Nigeria's Day-Old-Chick Shortage: What Is Planned and How to Protect Your Next Batch
If you keep broilers or layers in Nigeria, you may know this problem already: you pay the hatchery, and then you wait. Farmers are reported to be waiting up to four months to receive day-old chicks after paying for them.
That wait costs money. The house stands empty, workers still need paying, and feed prices can move before the birds even arrive.
What is being planned
According to Punch, the Federal Government and the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) are working on two things:
- A temporary import of about 60 million hatchable eggs. The aim is to cut the wait for chicks from months to about one month.
- A production target of 262 million day-old chicks a year, so that local hatcheries can meet demand.
It is important to be clear about what these are. They are plans and targets. They are not confirmed deliveries. No farmer should budget on chicks arriving faster until their own supplier confirms a date.
Farmers themselves are asking for more than chicks. The Guardian reports poultry farmers calling for cheaper loans and stronger security on farms, alongside concerns about feed costs and disease.
What you can do while you wait
- Ask for a delivery date in writing when you pay a deposit, and keep the receipt.
- Do not buy feed too early. Feed bought months ahead can spoil and ties up cash.
- Prepare the house in the last two weeks, not the first: cleaning, disinfecting, litter, heat and drinkers.
- Work out the cost of the whole batch first: chicks, feed to sale weight, vaccines, heat and labour. If the chick price has risen, check that the batch still makes money.
What this means for your records
A long wait is easier to manage when you know your numbers. If you have recorded your past batches (chick cost, feed used, deaths, sale weight and sale price), you can see what a batch really costs you and how much cash you need before the chicks arrive. If you have no records yet, start with the next batch: write down every cost from the day you pay the deposit. See how StokData tracks each batch on our poultry management page.
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