes for energy/product generation. Both these practices cause significant environmental pollution by means of leachate contamination, fire, explosion and greenhouse gas emissions, etc. Furthermore, both these practices cause breeding of mosquitoes, cockroaches, rats, flies, and other pests, which directly influence the surrounding residential areas that affect their wellbeing by transmitting disease. In addition, the open dumping of these wastes significantly affects the surrounding water bodies’ quality by means of heavy metal leaching from the dumpsite that in turn could lead to serious public health issues [ 78 ]. Also, the methane gas emission from the open dumpsites/uncontrolled landfill leads to air pollution and global warming as well. Thus, the proper solid waste management by use of poultry and slaughterhouse wastes for energy production/material recovery could reduce the global carbon footprint, which supports the economic development of the country and improve the quality of life and environment. Several technologies are available for poultry and slaughterhouse waste valorization for sustainable utilization; however, their suitability based on the waste composition needs to be explored.

5.2 Composting

Composting involves the biodegradation of organic matter present in the wastes upon the act of a mixed population of microorganisms in a moist and aerobic environment. The end product, humus/compost, is rich in nutrients that could be used as an organic fertilizer for plant growth (Fig.  5 ). It is the cost-effective method of waste treatment that aids in mass reduction. During composting, the carbonaceous and nitrogenous matters present in the wastes are utilized by various successive microbes and converted the same into a stable nutrient-rich end product. The rate of composting varies on the process conditions maintained and the composition of the wastes [ 66 , 79 ]. The process also depends on various environmental factors like moisture, pH, aeration, temperature, particle size, C/N ratio, and nutrient availability [ 80 ].

The composting process (Obtained from [ 81 ])

Although composting is a simple and cost-effective method, still, pretreatment of wastes prior to this process is found to enhance the rate of hydrolysis. Pretreatment aids in the conversion of complex compounds like protein, lipid, and carbohydrates into simple compounds upon the act of microbes that releases extracellular hydrolases. Thus, pretreatment favours the rate of biodegradation that in turn reduces the process/digestion time. Furthermore, bulking agents are also added during composting for the optimal distribution of air/aeration, to adjust the porosity and also to absorb excess moisture and balance the nutrients as well [ 82 , 83 ].

Poultry wastes are rich in nutrients that are useful for improving the structural stability of the soil that in turn benefits the crop yield [ 84 ]. In addition to nutrients, poultry manure contains several active enzymes produced by the digestive tract microorganisms. In addition to nutrients and energy for soil microbial activities, the use of the compost resulting from the poultry manure could also enhance the enzymatic activity of soil which in turn improves the absorption capacity, buffering capacity, and stress resistance of the soil. For a better composting of poultry and slaughterhouse wastes, the addition of carbon-rich materials like sawdust is widely suggested to provide better conditions during composting process [ 85 ]. Qasim et al. [ 86 ] carried out composting of chicken manure with an addition of carbon-rich materials and bulking agents, i.e., sawdust and wood shavings under forced aeration in a closed cylindrical composting reactor system. The results revealed the lowest ammonia and carbon dioxide emissions and high volatile solids (VS) reductions (from 81 to 61%) with GI of 84.5% during aeration of 0.25 L/min/kg VS. The rate of VS degradation is an overall indicator of the rate of composting [ 87 ]. Co-composting of cow dung with leather fleshing waste revealed complete mineralization of the compost after 49 days of composting and, the relative seed germination study showed germination index (GI) of 84%, 86%, and 94% in cucumber, bottle guard, and tomato respectively [ 66 ]. The GI of > 80% represents that the compost has attained maturity and is also free of phytotoxicity [ 88 ]. Onyuka et al. [ 89 ] carried out composting of bovine hair in thermophilic conditions at a temperature range of 40–50 °C with a pH of 7, moisture content of 55% and C/N ratio of 35, which offered reasonably stable compost with humification degree of 73% and C/N ratio of 29. Composting of poultry/slaughterhouse wastes demands the need for the addition of carbon-rich materials/bulking agents for improving the nutrient balance; however, it is a simple and effective option for the treatment and disposal of solid wastes. The resulting compost would be an alternative source of organic fertilizer to enhance the soil properties and plant growth.

5.3 Incineration

Incineration is one of the potential thermal treatment technologies for waste volume reduction [ 90 ]. It involves thermal waste decomposition in the temperature range of 850–1200 °C in an oxidizing environment to ensure complete combustion [ 91 ]. The heat produced from the process could be used for energy recovery and the resulting ash from the process could be used for material recovery or could be solidified as a binder in construction applications based on the ash composition [ 92 ]. Poultry and slaughterhouse wastes contain pathogens like Escherichia coli and Salmonella s p. , E.coli normally exists in the lower intestinal part of animals, some of which are harmful that are prone to cause food poisoning and health illness [ 93 ]. Similarly, Salmonella is widely found in an animal slurry that is prone to cause typhoid, food poisoning, and paratyphoid fever [ 94 ]. However, heat treatment of 70 °C is sufficient for the inactivation of both i.e. Escherichia coli and Salmonella sp. [ 95 , 96 ]. Therefore, incineration of wastes could be potentially effective in destroying the infectious agents thereby can eliminate the spreading of diseases that ensure safe disposal of pathogenic wastes. Furthermore, the resulting ash from the meat incineration is also found to contain a lot of macronutrients and micronutrients like calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc. Thus, it could be a potential additive for a high value added fertilizer. However, the air emissions should be properly controlled by adopting effective air pollution control treatment technologies [ 97 ].

Incineration of mixed slaughterhouse wastes (waste feather, poultry litter, meat, and bone meal) was carried out in a high scale rotary kiln incinerator in a temperature range of 600 to 900 °C in a residence time of 20 to 25 min [ 27 ]. The moisture content of the wastes was found to be 4.2%, 54.6%, and 13.4% for meat and bone meal, feathers, and poultry litter respectively. The nutrient profile analysis at varying process conditions revealed the nutrient richness of the resultant incinerated ash, i.e., calcium (17–30%), phosphorus (4–17%), and potassium (0.6–3.6%). Oshita et al. [ 72 ] carried out incineration of cattle manure and sewage sludge in a pilot-scale rotary kiln with a screw feeder at varying process temperature (750–850 °C) and air ratio (0.9–1.4). Prior to the incineration process, the wastes were sun-dried to 34 °C. The N 2 O emissions were reported to increase with the increasing temperature whereas they decreased with low air ratios while CH 4 emissions were found to be higher above a process temperature of 800 °C at a low air ratio. The emission factors of N 2 O and CH 4 were obtained as 1.9–6.0% g-N 2 O-N/g-N and 0.0046–0.26 g-CH 4 /g of the burning object respectively. Incineration of solid wastes is reported to show a higher volume reduction of greater than 90% [ 23 , 98 , 99 ]. Furthermore, a twofold benefit could be observed as a result of incineration of mixed slaughterhouse wastes i.e. pasteurization of pathogenic wastes and value added byproduct formation as an additive to organic fertilizer. The existing incineration studies, although found to be effective in waste valorization, still necessitate pre-drying of wastes prior to incineration to remove the high moisture content in order to reduce the energy demand of the process and to achieve high waste volume reduction. The pre-drying of wastes could also increase the nutrient content of ash since it is primarily influenced by the mass fraction of the input components.

5.4 Renewable energy production

A large part of the research is focused on eco-friendly and sustainable energy from waste biomass to replace conventional fossil fuels [ 100 ]. The slaughterhouse and poultry wastes are growing renewable energy resources and the resultant enhanced share in total energy supply would reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Furthermore, both these wastes are rich in protein content and hence could be an ideal substrate for biofuel production. Biofuels are applied in all three states of matter, i.e., solid, liquid, and gas. In solid form, they normally exist as charcoal, wood and chips, pellets, etc., whereas in liquid form, biodiesel and bioethanol stand out. In gaseous form, biofuel exists as biogas, produced predominantly by anaerobic fermentation, or by gasification during partial oxidation of wastes at high temperatures [ 101 ]. Due to the energetic and biological characteristics of poultry and slaughterhouse wastes, their sustainable use as bioenergy can be produced through biochemical or thermochemical routes, i.e., anaerobic digestion, pyrolysis and transesterification of poultry tallow. Most of the existing research on slaughterhouse and poultry wastes focused on biodiesel, biogas, and bio-oil production as renewable biofuels and the potential of each technology in producing electricity, bio-oil, bio-diesel, etc. are comprehensively reviewed in this section.

5.4.1 Anaerobic digestion

Anaerobic digestion (AD) of organic wastes involves the biological decomposition of organics in an anaerobic environment by the anaerobic bacteria through a sequence of reactions such as hydrolysis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis, and methanogenesis. The process provides dual output as bio-fuel (biogas) and nutrient-rich digestate that could be converted as organic fertilizer (Fig.  6 ).

Schematic diagram of anaerobic digestion of solid waste 

In hydrolysis, the breakdown of complex compounds into simple compounds will take place and the hydrolysis of cellulose could be found in Eq.  1 as follows.

This process eases the microbial accessibility to the biomass that is fed into the AD system. For example, protein is hydrolyzed to amino acids, lipids into fatty acids, and carbohydrates into simple sugars. In acidogenesis, the hydrolyzed products from the hydrolysis are acted upon by the acidogenic bacteria and converted into volatile fatty acids like acetate, butyrate, propionate, alcohols, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen (Eqs.  2 and 3 ). Subsequently, these products are utilized by acetogenic bacteria in acetogenesis and forms acetate and hydrogen (Eqs.  4 and 5 ).

The last step in AD process is methanogenesis where the methanogens convert acetic acid and hydrogen into methane and carbon dioxide as shown in Eqs.  6 and 7 .

Biogas can be produced from any feedstock that contains substrates like proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and cellulose. In this aspect, organic fractions of municipal solid wastes are a potential resource for energy recovery through the AD process due to its richness in moisture content and organic matter. However, there are several factors that influence the process namely composition of wastes, loading rates, carbon–nitrogen balance, ammonia, volatile fatty acids, and sulphide concentrations. An excess/lower concentration of all these factors could cause AD process inhibitions that need to be balanced by incorporating the easiest and least expensive method of feedstock optimization.

Anaerobic co-digestion of poultry and slaughterhouse wastes

Specifically, while reviewing the AD of poultry and slaughterhouse wastes, it could be observed that both of these wastes have poor carbon/nitrogen balance due to the higher nitrogen contents in the wastes. The high nitrogen compounds during the AD process successively result in the formation of excess ammonia levels that can alter the intracellular pH and cause inactivation of the key enzymes by penetration into the microbial cell walls thereby affecting bio-chemical reactions during AD of protein-rich substrates [ 102 ]. Also, the high lipid content of slaughterhouse wastes is vulnerable to the accumulation of long-chain fatty acids (LCFA) during the AD process. The high LCFA levels are inhibitory to acetotrophic and hydrogenotrophic methanogens thereby resulting in operational issues within the anaerobic digester and leading to reactor instability based on their concentrations [ 103 ]. The C/N ratio of slaughterhouse and poultry wastes is found to vary between 7 and 10, which is inhibitory for a stable AD process for which the optimal C/N ratio is 25–30 [ 68 , 104 , 105 ]. Although the high organic and nutrient content of the slaughterhouse and poultry wastes makes it an ideal substrate for bioenergy recovery, however, anaerobic mono-digestion of these wastes often fails due to improper nutrient balance leading to excessive long-chain fatty acid levels, ammonia inhibitions, etc. Hence, it demands the need for co-substrate addition during the AD process for an effective and stable means of the utilization of these wastes.

The co-digestion with a carbon-rich substrate that is low in protein/fat content could add a proper nutrition balance to overcome these inhibitory problems. For instance, Pagés-Díaz et al. [ 106 ] found a 31% enhancement in the methane yield during AD of equal proportions of mixed cattle abattoir wastes, manure, various crops, and MSW in batch AD reactors at a thermophilic temperature of 55 °C for 70 days. Anaerobic co-digestion of rendering plant and slaughterhouse wastes were carried out in a semi-continuous reactor for 178 days at a mesophilic temperature of 35 °C at an organic loading rate (OLR) of 1.5 g VS/L/day in a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 50 days showed methane yield of 720 mL/g VS. However, in thermophilic conditions, at an OLR of 1.5 g VS/L/day, the reactor showed instability with excessive ammonia and LCFA concentrations during AD of slaughterhouse wastes [ 30 ]. Zhang et al. [ 67 ] found a 41.1% increase (with methane yield of 388 mL/g VS) in the methane yield during AD of mixed food wastes (1 proportion) with cattle manure (2 proportion). Furthermore, in the same study, the results of semi-continuous AD tests showed enhancement in the methane yield by 55.2% during co-digestion and also found improvement in the buffering capacity of the reactor. Similarly, Borowski et al. [ 68 ] found a maximum methane yield of 630 mL/g VS during AD of mixed food and slaughterhouse wastes in a 3 L (working volume) lab-scale semi-continuous reactor in a solid retention time of 30 days. AD of slaughterhouse/poultry wastes with a carbon-rich substrate is a promising option to utilize the potency of these wastes for enhanced energy recovery through improved substrate management alternatives thereby providing an alternative source of clean green energy production from organic wastes.

Pre-treatment and Anaerobic digestion/co-digestion of pre-treated poultry and slaughterhouse wastes

Due to the major shares of fat and protein in poultry and slaughterhouse wastes, pre-treatment of wastes is necessary to reduce these insoluble contents in order to increase their solubility. In order to aid physical mass transfer, Ware and Power [ 107 ] carried out pre-blending of cattle soft offal consisting of intestinal residues, fat, meat trimmings to a particle size of less than 8 mm to aid biodegradation. The results of AD tests in a 900 mL batch AD reactor showed methane yield of 650.9 L/kg VS. Porselvam et al. [ 108 ] carried out pre-treatment (using KOH and NaOH) of intestinal waste prior to the AD process and carried out anaerobic co-digestion with food wastes that resulted in the increase in the methane yield from 119.7–238.1 to 331.5 L/kg VS. In our previous study, extrusion pre-treatment of cattle ruminal contents and blood followed by anaerobic co-digestion with vegetable market wastes, showed an increase in methane production from 273 to 304 L/kg VS. Furthermore, AD of ozone pretreated animal dung followed by anaerobic co-digestion with agro-wastes showed enhancement in the methane yield from 205.3 to 300 L/kg VS [ 109 ].

Furthermore, several authors experimented with pasteurization as a pre-treatment of slaughterhouse wastes for the inactivation of pathogens in slaughterhouse wastes. For instance, AD of pasteurized slaughterhouse wastes (70 °C for 1 h) in a batch 900 mL AD reactor at 36–39 °C in a retention time of 30 days showed enhancement in the methane yield from 515.5 to 569.15 L/kg VS [ 110 ]. Similarly, Luste and Luostarinen [ 111 ] carried out semi-continuous AD of pasteurized animal by-products (70 °C for 1 h) in co-digestion with sewage sludge in a 4 L anaerobic reactor at 300 rpm with a HRT of 14–25 days at an OLR of 1.8–4.0 g VS/L/d and found enhancement in the methane yield from 400 to 430 L/kg VS. Also, AD of pasteurized slaughterhouse wastes at a temperature of 70 °C for 1 h showed a fourfold increase in the biogas yield of 1.14 L/kg VS of wastes Edström et al. [ 112 ]. Thus, pasteurization as a pretreatment prior to AD of slaughterhouse wastes has improved the efficiency of the AD process. Further benefits of thermal pre-treatment include a high level of sludge solubilization and pathogen reduction [ 113 ].

Factors affecting AD of poultry and slaughterhouse wastes

There are several factors that impart AD of poultry and slaughterhouse wastes. Especially, due to the delay in the hydrolysis of poultry and slaughterhouse wastes, the retention time greatly affects the rate of biogas production. The increase in the retention time further increases the reactor volume, which would increase the cost of the reactor. This can be resolved by increasing the mass transfer within the AD system through pre-treatment of wastes prior to the AD process to aid the structural breakdown of complex compounds [ 114 ]. Another major parameter that affects the AD of these wastes is the poor C/N ratio resulting from the high nitrogen content of poultry and slaughterhouse wastes. However, as stated above, a carbon-rich substrate needs to be co-digested to balance the nutrient distribution within the AD system to resolve the process inhibitions [ 115 , 116 ].

5.4.2 Biodiesel production

Biodiesel is the mono-alkyl esters (ethyl or methyl) of long-chain fatty acids produced by trans-esterification of triglycerides in reaction with alcohols (methanol or ethanol) in presence of acid/alkali catalyst (usually NaOH/KOH) (Fig.  7 ). The oil/tallow produced from renewable energy feedstocks would be trans-esterified for the production of biodiesel. The resultant biodiesel could be blended with diesel based on the product properties. In addition to the potential extraction of valuable products (lipid) from the wastes during this process; furthermore, the use of biodiesel could reduce the hydrocarbon, suspended particulate matter, oxides of sulphur and carbon monoxide emissions [ 117 , 118 ]. Glycerol is a by-product of the trans-esterification process,however, it will be in crude form since it is contaminated by the formation of soap, unreacted fats, water, potassium hydroxide, etc. Nevertheless, it could be used as a potential raw material for the synthesis of various chemicals, biodegradable polymers, energy production, etc. [ 119 ].

Transesterification reaction of animal fats or vegetable oil to biodiesel

Animal wastes are potential sources of biodiesel production due to their lipid richness and also a low-cost alternative feedstock compared to vegetable oil. The major processes involved in biodiesel production from animal waste are shown in Fig.  8 . The process yield varies with several parameters such as process time, temperature, catalyst used, alcohol molar ratio, and free fatty acid contents [ 120 ]. The main problem with the use of extracted animal fat from wastes for biodiesel production is the high free fatty acid concentration (FFA) that will end up in low conversion rates [ 121 ]. However, in such cases, the product yield can be improved by employing a two-stage biodiesel conversion process, increasing alcohol molar ratio and catalyst addition, and the use of recyclable nano-catalysts [ 122 ]. The use of catalysts enhances the reaction rate and temperature that in turn increases the miscibility of fat with alcohol [ 123 ].

Flow chart of steps involved in the biodiesel production from animal fat waste (obtained from [ 124 ])

Alptekin and Canakci [ 125 ] evaluated biodiesel production from chicken fat under varying process temperatures, reaction time, and alkaline catalysts. Initially, it was subjected to heating (110 °C for 1 h) for the removal of moisture followed by filtration to remove insoluble materials like meat and bone components. Subsequently, pretreatment of chicken fat (by esterification process) was carried out to reduce the FFA level to 0.67% that is sufficient for the trans-esterification process. After trans-esterification, the chicken fat methyl ester was characterized and the results revealed that the produced biodiesel met both ASTM D6751 and EN 14,214 standards while using KOH and NaOH at 60 °C for 4 h. Kondamudi et al. [ 69 ] performed biodiesel production from commercial feather meal that is the waste product of the poultry industry. Initially, the fat from the feather meal was extracted and subsequently, trans-esterification of the extracted fat into biodiesel was carried out by reaction with KOH and methanol as catalyst (70 °C for 1 h). The product yield was found to be 7–11% (on a dry matter basis) and the purified biodiesel was subjected to fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) characterization. The results confirmed that the biodiesel produced is of good quality (with good cetane number and high oxidation stability) in comparison with other biodiesel produced from common feedstocks. Similarly, Mata et al. [ 126 ] carried out the quality evaluation of biodiesel production from tallow, lard, and poultry fat. The product yield was found to be 90.8%, 91.4%, and 76.8% for tallow methyl esters, lard methyl esters, and poultry fat methyl esters respectively. The results of FAME characterization revealed that B100 blends are not possible in any of the above-produced biodiesel since all the evaluated parameters do not comply with EN 14,214 standards. However, B20 blends (20% biodiesel + 80% conventional diesel) fulfill the requirements of EN 14,214 standards thereby revealing as a good alternative or blend for the conventional diesel to meet the rising energy demands in a sustainable way. Similarly, Barik and Vijayaraghavan [ 127 ] evaluated the FAME properties of chicken fat methyl ester (CFME) produced from chicken fat while blending with conventional diesel in different blends. The results revealed optimal blend as 30% of CFME with 70% of diesel, which in turn lowers the carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and smoke emissions by 24.4%, 22.9%, and 14.4% respectively. Su and Chou [ 128 ] carried out biodiesel production from slaughterhouse sludge cake through acid methanolysis. The sludge cake was transesterified with methanol, n -hexane, and acids (using H 2 SO 4 or HCl) at varying concentrations (2%, 4%, and 8%, v/v) in different time periods (4, 8, 16, and 24 h). The highest accumulated FAME yield of 2.51 ± 0.08% and 2.27 ± 0.09% was obtained at 8% of H 2 SO 4 or HCl in a reaction time of 4 h. It is mentioned that the methyl esters of palmitic acid, palmitoleic acid, stearic acid, and oleic acid were the major components of FAME produced from the slaughterhouse sludge cake through acid methanolysis. Mahyari et al. [ 118 ] performed the biodiesel production ability of chicken fat waste generated from broiler chicken slaughterhouse and performed the survey with respect to waste generated in Iran. It is estimated that 736 kilotons of poultry slaughter waste is generated annually, which could be utilized to produce 112 million liters of biodiesel by trans-esterification process (with methanol as alcohol and KOH as catalyst) with the production cost of around 14,277 rial/liter. Thus, 30% of diesel in the transportation field could be replaced with B2, i.e., 98% diesel with 2% biodiesel or even B20. The cost of production can still be lessened if the socio-economic benefits of pollution reduction and employment generation are taken into account.

Overall, the fat extracted from poultry and slaughterhouse wastes can evident to be a potential feedstock for producing a high-quality biodiesel subject to the availability of huge quantity and cost-effectiveness. Mostly sulphuric acid, KOH, and NaOH are used as catalysts during the trans-esterification process. Due to the presence of high free fatty acid content, a two-step trans-esterification process is usually applied. The FAME properties reveal that the biodiesel produced from poultry and slaughterhouse wastes does not fully comply with international standards however blending with commercial diesel is possible that in turn exhibit acceptable fuel characteristics which would enhance environmental sustainability and economy.

5.4.3 Pyrolysis

Pyrolysis, a thermal waste valorization technology, involves the thermo chemical decomposition of organic material in the absence of oxygen in a controlled environment. The end product would be solid (bio-char), liquid (bio-oil), and gaseous products (Fig.  9 ). The yield of products varies with operating conditions like heating and gas flow rate, temperature, particle size, and residence time [ 23 , 129 ]. Recently Zhao et al., [ 130 ] utilized the pyrolysis (slow and fast) technology for valorization of poultry waste into sustainable bioenergy which could be applied in various demandable places. Slow pyrolysis possesses low heating rates and long residence time and takes place at low temperatures (300–450 °C). Fast pyrolysis possesses high heating rates and occurs at high temperatures (450–600 °C). Slow pyrolysis yields biochar, bio-oil, and syngas as the major products whereas fast pyrolysis yields bio-oil as the major product with biochar as a byproduct. The syngas combustion offers energy for the pyrolysis technology. Similarly, the bio-oil can be upgraded into liquid fuels (gasoline and diesel) through hydroprocessing upgrading technology, which could be used for transportation and heating application. For instance, Kluska et al. [ 131 ] observed enrichment in the heating value of the gaseous products (2.0 to 9.5 MJ/Nm 3 ) during pyrolysis of leather wastes while increasing the process temperature from 300 to 500 °C. The yield of bio-char is positively correlated with the fixed carbon contents of samples to be pyrolyzed [ 132 ]. The loss of volatile solids during the process mainly relies on the quantitative share of carbohydrates, protein, and lipid content of the wastes and its thermal stability differences [ 133 ]. The bio-oil product could be further processed for alternative energy production whereas the bio-char could be used for activated carbon synthesis or soil amendment applications [ 134 ]. Also, the bio-char is resistant to microbial degradation, lighter and moisture resistant,thereby, it is easy to transport and also could be stored for a longer time that in turn lessens the environmental pollution resulting from the direct dumping of raw wastes [ 135 ]. In addition, depending upon the temperature of the pyrolysis process, various value added products were identified in the pyrolysis oil, like alcohols, phenols, aromatics, aldehydes, furfural, toluene, and 1-methoyx-2-propyl acetate [ 131 , 136 , 137 , 138 ].

Schematic diagram of pyrolysis process of cattle and poultry slaughterhouse waste

Cuixia et al. [ 139 ] carried out the pyrolysis of chicken manure at varying process temperatures from 200 to 800 °C and evaluated the use of chicken manure bio-char (CMB) for the removal of lead. The adsorption capacity of lead ions is positively correlated with process temperature and the maximum adsorption capacity of 242.57 mg/g was obtained using CMB prepared during pyrolysis of chicken manure at 800 °C. Kantarli et al. [ 140 ] performed the catalytic fast pyrolysis of poultry meal and poultry litter, and the calorific value of the obtained organic bio-oil was calculated as 41.9 and 41.8 MJ/kg respectively. The use of catalysts was found to reduce the oxygen content of the organic phase of the bio-oil as well as undesirable compounds. Upgrading the bio-oils through hydrothermal treatment could further reduce the oxygen and nitrogen contents that in turn could be used as a potential biofuel or for the synthesis of renewable chemicals. Hassen-Trabelsi et al. [ 141 ] carried out the pyrolysis of animal fatty wastes (swine, poultry, lamb) at a temperature of 500 °C with a heating rate of 5 °C/min, which showed higher bio-oil yields in the range of 58–77.9%. The analysis of produced bio-oil showed the presence of several organic compounds like hydrocarbons, carboxylic acids, aldehydes, and ketones. The fuel properties of the bio-oil further showed its suitability for use as an engine fuel or could be used for the synthesis of chemicals. Pyrolysis of slaughterhouse wastes could also help to recover phosphorus (P) especially from bone char. Because fertilizer production consumes more than 80% of rock phosphate, which is being mined annually and excessive use of the same could also leads to environmental pollution. So, the production of P-rich fertilizer from organic wastes could lead to a sustainable phosphorus cycle. The concentration of formic-P in pyrolyzed bone char was reported to be 147 g/kg by Zwetsloot et al. [ 142 ] which were found to be five times higher than the Idaho rock phosphate and it was only 24% less than formic-P in Triple superphosphate (TSP, 194 g/kg). Also, Pandey et al. [ 73 ] performed the fast pyrolysis of poultry litter at 530 °C in a lab-scale bubbling fluidized bed reactor with aluminium oxide as bedding material and nitrogen as fluidizing medium (34 L/min flow rate). The yield of bio-oil was found to be 27% with a higher heating value of about 32 MJ/kg. The phosphorus and potassium recovery was above 75% thereby indicating its potency as an effective organic soil amendment. Baniasadi et al. [ 143 ] performed the slow hydrolysis of poultry litter waste in the laboratory-scale fixed bed reactor in the temperature range of 400–800 °C yielded gaseous, two liquid condensates and char as main products. The results demonstrated that 550 °C is the optimum for higher product yields. The gaseous products are mainly comprised of CO 2 , CO, and CH 4 . The higher heating value (HHV) of carbon monoxide and methane is 12.63 MJ/Nm 3  and 39.82 MJ/Nm 3 , respectively. The liquid condensates are comprised of 33 compounds which mainly comprise phenols, fatty acids, sterols, and N-containing compounds and they could be upgraded and used as biofuel. Furthermore, the N-containing compounds could be possible feedstocks for the synthesis of value added products in the pharmaceutical, chemical, and food industries. The char products have high energy content; nevertheless, it contains sulphur in major concentration which could be processed for further application. Although pyrolysis of poultry and slaughterhouse wastes have greater potential, still the wastes need to be dried before introducing into the pyrolysis chamber. Since the moisture content of these wastes is usually greater than 70%, it would otherwise consume more energy for pre-heating the wastes itself for eliminating the moisture content up to a reasonable level.

5.4.4 Hydrothermal carbonization

Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is a thermochemical treatment process where waste biomass is heated under low-temperature with high moisture content and autogenous pressure to produce a value added carbon-rich hydrochar material. The usage of low temperature and energy input for treatment of high moisture content has potential advantages than the other thermal treatment technologies (pyrolysis and combustion). The carbon-rich hydrochar solid materials have high heating value, thermal stability, and the hydrophobic material structure makes them potential solid fuels similar to that of lignite coal. In addition, the hydrochar materials could be utilized for environmental remediation and solid amendment applications [ 144 ]. Oh and Yoon [ 145 ] calculated the total energy recovery from biochar and hydrolysate that is obtained from hydrothermal carbonization of poultry slaughterhouse sludge cake. The hydrothermal carbonization of sludge cake was carried out at different temperatures (170, 180, 190, 200, and 220 °C). It is demonstrated that the yield of biochar decreased with an increase in the carbonization temperature whereas the calorific values and energy densification were increased from 29.6 to 31.3 MJ/kg and 1.07 to 1.13 respectively. The energy potential of raw feedstock was 4.541 MJ/kg and the total gross energy recovery of the biochar was decreased (81.2 to 75.6%) with an increase in the temperature whereas the total gross energy recovery of 4.318 MJ/kg was obtained at 180 °C which maximized gross energy recovery efficiency by 95.1%. Lee et al. [ 146 ] performed the HTC of cattle and pig slaughterhouse waste in a batch scale type laboratory reactor at different temperatures (150, 200, 250, and 300 °C). It is known that the carbon content is closely associated with the energy capacity of combustible material and it is observed that the carbon content of hydrochar is increased with an increase in the hydrothermal carbonization temperature. Similarly, the fuel ratio of cattle and pig slaughterhouse-derived hydrochar is increased with an increase in the carbonization temperature. Higher the fuel ratios better the produced solid fuel. Furthermore, the hydrochars having enhanced HHVs, the HHVs of pig slaughterhouse-derived hydrochar are increased from 4674 to 8804 kcal/kg, whereas the HHVs of the cattle slaughterhouse-derived hydrochar are increased only by ~ 1600 kcal/kg. It is further demonstrated that both the waste-derived hydrochar possess higher energy-related properties. However, the cattle slaughterhouse-derived hydrochar showed little lower energy retention due to the lipid-rich characteristics of raw cattle slaughterhouse waste. Therefore, the slaughterhouse and poultry waste could be a potential resource for the hydrothermal carbonization technology to create value added solid fuel.

6 Recovery of value added products

In addition to management practices and renewable energy production, the slaughterhouse and poultry byproducts and the wastes are potential resources for the generation of value added products (e.g., protein, protein hydrolysate) which could be valuable alternatives to commercial counterparts. The utilization of slaughterhouse and poultry by-products and wastes for recovery and fabrication of value added products are described in the following section [ 147 ].

6.1 Extraction of keratin/protein

Keratin, an abundant polymer, is a fibrous protein found mainly in hair, nails, feathers, wool, and horns of mammals, birds, and reptiles. It has several applications in pharmaceutical, biomedical, food, and cosmetic industries. The major constituent of feathers (> 90%) is keratin, and hence, poultry feather wastes have great potency to be utilized in various applications [ 148 ] (Fig.  10 ). Pourjavaheri et al. [ 70 ] extracted the keratin from waste chicken feathers with the mass ratio of feathers to the reducing agent (sodium sulphide and L-cysteine) as 1:20 with a reaction time of 6 h at a temperature of 40 °C. The result revealed keratin yield of 88% and 66% while using sodium sulphide and L-cysteine respectively. Similarly, Gupta et al. [ 77 ] carried out keratin extraction from chicken feathers and found high product yield (53%) while using sodium sulphide as a reducing agent as compared to thioglycolic acid and potassium cyanide. Though the use of sodium sulphide provides a higher yield in both the studies, still the use of L-cysteine is an eco-friendly alternative.

Applications of feathers (obtained from [ 148 ] 

Like poultry feathers, the inedible tissues/parts of animals slaughtered from slaughterhouses are also becoming a waste, which contains a high amount of protein that could be extracted for potential applications. The processes involved in handling and recovery of protein from inedible parts of slaughterhouse waste are shown in Fig.  11 . Selmane et al. [ 76 ] carried out protein extraction from slaughterhouse wastes. At an operating condition of pH of 9, temperature of 20–40 °C with a reaction time of 60 min, the product yields were found to be 75%, 64%, and 83% for pork lungs, beef lungs, and chicken meat respectively. Furthermore, the study showed the possible use of these extracted proteins in meat products instead of ingredients from milk or soy. Similarly, Robatjazi et al. [ 149 ] extracted protein from poultry slaughterhouse waste powder. An enzymatic hydrolysis method was applied for the protein extraction by the use of alcalase enzyme and the maximum protein yield of 295.92 mg/g powder was obtained with an incubation period of 24 h with sodium hydroxide (0.1 M) at a reaction temperature of 70 °C.

Process flow diagram of protein/hydrolyzed protein extraction from inedible parts/tissues of slaughterhouse waste (Obtained from [ 10 ] 

6.2 Production of fibreboard

Recently research is being carried out for the fabrication of natural insulation composite fibreboard samples from mixed waste poultry feathers and wood residues [ 150 ]. Fibreboard samples were prepared by mixing feathers with wood shavings (coarse structure) or mixed wood residues (finer and denser structure) in different proportions. The proportions are blend structure F (mixed wood residue 70%/ feather 20%/adhesive 10%); fine sandwich structure SF (feather 70%/ mixed wood residue 20%/ adhesive 10%); fine sandwich structure SF (feather 20%/ mixed wood residue 70% /adhesive 10%); coarse sandwich structures SC (feather 70%/ wood shaving 20%/ adhesive 10%); and coarse sandwich structures SC (feather 20%/ wood shaving 70%/ adhesive 10%), respectively (Fig.  12 ). The properties of the produced fibreboard showed the highest bending strength with the mixed combinations (with 20% feather; 70% waste wood; 10% adhesives) (Fig.  13 ). Also, the thermal insulation properties and biodegradation were improved while increasing the share of feathers in the fibreboards. Furthermore, this research shows the possibility of utilization of two organic waste materials, i.e., poultry feathers and wood residues.

Horizontal close look and cross-sections of fibreboard samples with different proportions. a blend structure F (70/20); b fine sandwich structure SF(70/20); c fine sandwich structure SF(20/70), d coarse sandwich structures SC(70/20); and e coarse sandwich structures SC(20/70) (obtained from [ 150 ] 

Stress–deflection graphs as the results of the three-point bending testing of fibreboard samples (obtained from [ 150 ]

Similarly, Bessa et al. [ 151 ] studied the use of chicken feather fibres in the strengthening of polymeric matrices and the experimental results revealed the suitability in terms of good acoustic and thermal insulation. The thermal resistance showed a value of 0.175 m 2  K W −1 while using 80:20 proportion of chicken feather fibre and epoxy resin. Furthermore, the resistance is higher than coir fibre reinforcing polypropylene with a thermal resistance of 0.114 m 2  K W −1 . This concept of natural/waste material utilization would pay a way to attain sustainability in the building materials by means of fabricating thermal and acoustic insulating materials using waste materials.

6.3 Extraction of deoxyribonucleic acid

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the complex molecule that is essential for life’s inception, which contains all the necessary information for the building up and maintenance of an organism within the living cells. Although commercial kits, depending on the sample type, are available for molecular biology studies, few novel studies have evidenced the isolation of genomic DNA from bovine blood samples. Genomic DNA (gDNA) is an essential component for performing molecular studies and blood clots [ 152 ]. Goud et al. [ 153 ] carried out genomic DNA isolation from bovine blood using conventional phenol, chloroform, and isoamyl alcohol (PCI) and detergent method. The product yield was found to be 329.1 and 406.6 μg/5 mL of blood while using PCI and detergent methods respectively. Yu and Morrison [ 154 ] carried out an extraction of PCR quality community DNA from rumen digesta sample. The repeated beat beating column (RBB + C) method yielded the product recovery of 82.5 μg of community DNA per gram of sample. It was found that 85% of the DNA recovered is found to be greater than 1.5 kb (length of the gene from densitometry measurements), thereby making it suitable for the use of PCR-based analyses of microbiomes.

6.4 Fabrication of bioplastic sheets

Nowadays, synthetic plastics are gradually being replaced by bioplastic materials to tackle sustainability and environmental challenges. Slaughterhouse/poultry wastes are one of the renewable sources of protein for the fabrication of bioplastic films. Lukubira and Ogale [ 74 ] evaluated the effect of chemical modification (using calcium hydroxide) of plasticized meat and bone meal (with a composition of 4–7% moisture, 50% protein, 8–12% fat, and 35% ash) on bioplastic sheets fabrication for potential geo-structural uses. In this meal, glycerol was added as a plasticizer in different ratios along with this meal. The sheets fabricated with 30% glycerol and meat and bone meal showed a tensile strength of 0.8 ± 0.1 MPa; however, it is comparatively lower than the tensile strength of synthetic polymers (linear low-density polyethylene with a tensile strength of 30 MPa). The thermoplastic processing of meat and protein meal for sheet fabrication is found to depend primarily on the particle size, plasticizer addition, and environmental humidity. Bier et al.[ 155 ] produced a thermoplastic from bloodmeal which is a denatured protein by-product of the meat processing industry and plasticized with triethylene glycol that improved the thermal and mechanical properties of the waste-derived bio-plastics. In addition, the effect of varying triethylene glycol amount and addition of other additives with constant triethylene glycol amount (20 pph BM ) on the mechanical and thermal properties of bio-plastics were studied. Riedel et al. [ 156 ] produced biodegradable and biocompatible polyhydroxyalkanoates polyesters using waste animal fats as carbon feedstocks with Ralstonia eutropha as biocatalyst. The polyhydroxyalkanoates polyesters are considered suitable alternatives to petroleum-based plastics. Furthermore, Verbeek et al. [ 157 ] decolored the bovine bloodmeal waste using peracetic acid subjected to extrusion treatment and then followed by injection moulding for bioplastics preparation with high mechanical stability. In addition, the additives such as triethylene glycol and sodium dodecyl sulfate are reported to have a significant influence on the processability and mechanical stability of the bioplastics. Similarly, Ramakrishnan et al. [ 75 ] performed the protein extraction from poultry waste feathers for the fabrication of bioplastic sheets. Glycerol was added as a plasticizer for sheet formation. The bioplastics made with 2% glycerol addition showed good thermal and mechanical properties. Further, the biodegradability tests (by incubating in protease enzyme solution prepared using phosphate buffer solution) revealed that all the bioplastics are completely biodegradable (Fig.  14 ), which shows the potential use of this film to replace plastics, which are harmful to the environment.

Biodegradability study of 2% glycerol bioplastic film in 0.5% ( a – f ) and 1% ( g – l ) of stock solution (stock solution: protease enzyme solution) (obtained from [ 75 ] 

7 Barriers, opportunities, and challenges associated with solid waste management

The large volume of solid waste generation could not be avoided with the rising population and the associated industrialization and urbanization. So, sustainable solid waste management is emerging as one of the significant alarms in front of us because it depends upon the quantity and composition of waste generated. Furthermore, solid waste comprises numerous valuable products which could be used as an alternative for commercially available products. Therefore, solid waste management requires effective waste management practices/technologies and policies related to the environment and public health.

As discussed above, several technologies exist for the management of solid wastes and for effective product/energy recovery; nevertheless, in majority of the developing countries, the wastes are disposed of in landfills/dumpsites. This not only increases the load to the dumpsites and decreases the empty land and also underutilizes the potency of these renewable resources. Furthermore, the managemental obstacles prevail such as space limitations, burning, and illegal dumping, lack of waste collecting points, irregularity of waste collection, and improper waste segregation at source. However, in order to attain a sustainable solid waste treatment, making sufficient facilities for waste collection and segregation at source should be made mandatory and regulated by the government by applying necessary guidelines, which would reduce the treatment cost, load to the dumpsites and also increase the process efficiencies.

Apart from proper waste collection and segregation facility, insufficient funding is another barrier for setting up effective treatment technologies for treating large volumes of waste. However, nowadays, government incentives could be used for tackling this issue. Furthermore, the lack of communication and participation, and poor communication between the municipality and residents in waste management practices are the other major barriers. The technological barriers associated with various treatment methods could be managed by the use of integrated treatment systems. The existing research on value added products recovery from slaughterhouse and poultry wastes reveals that the wastes could be initially treated for product recovery followed by energy recovery and fertilizer recovery from the leftover treatment residue to carry out an integrated treatment system for effective and sustainable waste management. The selection of treatment systems for slaughterhouses also relies on waste availability, which determines the nature of the treatment to be adopted that adds economic value. For smaller waste quantities, composting with or without prior product recovery would be a good option whereas for large waste quantities, extraction, energy recovery, and composting would be possible. Extraction of value added products like keratin and protein hydrolysate could yield a high economic value. Following this, the leftover fractions could be used for biofuel recovery like biogas/biodiesel through thermochemical and biological conversion methods. The leftover residue after these treatments could be composted to produce an organic fertilizer that in turn adds value further to bring out a circular economy approach. This type of integrated treatment approach will overcome the process inefficiencies associated with mono-treatments therein reducing the carbon footprint of slaughterhouses and improving the return of investment from the wastes in a sustainable way.

8 Conclusion and future prospective

With the rising population along with an increase in urbanization and industrialization, huge volume of wastes is being generated creating threats to the environment and human health. Furthermore, the rising population increases the consumption rate that in turn enhances the slaughterhouses and poultry production which subsequently intensify the solid waste generation. Improper waste management would also greatly affect the balance of ecosystems by means of water, air, and soil pollution. However, solid wastes are potential resources for recovery of various value added products and renewable energy. To tackle these rising environmental issues and best use of the potency of these solid wastes (slaughterhouses and poultry), conventional and several alternative treatment technologies are available which have been detailed in this review article. In addition, the efficacy of technology as well as the need for improving their treatment efficiency is also reviewed in this article. However, in order to improve the environmental quality, to protect public health and to provide support to India’s goal (Swachh Bharat and Smart Cities Mission) and international missions (sustainable development goals of united nations, SDGs), it is highly essential to identify the effective integrated sustainable waste treatment system for these wastes that must be completely applied in collaboration with the public, local authorities, and private sectors. This would help to guarantee a healthy environment while promoting sustainable economic growth. However, the integration of technologies to add revenue to meet the treatment cost and to increase the process efficiencies still needs further research for attaining zero solid waste discharge to bring out a circular economy approach. Furthermore, the recovery of value added products from slaughterhouses and poultry wastes could pave a way for a country to become self-reliant (e.g., India’s Mission Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) ), which will be highly helpful for the country’s growth and economic development during any pandemic situation. The details of value added products recovered from slaughterhouse and poultry wastes and also the processes involved for recovery have been reviewed here; nevertheless, profound research focus still requires improvement in the quality of the recovered products so that it could completely replace the commercially available products.

In addition, in most of the developing countries, the amount of solid waste generation is low in urban areas when compared with industrialized countries; however, the availability of solid waste management techniques is inadequate and highly challengeable. Especially, the management system for slaughterhouse and poultry waste is very poor, and specific action needs to be involved for effective management of these wastes. Therefore, the necessity of waste management has to be encouraged by effective waste management practices as mandatory at all levels of public, communities, and businesses including meat industries which create awareness to minimize the waste generation and enable them to reuse the renewable waste resources and decreases the depletion of natural resources for bringing out a circular economy concept for managing the wastes from slaughterhouses. Specifically, community participation is the key in solid waste management. Thus, essential efforts need to be made to educate the community for understanding the waste segregation at generation points for effective solid waste management. In addition, efforts are needed to cut down the expenditures by employing the use of low-cost new sustainable processing methods for slaughterhouse and poultry waste treatment, where waste effluents would be successfully treated and the value added products from waste could be recovered and upgraded for various commercial applications.

Abbreviations

Anaerobic digestion

• Municipal solid waste

Greenhouse gas

Carbon /nitrogen ratio

Volatile solids

Germination index

Chicken manure bio-char

Free fatty acid

Fatty acid methyl esters

Potassium hydroxide

Sodium hydroxide

Chicken fat methyl ester

Specific biogas yield

Specific methane yield

Organic loading rates

Long-chain fatty acids

Hydraulic retention time

Deoxyribonucleic acid

Genomic DNA

Phenol, chloroform, and isoamyl alcohol method

Repeated beat beating column method

Polymerase chain reaction

Sustainable development goal

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CSIR-CLRI Communication No: 1545. The authors acknowledge CSIR-CLRI for financial support through MLP projects (MLP-19 and MLP-27). The authors thank Director, CSIR-CLRI for the kind support.

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Mozhiarasi, V., Natarajan, T.S. Slaughterhouse and poultry wastes: management practices, feedstocks for renewable energy production, and recovery of value added products. Biomass Conv. Bioref. (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-022-02352-0

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From the Field

Managing a poultry abattoir in south africa.

This story is one in a series from Frances Chisholm highlighting stories of lives impacted by World Poultry Foundation programs and workshops both in the U.S. and abroad. We encourage you to learn more about Ms. Chisholm  and our poultry projects in South Africa.

“I learned to cut handling time from 2-3 minutes to as little as 45 seconds per bird,” exclaimed broiler farmer Bheki Matshenja about the best part of the five-day Managing a Poultry Abattoir course that he attended at the KwaZulu-Natal Poultry Institute, supported by the World Poultry Foundation. “As a result of those practical demonstrations of handling, we’ve been able to increase throughput at my abattoir from 500 to nearly 1000 birds a day,” he beamed.

Bheki knew what standard to expect from the Abattoir Management course, as he had attended a broiler production course at KZNPI in 2017. “I didn’t mind the 4-hour drive,” said the young broiler farmer, “I knew the quality of the training would be excellent.”

With an eye on moving into poultry processing, the entrepreneurial farmer had built his first abattoir several years ago, “winging it,” as he put it, and visiting other abattoirs to learn the ropes. “I started out slaughtering fewer than 50 birds a day, then eventually got certified for 2,000,” he explained. “The KZNPI course taught me the finer details, especially about hygiene. Dissections were another highpoint,” he enthused. And in regard to the meals, “those ladies can cook,” he exclaimed!

Course classmate Ntokozo Makhanya farms on a smaller scale near Msinga in KwaZulu-Natal. Armed with a Diploma in Farm Management, he started with cycles of 50 birds during COVID lockdown then grew production to two 400-bird cycles. Ntokozo delivers his birds to re-sellers at the live market. His main challenge is a clean water supply, leaving him sometimes to fetch water on his pickup truck from the next municipality. Power outages also threaten business, “Running a brooder on gas is expensive.” But Ntokozo is undaunted.

“I know the Abattoir Management course will help my business because of the quality of the trainers and the eye-opening visit to a commercial abattoir,” he said. Since completing the course, which he described as “so lovely, so open,” he has bought the equipment for a small setup; the next step is to build the structure to house it. He is hoping for financial support from his municipality. Ntokozo plans to sell frozen chicken parts to food stands at the markets that he knows so well, but he’ll also keep selling to the live market, “I have to keep on supplying best quality chickens to my customers.”

Two ambitious South African farmers, two visions, both emboldened by KZN PI training and World Poultry Foundation support!

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Farming South Africa

How to start a Chicken (Poultry) Business

What you need to Consider to start a Chicken Farming Business. Many people like the idea to farm with chickens but has no idea where to start or what financial implications chicken farming have if not done correctly. Don’t worry, it is not as hard as many people think and can be a very profitable business – How to start a Chicken (Poultry) Business

• Flooring (Bedding)
• Fresh Water
• Monitor your Chickens
• Market Research

Cash Flow and Financial Planning

• After sale Service
• Bio – Security

Table of Contents

Bedding for Day Old Chicks

Chickens don’t ask much. You need to get the flooring right on day one. Clean the Chicken Coop once a week if you are farming with broilers, also known as meat chickens.

You can use wood shavings or sawdust that you can collect at your closest sawmill factory. Sawdust works well for broilers, they only need bedding for 6 to 8 weeks before you sell them. We do not recommend that you use sawdust for layers. You should use wood shavings to top up the bedding for the whole layer producing cycle. Watch the video below to see how we did our chicken bedding for the day-old chicks.

Chickens Need Fresh Water.

Chickens are very sensitive birds and freshwater must be available at all times. The larger your chicken coop the harder it gets to supply fresh water to the chickens.

Day-old chicks and older chickens go into shock once you move or transport them from one coop to another. Try not to move them, but if you should, ad some brown sugar to their water to calm them.

Water drinkers are expensive, so make your own

In this video below I demonstrate how we made our own automated chicken waterer with recycled materials. It was an easy and fun little project yet saved us a ton of money if we would of bought them at the Agricultural Shops.

Feeding the Chickens

There are two ways to feed the chickens. Option A – Feed them two to three times per day or Option B let them eat the whole day.

We try our best to make sure that our chickens can walk freely in their coop and our chickens can eat when they want. Chicken feeders can become very expensive and as your business grows into a large scale Chicken Operation feeding becomes harder and more time consuming.

Monitor your Chickens.

You need to keep an eye on your chickens at all times. Make sure when you produce your own day old chickens or when you buy them that they are vaccinated against all diseases like the pocks or New Castle.

When chickens are not healthy, they will show it fast. Remove sick chickens from the coop as soon as possible to avoid spreading of sickness and diseases like Flu and Merricks.

Market Research – Know how to sell your chickens

The most important step about farming with chickens is the ability to sell your chickens. You need to make sure you have are market ready to start selling your chickens before you consider a chicken farming business.

Selling live chickens to your local market and communities is hard work, risky and takes a lot of time. You need to consider your fuel and wages before you determine the sales price of the chickens. Another financial risk is that, when you are selling live chickens and you don’t sell out, you need to keep on feeding them and again you will lose money if you don’t plan correctly.

Finding an abattoir that is willing to slaughter your chickens for a good price is a challenge. Chicken abattoirs are not cheap and do take a huge chunk of your profit. Plan ahead and make sure that your production and nominal costs are in place before you start a chicken farming business.

Like any other business, chicken farming has hidden costs and need financial planning. When planning your chicken business it is vital to think about all the details to determine that your profit is 100% correct. Fuel, packaging and slow sales are mostly not calculated in a business plan and can demotivate a farmer if he does not understand why he/she is not making money.

After sale Service

So many farmers ignore or don’t even care about aftersale service.

After sales can lead to more sales – Once you have made a sale to a client, follow up and see if they are happy with your products and find out where you can improve. Remind them when your service will be available again and offer them a better deal if they order in bulk. Make sure that they have your contact details and business name.

If a farmer is unable to confirm an order in advance, there is no guarantee that he/she will be able to get chicks from a hatchery or secure point of lay pullets when they are needed.

Bio – Security for Chicken Farmers

What does Bio – Security mean?  Biosecurity , as originally conceptualized, was a set of preventive measures designed to reduce the risk of transmission of infectious diseases in crops and livestock, quarantined pests, invasive alien species, and living modified organisms.

Having Bio-Security in place is a win win for both your business and customers. Containing diseases and the prevention of virus spread should be considered as important as your farming business. If not done correctly you can loose your flock in days and many won’t recover from disasters such as the New Castle Disease.

What steps should I take Farming with Chickens in SA – How to Start

• Keep unwanted visitors out of your coops
• Spray vehicles down with Virukill before they enter your property
• Have water traps or water buckets at the entrance of your coops so visitors and helpers can clean their boots before entering the coop
• Clean and Spray coops with Virukill after every cycle and rest the coop for at least 2 to 4 days before placing new day-old chicks
• Workers should sanitize before entering the coop
• Workers with Flu should not work in the chicken coop

Farming with Chickens in SA – How to Start

Question:  Is Chicken Farming a Profitable Business?

Answer:  If planned correctly, Chicken farming can be very profitable. Your profit margin should be around 52%

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6 Replies to “How to start a Chicken (Poultry) Business”

Thank you so much for that informative article

Morning, how do I right a business plan for broilers

Thank you for the info, I have learnt a lot.

Please send videos on how to breed broilers

Best view i have ever seen !

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Chicken Farming Business Plan For Beginners

How to start poultry farming business – chicken farming business plan for beginners.

If you are interested in being a poultry farmer, you must want to know how to start a poultry farming business for beginners, this article tell you the chicken farming business plan which could be helpful for you.

Why to Start Poultry Farming Business Plan

A Poultry farming business can be called one of the most lucrative in the world if it is managed properly. The poultry farmers now we have are not enough that’s why chicken farming business has become so much profitable. It has become the finest opportunity of making a good amount of money in a short period of time. This article will focus on the process of poultry farming, the process of poultry from small farm and how to make it a big one.

1. Fast Reproduction and Large in Numbers

A healthy layer chicken almost lays an egg every day or 4 eggs in a week sometimes it lays 7 eggs in a week too, these all depends on the quality of your birds. Some birds can lay 325 eggs in a year. And it takes 21 days to hatch. Technically this means that a layer chicken is able to produce another layer twice in three days. So, if you have 500 healthy California white birds they are capable of giving you 12,000 chicks within 40 days.

2. A Fast Growth Rate

The most interesting thing about the poultry is its high growth rate. It takes about 21 days when the eggs are hatched. After their birth it takes about 27 to 28 weeks when they are fully ready for the market. That means a poultry farmer starts earning his income in just 31 weeks after he has successfully started his poultry farming business. According to the calculation he will be able to double his income in a year. However there are some uncertainties in this business, mortality and diseases are some of them but it can be reduced by taking proper managements and vaccination.

3. Sales at a Very Profitable Price

The market price of a bird is not so low you can a good profit from it. The price of a fully grown healthy chicken is about 10 to 11 dollar in the market. So if you are the one who produce 12,000 chickens in 40 days in his farm, you obviously are making 120,000 dollar when they are sold completely.

4. The Egg Market is Also Large

The poultry egg market is also good and very profitable. With the meat business, the poultry eggs are another source of good profit. You can earn about 2 to 3 dollar for each crate of smaller eggs and 3-4 for bigger one. Every crate has 30 eggs. So if you have 500 layers in your farm and they lays 12,000 eggs in a month and if you want to sell all of them then you are making 1,500 dollar per month.

Before Starting Your Poultry Farming Business Plan

Before you start your chicken farm business, you have to make a poultry farming business plan, it is very important for all types of business. A business plan is like a road map which tells you where you are going with your business. A business plan will tell you at which point you are now in your business. Your poultry farming business plan should include the following points.

1. Select The Type of Poultry Bird

The first step of starting a poultry business is the selection of bird type. Here you will choose the type of birds is that layer chicken or broiler. You can choose any of them it totally up to you. There are some other types of birds that you can bring in your consideration. They are the duck, goose, turkey etc.

2. Select The Cage Type of Your Poultry

Another important factor consider before baking the final plan of your chicken farm is to select the chicken cage type and size. Maybe you are thinking that, this is not that much necessary to think before starting the business, but believe it actually is. Estimating over your cost over the chicken cages will affect both positively and negatively on your entire poultry business plan. So go through the cage type on our website and choose the best type of cages you need.

3. Sort out The Area of Interest

You can’t start poultry business without a goal. You have to choose a path where you want to flow your business. This will concentrate your focus in one point and will ensure higher level of professionalism but if you want to work with two areas then no problem. Here are some niches of poultry farming.

• Layer Chicken Breeding : These are mainly used for egg production.
• Broiler Breeding : It is used for chicken meat production.
• Hatchery : Is for hatching new chicks.
• Poultry feed : It produce feeds for other poultry farms.

You can choose any of them. You can choose breed layer and broiler together if you want to.

4. Specify Poultry Location

Another important sector of poultry farming is choosing the location where you will set up for your business. It has a direct impact with the start up cost. My preferable place for a poultry farm is a rural area with a road nearby. This will reduce your cost of land and labor. When you start your poultry farming business you may not want to spend all of your money for a land in urban area. There are some other difficulties in urban area with poultry farming. Govt. will not allow you to make a farm in a residential area for health issue. So it is better to select a perfect land for your business in a rural area.

5. Investment Capital

After you have specified your location now you know how much capital you are required to start your chicken farming business plan. Write down all of your capital you need and manage the source where to get manage it.

Like every business the bigger your business plan the bigger you have to invest. You have to decide how much capital you can afford for this business.

Poultry Farming Business Plan – How to Get Going?

You have all of your business plans ready but if you don’t apply it then all are useless. We consider you have your capital ready if you have that then start for the next steps.

Step 1: Buy The Land

Like we suggested you earlier you have to choose a land which is a remote place from city. But remember don’t choose any place which is too far from the city and which don’t have any well transportation system.

Step 2: Build The Required Structure

A good housing system is very important for your poultry farming business. A good housing system not only save your chickens from danger but also increase your profit in poultry business. Every poultry housing systems are classified according to the management system, scale and the use. The common types of poultry housing systems used are

• Half litter
• Deep litter

Step 3: Buy Cages

Purchasing chicken cages is a very important part of the business as many of the affecting factors directly depends on the size, orientation, strength and layout of the chicken cage. Make proper measurements and analyze your poultry size and budget before buying the chicken cage. Here are the available chicken cages we offer – layer chicken cage (battery cage) , baby chick cage , broiler cage , commercial quail cages and commercial rabbit cages , etc.Hightop Poultry Equipmentis one of the leading chicken cage and poultry farm equipment manufacturer in China,contact usnow to get the free layout design according to your chicken house and birds quantity.

We have got another article in this blog describing the usage and utility of each of the cage types and surely that will help you to choose the best fit of your poultry.

Step 4: Buy Birds/Chicks

It is perfect decision to choose day old chick to start your poultry business. Before you buy these chicks find a reliable Hatchery where you can get healthy chicks. It will not cost you too much.

Step 5: Other Items and Accessories You Need

There are some otherpoultry cage accessorieslikedrinkers,feeders, Parches, crates, nests,lighting system,egg incubator,waste disposal system, etc.

You have to consider these costs too. And as an eventual part of plan, we also provide you the best poultry farm equipment like –Automatic egg collector,automatic feeding system,automatic manure removal machine,disinfectant fogging machineand cooling system, etc. in a very affordable price and top quality.

Challenges in Poultry Business Startup

Poultry farming is one of the most profitable business in these days. But you have to know the risk of this business. Though there are no businesses which are beyond risk and challenges.

1. Lack of Government Support

From our previous experiences we all may think that govt. will help us at our critical time in this business. But don’t be sure about it. Prepare yourself that govt. will not help when you need them. Think that you have to run your business alone without the help of any one. Take a backup for sudden loss. It may help you to run your business properly and if you get help from the govt. think that it is a bonus.

2. A Very High Starting Capital

It is said money is everything. So without a proper funding you will not be able to run your business. Like other business, poultry farming business also needs proper funding. Without it you may not be able to add extra facilities which will increase your production rate.

You need proper funding to purchase land, poultry farm equipment, food for your chick and you need to pay your labor. In all sector you need a good capital. So you should do a research on your cost and capital you have then you should start your poultry farm business. We can provide you the poultry cage and chicken farm equipment with good price, help you to save money.

3. Disease Out Breaking

A dirty environment in your firm will invite many diseases and infections. Poultry are very sensitive to the environmental changes. If the poultry farm is not taken care of properly the birds will easily be exposed to different kinds of bacteria. You have to keep your poultry farm clean as much as possible. Automatic manure cleaning system,disinfectant fogging machineandventilating systemcan help you.

You must not bring any contaminated equipment, footwear or even vehicles. Also do not allow any visitors in your poultry farm environment.

4. Other Influencing Factors

There are some other factors that can affect your poultry farming business like proper vaccination. You have to be able to afford it may become difficult for you if you are a small scale poultry farmer. So the thing you have to do is gather some other farmers like you and buy the vaccine.

Another challenge in poultry farming is the high cost of poultry food. So it is seen that most of the farmers who have a little capital, economize or ration the food. It affects the profit in a large scale.

Want to buy chicken cage and poultry farm equipment to start your own poultry farming business? Please feel free to contact us.

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