Work in progress with photos!

Front view of our premises at Ladang Kalang.

Vallerian Tan A.K.A Nanak Working Hard!

Our new 'easy' chair

Roof in need of repair.

Floor needs repair

Nanak Again

1st Batch 2012 Chick run

Entrance for chick run

Above are some photos taken of our work in progress at our new premises at Kalang, Tenom, Sabah.

Will upload more soon.

Eric Has Left Us.

At 12.09 this afternoon while working on our new farm today, I received a shocking text informing me that Eric has passed on. It was sad news as Eric had brought so much laughter and fun. Vallerian mentioned to me that Eric didn't have the appetite to eat this morning.

I suspect bad weather was the cause of his death. He was a brave Spartan Warrior Chief. Eric can't be replaced, he was a special rooster, one of a kind. He will be deeply missed by us here.

Rest in peace Eric.

Season's Greetings!

Wishing all of you greetings of the season!

It has been awhile since the last post. We have been busy working on the new farm. Had cleanups for two days. Tried to post pictures a couple of days ago but was not successful.

Vallerian is here and we got off to a late start as planned earlier, due to the demise in the family.

Pictures are up!

Rest In Peace Spartans

It is somewhat a gloomy day today, although it is bright and shining outside. It has been raining heavily the last couple of days. Found 39 brave Spartans dead today, all given a proper burial. They fought hard against bad weather.

At least they made it through a week. Now it is a matter of getting replacements.

Eric has been so good even though, Le - a and her crew have gone. He did go missing the other day, but I found him in our living room sleeping on the floor.

Well, everything's on course for crunch time.

New Chicks In Again.

Well, I got up early this morning as usual and went to collect another 110 day old chicks, bringing current total chickens to 225 plus 1 Eric. It's getting to be a pretty serious affair.

Progress with the new rearing facilities are going on schedule. Another 3 to 4 weeks to be fully operational. Vallerian Tan and I are going to be very very busy. With Christmas, New Years and The Chinese Lunar New Year 2012 coming in quick succession, I'm pretty sure you all will see hunka hunka drop dead gorgeous chiselled dudes pretty soon.

Sold 50 Chickens yesterday. I received a call at about 5.40am requesting 30 chickens for some celebrations with regards to Malaysia winning the SEA Games gold medal in football (Soccer to the un-schooled). So delivered them around 8.30am. About an hour later the same guys called up and asked for another 20. What! I couldn't believe my luck! So again I sent another 20. I was hoping to be invited for the celebrations but, alas, it wasn't the case. But I am definitely happy I sold off those chickens.

Very tiring! Plus it was very hot yesterday! So it's a quiet day for me today. Right now having a freezing ice cold Nescafe. Soothing and refreshing.

Now for some rest and relaxation... till next time..

Chicks are 4 Weeks and 12 Weeks.

It's Wednesday, I just thought I'd update you guys on the chicks. New Chicks are numbering 103 as of today. Lost 6 due to bad weather. Rainy season. Apart from that they are all looking healthy and have grown huge. Eating so much!

The larger chickens are in the range of 2.5 to 3kgs at the moment. There are about 34 left after sales. It's been good, I have made a total of RM2842.00 (Roughly USD800.00). Initial costs were about RM1200.00 which include the chicks, feeding containers, corn feed and chicken feed. So I've managed to get that back.

The profit has gone back to expanding my operations as in earlier posts. Now we are set on the 1st week of December to start our operations at a new location.

Eric is 4 months plus, he is getting Huge and he has a way with the girls. Took him to town last week, he doesn't run around and stays close to me. Although I didn't dare take him into any restaurants. For obvious reasons.

Eric is starting to grow leg horns (Taji to us locals) and soon he'll come of age and start harassing female chicks and getting babies. I feel like a father seeing his kid grow up.

Well I am off to get busy. So do stop by again for updates.

11.11.11

Just thought I'd post that special date!

New Stuff

Went to visit the site again this morning. Had a closer inspection of the place. And my oh my there's quite a few things that need to be done.

1. Cutting the overgrown grass

2. Repairing some of the flooring.

3. Getting some lights in.

4. Installation of wiremesh to certain sections of the building.

5. The building of partitions for an office as well as storage for chicken feed.

6. Repair of the stairs.

7. Disinfecting the whole darn thing.

At least there is electricity and water. Nice all round condition. I am pretty happy with what is happening now.

I had a moment of serenity and peace while just sitting on the steps of the building, looking out towards the lush greenery surrounding it. I shed a tear. I pulled out my iPhone.. and darn.. I forgot to charge it again! So much for the thrilling moment.

Chickens are doing well. I got back early from the office and cleaned out the coop. 2 gunny sacks full. The new chicks are healthy and getting bigger and fatter. I haven't lost any so far. Which is very good compared to my first time around doing 100 chicks about 2 months back.

Eric is making a nuisance of himself, as always. He accidentally 'fell' into the one of the gunny sacks and made a mess! EEEEEW! But he's unharmed. The rest of the turkens are doing so well. I am feeding them corn and grower pellets now. They are catching up to Eric in terms of size.

I have a page on Facebook, you can see the link at the top right hand corner of this blog. I called up a few friends to ask about some sponsorship with regards to prizes for our fans who can come up with a unique and creative name for our farm.

Good news is I have a few promising items coming along. But at the moment I am still contemplating on how to go about doing this contest. Well I'll get there somehow.

So here's to another updated. Will keep you posted.

Progress

Making progress the last couple of days. Managed to get a reduction in rates for some important items for the new farm. Also managed to get a reduced rental due to the fact that I have promised a 5 year contract with the owner.

I have made a check-list of things to purchase and things to do before fully commencing work on the farm. There's a lot of cleaning and minor renovating to be done. I can't wait for my partner Vallerian Tan to come over. God knows, I could surely use his help around here.

Apart from that everything seems to be going just fine. Chickens are really doing well. And today for the first time ever I saw and heard Eric crow! He's all grown up now. A bit overweight I might add as he is constantly being shown affection! Also there is the sign of his feathers getting longer.

Well it's back to work!

Some News

I have only managed to source 200 Chicks for my upcoming project. I am currently trying to source more. It seems that the current supply of day old chicks are hard to come by due to the forthcoming Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations in January.

I am undeterred and I am very positive that I will be able to get around 500 by months end. Research has been very interesting and I have been to the relevant people for advice and I am pretty sure we'll be kicking off this new project very soon.

The Chickens are doing very well, Today the new chicks are 9 days old and the larger ones are about 10 weeks plus (72 days to be exact) an error on my previous post I might add. After changing from normal sawdust to the more smoother rice husk, I find that they are more comfortable and eat much much more.

Well I'll keep you posted.

10 weeks and 1 week.

My chickens will be 10 and 1 week old respectively tomorrow. Overall health is very good, the week old chicks are healthy and I haven't lost anymore. Total count is 167 chicken.

Have done a lot of research the past few days with regards to rearing chicken commercially, I've gone to the Department of Veterinary Services and Animal Industry Sabah to ask for advice and they were very helpful.

I shall be forecasting and preparing my project paper to submit to them for approval. I have currently acquired the services of one partner (Vallerian Tan), to assist me in this forthcoming project.

Wish us luck on our journey

Sold 19 and so VERY good news too.

5 Day old chicks

59 Turkens left

4 Day old chicks

Sold 19 chicks to pre-order customers. On average they weighed about 2.5 to 2.8kgs. Managed to make a good amount of cash Bought new feed and met new friends.

I did come across a lady selling fresh water fish, and she was saying to me that the prices I put out for my chicken were too cheap, she suggested I put them up to be standardized with other poultry sellers. I am inclined to do so. 玉米饲喂鸡

Yesterday a very close relative had mentioned to me about a chicken farm that he built but never used. So I took the afternoon to go and have a look at the building. I liked what I saw, I just don't like that my iPhone was out of charge so I couldn't take photographs.

Well, a few blog posts ago I was talking about going full scale commercial, and the good news is now I can proceed as planned earlier than the mentioned timeline. Yes! I am happy and my friends here are telling me to go all out.

A bit about the building. It is 120 feet in length and about 20 feet in width and roughly 15 feet high, it's above ground, just how I like it. I couldn't have asked for anything more. You could house 2000 or more chicks but I am going for 1000 to 1500 just to keep things manageable.

I'll be doing lots and lots of homework in the next few days. Also, I'll be posting here about updates in the next few days so do keep looking.

New Chicks in Today (with Videos and pics)

Received 110 day old chicks today! Very happy! Have some videos down below too.

And the 9 week chickens today!

It's tough but someone's gotta do it.

Chicken Farming

Pengeluaran daging ayam negara telah mencapai tahap saradiri sejak tahun

1981. Pada tahun 2006, aktiviti pengeluaran ayam daging tempatan

menyumbangkan lebih kurang 70% daripada keseluruhan bekalan daging

negara. Walaupun memberi pulangan yang cepat, pemeliharaan ayam daging

bukanlah satu pekerjaan yang mudah diusahakan.

Pemeliharaan ayam daging terdedah kepada banyak faktor yang boleh

mempengaruhi untung-rugi dan daya maju seseorang pengusaha. Antaranya

adalah ketidakstabilan harga pasaran, harga imput seperti makanan dan bahan

binaan, cuaca yang berubah-ubah dan penyakit. Ayam juga memerlukan

persekitaran yang selesa untuk pertumbuhan yang cekap. Pemeliharaan ayam

memerlukan perancangan yang teliti bermula dari peringkat penubuhan ladang,

pengurusan sehinggalah ke pasaran.

Kos pengeluaran ayam pedaging telah meningkat sebanyak RM2.06 sekilogram

iaitu dari RM1.61 pada tahun 1998 ke RM3.67 sekilogram pada tahun 2006.

Pada bulan Oktober 2004 harga siling ayam pedaging di ladang telah ditetapkan

pada harga RM4.00 sekilogram.

English Translation:

Production of chicken meat has reached self-sufficiency in the country since1981. In 2006, local chicken production contributes to approximately 70% of the total meat supply
in the country. Although with quick returns, the preservation of poultry meat is not an easy job.
Preservation of meat chickens are exposed to many factors that can affect the profit and loss and viability of an entrepreneur. among them is the market price volatility, such as the imputed price of food and energy building, climate change and disease. Chickens need comfortable environment for efficient growth. Rearing of chickens require careful planning from the establishment of the farm, management up to the market.
Cost of production of broilers has increased by RM2.06 per kg
ranging from RM1.61 to RM3.67 per kg in 1998 to 2006.
In October 2004 the ceiling price of broilers on the farm has been set
at RM4.00 per kg.

Source:

IBU PEJABAT PERKHIDMATAN VETERINAR, PUTRAJAYA

Scooping the Poop.

Cleaned the chicken coop today. 3 times in the past week. Another 25kgs. The stench is becoming bearable. Found one female chick dead. I do not know what seems to be the cause of this.

16 Gone

Had to sell off 16 chicks, didn't want to but a friend has an event on the 25th of this month and requires the chicken. So I sold 16 off to him after he begged (Really). At least I made enough to get back my investment for the chicks.

Now there are 80 left and I am assuming that the cost in feeding them will be lower, But 26th is the day another 110 chicks are coming and I don't see the cost going anywhere lower.. But things are looking up.

It's been raining for 3 days straight now. At least the veges are being well watered but if it goes on, it'll mean that most of the crops will be on the unhealthy side.

96

96 Chicks left. I found out one died this morning. The smallest one. It was unable to fight for food. I have been away for two days.

8 Weeks

8 Weeks have passed and it'll be 2 months come this Sunday the 23rd of October. Time really flies.

Fed the chicks normal feed today because I haven't got any corn feed left. The growth of the chicken seems to be on track for the targeted 3kgs. The chicks are very active. I think that because of this they don't put on much weight. It isn't like the full blown commercial rearing that doesn't leave any room for the chicken to move around.

Well at least I know my chickens are healthy. My brinjals (eggplants) are coming along nicely. I should say that my wife is the one who planted them. The are about 2 and a half inches in diameter and roughly 18 to 20cms in length. We are currently planning to harvest on Saturday to offload them on Sunday at the local market. They taste real good, I've had a few the last couple of days.

Well that's it for now.

Another Clean out!

Cleaned the chicken poop again this morning, a gunny sack full (about 25kgs). I've got some people ordering to buy the poop for fertilizer. Well whatever makes them happy.

Weighed the largest chicks available, 2 in total, on average about 2.2kgs each. Not bad for chicks almost reaching 8 weeks! My normal free range chicks weigh about 600gms. The difference is so huge!

I expect them to reach around 3kgs in another 6 weeks. In the meantime, it's just feed, feed, feed and more feeding.

A local lass.

Here's a local lass from Sabah singing a cover song of a current hit. Macam di KK (Just like in KK (Kota Kinabalu))



Original here...



The Lyrics:

Macam Di KK

Terjaga dari lena rasa bosan pun melanda

Ku pikir-pikir mau pigi mana tak kan perap saja

Lalu ku cuba telipon satu kawan

Mana tampat paling siok

asal jangan bikin mengantuk

Si kawan bilang bagus pigi seberang

Kota raya indah malam pun macam siang

Tapi sia ingat,disini lagi dekat

sepanjang malam lampu terang

lagi dekat kalau mau pulang

ulang 2x

Sia bilang mcm di kk

Ada di kk

semuanya macam di kk aramai

semuanya ada di sini

Si kawan bilang di sana lagi canggih

Bangunan tinggi² dan ramai orang putih

Tapi sia ingat disini lagi dekat

Cantik baitu kinabalu satu dunia pun tahu

ulang 2x

Sia bilang mcm di kk

Ada di kk

semuanya macam di kk aramai

semuanya ada di sini

Dan bila terasa rindu

Kau dan ku pigi Tanjung Aru

Duduk berjam-jam atas batu

melihat senja berlabuh..ohh…ulang 6x

Sia bilang mcm di kk

Ada di kk

Semuanya macam di kk aramai

semuanya ada di sini

Good news.

I went to town today to purchase some supplies and chicken feed. While in town I thought I'd go to a couple of restaurants to inquire whether or not they wanted chickens. I managed to get orders from one restaurant, 5 heads per week! Wow.. I am so stoked! Although I have to sit down and discuss further with the owner.

New day-old-chicks arriving on Wednesday this week. So I am really considering 200 chicks at the moment. At least I'll be able to have a consistent supply of chicken should orders increase. I have made up my mind to start a full scale operation somewhere in March 2011. Now all I have to do is find a suitable place to farm the chicken. Somewhere not to close to any residential areas.

I'll still do my backyard chicken farming, this one is for family and friends. With so many celebrations and parties coming soon, I would love to be able to 'handout' some chickens. Purely for marketing purposes.

So here's to another new journey!

A draw.

This post has nothing to do with chickens whatsoever. But I just wanted to air my discontentment over a draw against Manchester United tonight.

Both teams played very well, I am just upset with some unfair calls by the referee at times. Well looking forward to next week's game.

Pleasantries.

Today after feeding.

The photo above shows the current state of the chicks. Just fed them about 20 minutes ago and they are lazily resting. Just ran out of feed by the way. Going to head into town later on.

There's a big Liverpool game to night (Versus Man United). Why I wrote that is beyond me.

Cleaning out the Poop (STOOL)

Chicken Poop (Bueks)

Seven Week Old Chicks

This morning after breakfast I went and cleaned out the chicken coop. I tell you the stench was so unbearable. Managed to get 2 gunny sacks full! (About 40Kgs). At least we have fertilizer for our plants and what not. Plus it'll get my mother in-law off my back regarding the stench.

Also, an updated photo of the 7 week old chicks. They eat like nobody's business. I am getting pretty worried at the rate they're going. 50KGS of feed and corn in 3 days! I've tried to cut down but they look so adorable running to the door as I approach. I gotta be more disciplined.

Well, I'll keep you updated.

7 Weeks

It's been 7 weeks since I started and boy has it been hectic. Now the chicks are quite big, about 1kg plus, almost 2kgs. Another 7 weeks to go until I sell the last batch. By week 12 I am expecting to sell off some because I have received pre-orders for a party in the beginning of November. Our supplier has promised another batch of chicks coming in next week. We are still contemplating whether or not to go for 100 or 200 chicks.

The last 7 weeks have been good to us. We've lost 3 chicks to natural causes and not disease. I have been feeding them corn (crushed) from 5 weeks plus up til now. I did have some hiccups with regards to them eating so little but I managed to overcome that by mixing 1 part chicken feed to 5 parts corn. It obviously made a difference because they were back to their old self again. I think I made a judgement error by switching broiler feed with corn abruptly, instead of weaning them to it.

The weather has been good so our water source has been clean and not muddy (Gravity fed water). A good suggestion is to always ensure your chicks receive fresh clean water. I have been pondering on watering nipples for my future projects (plus my wife is nagging because we have to refill the 5 liter water feeders ( I call them upright bombs... don't ask) three times a day. Also, it would make everything much easier.

I have made many new friends over the past few weeks, all of whom are also chicken keepers. A lot of ideas and new information on chicken health and diseases. I am fortunate to not have lost many chicks. My mother in-law seems to think I should go bigger and expand this small project. But I think I will wait another 3 to 4 months before taking the plunge. It's a big investment even for 100 chicks. I have to make sure I have the time to manage the chicks before I can even consider doing it. We have our rubber trees and vegetables to think about too.

Never in my wildest dreams I would have thought that one day I would end up being a 'Petani Moden' (Modern Farmer in Malay), but I am glad I did. Oh yes, I am glad I got chicken stricken too...

Corn Feed

I have found that feeding corn makes the chicken look livelier compared to normal chicken feed. The chicks tend to be more active and have more color. Just a point I wish to add.

Eric

*UPDATE* Added another pic.

This is Eric, our 3 month old Chicken. He was on his way to be food until something special caught my eye. I was watering some vegetables in the garden about a month ago, when, my neighbor commented that a chicken was following me around. I turned back to see Eric walking behind me. I tried to chase him away but he didn't flinch.

Well, I left it at that. Until 15 minutes later, while I was feeding the week old chicks, he came and stood by me. I was quite astonished when I took some feed in my hand and gave it to him, he ate from out of my hand! Yes! I couldn't believe it! I told my wife and she was saying not a chance that would happen. But she tried and lo and behold! Eric ate out of her hand too.

Now ever since then, Eric is always first up to see me come when it's feeding time. He still follows me around, but I don't think that taking him to town will be quite a good idea.... YET!

New Home For The Chicks.

Finally the new home for the 5 and a half week old chicks. My wife and I took 3 days to complete the 10ft X 10ft home for them. I tried to stick to my original plans and I am quite happy with the results. I have already put some bedding for the coop but it isn't shown in the picture above.

Lost one chick last night due to the cold weather (Been raining heavily the last few days). Apart from that minor misfortune everything seems to be looking good. I am currently feeding the chicks corn feed. They are taking a liking to it.

From what I have gathered folks out here want their chicken to be fed with lots and lots of corn. So as this is my first try at rearing commercially, I decided to go ahead with feeding them corn.

Well, It's been a hectic 5 weeks and I am very happy with my progress. My wife seems to want to build another coop double the size to house new chicks for Christmas celebrations. So I think she may be on to something here.

Til next time...

Still at it.

Wow, it's been a hectic 4 weeks for the chicks. None have perished so far. Currently I am in the middle of building a new home for them. They have grown 4 times the size and they eat a HUGE amount! I have gone through 200Kgs of feed (money flying). But the good news is I have received orders already and I will soon see some cash flying back.

Will post pictures soon.

A week and no casualties.

It's been 9 days since I have started this blog and a word of note is that all 98 chicks are alive and kicking. Food consumption is at an all time high, 10Kgs of feed a day! Very expensive I might add. No pics at the moment coz my iPhone refuses to sync with my PC. Sheesh.. Will keep you posted.

R.I.P.

Ok, just 5 minutes into my blog and I have two (2) chicks dead. I assume not because of disease but after being trampled on by the other chicks. I don't want to put up pictures because they both look totally disgusting (Bueks). Well.... The project must go on....

First Entry!

I have blogged before but nothing quite like this one. I am embarking on a new journey in my life. A couple of months ago I came across a blog while searching the net with regards to commercial chicken (Broiler) farming. Because of this particular blog I started out with 10 Naked Neck Chickens and have since sold them off for a nice profit and bought some more chicks and and again and again 10 (ten) at a time. So why did I start this blog you may ask? Because yesterday (24/8/2011) I got myself 100 (Yes one hundred) Naked Neck day-old-chicks, and I want to blog about it from day one up until I sell them off as well as to keep a journal for myself. Why this kind of breed you ask? Well, I find that where I come from (Sabah, Malaysia) many prefer this type of chicken for it's size and flesh. So Being a Google Community College student (LOL) I am adamant to prove that I can teach myself to farm chickens and be a success. Although I don't claim to be an expert. Just a guy from Sabah who wants to make a change in his life.

So here goes.

* Word of note, I have had a few coop designs and the coop that I have made is just made of readily available materials I have lying around the house. (Reban Ayam Kampung so to speak) But I am going to build one especially for my future plans.

A rough idea of how my coop will look like in the future. (Done with Sketchup 8, sorry image isn't up to scale)

Day Old Chicks

I would so love to hear from you. Any suggestions would be most welcome. Let us learn together.