In 2017 Nelson Orembe, a poultry farmer from Nyando in Kisumu County decided, due to stiff completion, to leave chicken farming for domestic Guinea fowls, a venture which is currently earning him more than double what he used to get hence he has never looked back.

With no experience in poultry farming, Orembe had in 2015 left his casual job as a waiter to rear chicken after being influenced by some of his peers who were already established themselves in the business and were making good profits from it.

 “My main aim was to rear chicken which involved layers and broilers for maximum profits as I was convinced by the huge profits other farmers got from the business. But my fear was high level of competition and market pressure as there were so many youth who had already doing better in the business due to their good market connections,” said Orembe.

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This forced him to think otherwise and learnt the tricks of the trade including how to overcome the challenges.

He therefore came up with the idea of including guinea fowls into the farming as a way of diversifying his earnings to get more profits with less competition. To him, this was a ‘unique’ product to supplement my income.

Towards the end of 2017, He bought two guinea fowls from an agricultural officer at a cost of Sh4,500 per pair, and after two years of care, he has had to enlarge the poultry farm to house the increasing number of the birds.

At the moment he has 50 Guinea fowls.

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He has since shifted to the keeping of the domestic Guinea fowls, geese and turkeys though the most profit he gets from Guinea fowls birds.

“In a day I can collect about 18 eggs which I sell at Sh100 each in respect to the market locality. For instance, in Kericho County I sell an egg at Sh200, a price which is hugely different as compared to chicken eggs which sells at Sh12 each,” said Orembe.

However, in closer areas like Awasi market, the farmer tend to reduce the price to increase the demand.

“I have realised that many people also like these eggs because of their nutritious value as it can used to cure asthma among children and adults according.”

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Just like any other venture, some of the challenges Orembe experiences is especially when the fowls hatch which comes with a lot of caring and treatment to keep diseases which can wipe out the entire flock at a tender age.

“Not only do we cater for treatment at this stage but also the young fowls are separated from the adults to ensure they are secured from harm in the event of a stampede,” he said.

The room should also be well aerated and a transparent bulb used to regulate the room temperature for good growth and development. He adds that the fowls commonly feed on coarse grains which were readily available thus easy to rear.

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The big paired size fowl cost Sh4, 500, middle size Sh3, 500 and least goes for Sh2, 500 Orembe says.

He adds that he has managed to pay for and afford basic needs and calls on youth to venture into the farming activity to cushion them from hardships of unemployment and to sustain their livelihoods.

“You can make it through farming but you must be able to go the extra mile and be very hardworking to ensure maximum profits because this job it is not for the faint-hearted!” he concludes.

Photo: Guinea fowls.