Gladys earns a monthly salary of 80,000-100,000 Through Poultry Farming
She quit her nursing Job at a private hospital after complaining of low salary income
Hoping to be a future landlady through her Agribusiness Job
Four years after Madam Gladys from Trans Nzoia county,Kiminini sub county quit her job at a private hospital as a Nurse to venture into poultry farming, She has no regrets.
Her educational background in Nursing at Kenya School of Medicine has played a big role in running her daily life at a poultry farming dubbed “Gladys Poultry Farming”
“I resigned from my Nursing job in December 2019 and got into agribusiness starting with 200 birds. During this time, I attended several meetings on poultry farming and interacted with several entrepreneurs,” said Gladys.
Gladys’s interest in poultry farming began in early December 2019, when people were in their Christmas mood celebrations when she was still in her formal employment.
She started by raising kienyeji chickens for meat and eggs.
In a YouTube interview by Aim Agriculture, Gladys explains her successful poultry farming business that is making her a Millionaire.
“I first bought 200 chicks at KSh 192 from a neighbour and within four months, many had died. I did not give up, and I bought another 100 kienyeji chicks and continued scaling up to 300 and by 2020 when I quit my Job completely, I had 500 birds,” She said.
After a few years, She realised that the demand for eggs was more than that of meat, so she started investing in more high-breed Kienyeji chicken.
By 2022, Gladys needed to expand his venture but did not have the resources to build a bigger and more spacious poultry house.
At that time, she said, banks were shying away from giving out loans to any farming venture due to COVID 19 outbreak, terming it risky, but this has since changed.
“ Through my interaction with other agribusiness entrepreneurs, I have learned about a call for proposals for good business poultry ideas and am happy i can witness its fruits.
“During COVID-19 time, I had shifted from kienyeji to hybrid layers and had about 2,000 layers. I had depleted all my initial resources and I needed additional capital to scale up.”
Gladys went through a vigorous process and in December 2022, she managed to build her parents a three-bedroom house through her poultry business by selling meat and eggs.
“During my internship period at a private hospital facility they used to pay me KSh 15,000-20,000 monthly salary thrice the amount am making now from my poultry farming,” said Gladys.
She said they are working in partnership with the national and county governments and other like-minded civil society groups to strengthen the supply of nutritious meat and eggs.
Today, Gladys has 3,000 birds on her farm. She produces eggs for the local market using the deep litter system.
“Many farmers prefer the free-range method, but it is one of the most ineffective systems for someone who wants to produce eggs in large volumes,” she said.
The trained architect sells 80 percent of his eggs and meat in the area while the rest is sold in TransNzoia town. She sells to the retail shops that then sell to the consumer and this ensures that the meat and eggs are affordable.
Gladys is currently producing 30,000 trays daily. She spends about Ksh2000 to buy chick mash which helps her produce a tray of eggs then sells it at Sh280 at the farm gate and the same tray she sells to retail shops at Ksh300.
She said 60-70 percent of the eggs consumed in Kenya are imported and Gladys is planning to increase production to 20,000 in the next two to three years and 100,000 birds in the next five years.
“Feeds take up the biggest chunk of production, which is 70 percent of the production cost. So I plan to start making my chicken feed so I can maximize my profit,” she said.
Gladys advised farmers or anyone interested in venturing into poultry farming to undertake research first, invest in good housing structures for the birds, and then get quality chicks to ensure maximum returns.
Being a wife and also a mother, she is also the first daughter of her father’s lineage.
She said she is now earning a monthly income of Ksh 80,000-100,000 per month hence searching for a job is not her interest anymore.
The middle-aged woman now has her car, house, and a Bodaboda. She has even gone ahead and employed more workers to help her run her businesses.
“Now that I also own a land I am planning to invest in rental houses this year. I have land and am yet to build rental apartments God willing soon,” adds Gladys.
