Many intending poultry farmers are always confused on wether to venture into broilers or layers‘ farming but there are few basics that need to be known about each of them.
Layers lay eggs more often compared to broilers. Broilers will also begin laying eggs if you keep them on the farm for long but this is not economically profitable and can only be profitable if you are keeping your broilers o act as parent stock.
Differences in production
Broilers gain more weight compared to layers but if your layers are less than 1.5 kg then they will not lay eggs because all the feed consumed will be used for maintenance other than egg production.
Broilers feed more and their feed is more costly compared to layers. This is because their feed contain more protein and raw protein sources are expensive.
Layers are more susceptible to diseases than broilers. This is because layers stay at the farm for a long period of time hence have a high exposure to disease.
Economic differences
Starting a broiler farm is easier than layers because the skills needed and inputs are less than those needed for layers.
Broilers provide easy source of income. Even with 100 birds you can still make profits but you need a minimum of 500 layers for you to make profits.
Recovering from a loss is easier with broilers compared to layers because broilers have a short production cycle. A loss made in one cycle can be covered by profits from another cycle.
Layers are more marketable and profitable than broilers. This is because with layers, you can sustainably be in the market selling eggs and also sell off layers at the end but for broilers, each day spent on the farm after attaining market weight implies them eating up the profits.
