Beatrice Kirui’s farm in Kiamunyi, Nakuru, has 3,000 hens, 30 bunnies, three cows and two goats.
She started her farm with one-story chicken enclosure made of iron sheets and wood that can contain 1,500 birds.
Kirui gathers between 70 and 80 trays of eggs per day from this basic structure, which she sells for Ksh 310 apiece, with the majority going to wholesalers, hotels and bakers in the Nakuru area.
Similarly, the rabbit enclosure is one-story, albeit smaller, with each unit housing 15 rabbits. In addition, the compound has a servant’s quarters, a brooding house and a kitchen for farm workers.
Kirui works for a seed company in Uasin Gishu and only visits her property on weekends.
She has four employees, two for poultry, one for dairy cows, bunnies and goats and one as general manager, who oversees the farm’s operations, including sales monitoring.
“I know what my chickens and cows produce weekly, thus, I am able to estimate my earnings. I keep track of everything that happens on the farm through the phone,” she said.
Kirui’s interest in farming began over ten years ago, when she joined a women’s merry-go-round group at Kiamunyi estate on the Nakuru-Kabarak Road.
She started the poultry business with the Ksh 30,000 she received from members and then purchased cows.
“I put up a structure and bought 100 chicks. It is from this group that my brood has expanded to 3,000. My friends, some who also have quarter acres, thought that the land was too small for one to engage in any meaningful agribusiness, but I have proved that you can do as many farming projects as possible on such a farm,” she stated.
The farm earns her around Ksh 650,000 every month, with the majority of the money coming from her layers. She spends approximately Ksh 60,000 on salary per month, while chicken feed costs her Ksh 100,000.
Everything on her farm generates cash, including chicken waste, which she sells as manure for Ksh 700 every 90kg bag, in addition to using it to grow vegetables.
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The three cows, two Friesian and one Ayrshire, produce 50 liters of milk everyday, which she sells for Ksh 35 per litre.
The cows have also saved her at least Ksh 6,000 per month in fuel costs, as she generates biogas for cooking and lighting in her home.
Kirui sells the rabbits for Ksh 500 to Ksh 700 each depending on the size. Many of those who buy are fellow farmers.
One of her dairy goats will soon have a kid and start producing milk, which will earn her more money.
Five members of her chama have already followed in her footsteps, keeping between 100 and 500 layers on quarter-acre plots with ambitions to diversify.
Kirui has no agricultural expertise, although she does work as a sales manager for a seed firm.
However, as you watch her assess her chicken’s ability to lay eggs, you could mistake her for a livestock expert.
“If I put three fingers in the hen’s cervix and they fit, then it means that the bird will finally lay eggs. I have to do this to determine how many of my chicken would lay eggs,” she stated.
Kirui says she enjoys learning on the job, which is why she chose to start with the regular cow breed over the hybrids.
One of her major challenge is high cost of chickens and dairy feeds.
“Some of the feeds are also of poor quality, I recently bought chicken feeds from a supplier and my birds produced eggs with weak shells and white yolk. I suffered losses,” she said.
