Roadrunners/Free range Chickens/Indigenous poultry chicken farming business is a very profitable business in Zimbabwe. Zimbabweans love roadrunners. They have a good taste and are regarded as highly nutritious. The demand for roadrunners is high in Zimbabwe. Roadrunners can be raised for meat, or for laying eggs, or both. This article will explain how to start a roadrunners business in Zimbabwe, and the business plan.

Before you start a roadrunners business in Zimbabwe, you have to decide how many roadrunners you want to keep per cycle, where you are going keep them, and your target market. The number of roadrunners you keep will depend on the amount of land and capital you have, and also the size of your target market. You should always carry out a feasibility study, market research and write a business plan before you venture into any business. Do not make the mistake of starting a roadrunners business or any other business just because someone is doing it and he/she says it’s profitable.

What you need

Land, Housing and Equipment

You need land and housing for your roadrunners/free range chickens. The kind of housing you need and the size of the land will depend on the size of your roadrunners project. An ideal poultry farm should be sited where there’s a large availability of cheap land and at the same time should be close to your market. Chicken cannot adjust well to temperature extremes, so it is very important that chickens be housed, cared and provided with an environment that will enable them to maintain their thermal balance. The right housing should have proper ventilation and the right lighting. Ventilation is necessary so that adequate air exchange can take place. Lighting stimulates hens to lay eggs. If you want to produce eggs year-round, you will need to install adequate lighting in your facility.  You should have equipment including feeders, drinkers, lighting system and nest boxes.

Birds need adequate space for movement and exercise as well as areas to nest and roost.  For roadrunners, you should have 10 birds per square metre (0.1 square metres for each bird) in the house, and at least 1 square metre per bird in the outside run/range. The roadrunners will need pasture where they can forage for food.

Day old chicks

You need day old chicks to start with. When starting the roadrunners business with chicks, purchase 25% more birds than is expected to be needed; this allows for mortality and culling. After getting experience, you may then hatch your own chicks, which will greatly cut your costs. There are a lot of farmers who are selling day old chicks for roadrunners in Zimbabwe. You will need to make a decision on which breed of roadrunners to buy. This decision will depend on whether you are mainly raising roadrunners for meat or for eggs. The most popular breeds used in Zimbabwe are the Boschveld and the Rhode Island Red. We do not advise using the rural indigenous chicken when keeping roadrunners for business. They have no genetic identity, meaning that you can tell their expected weight after a number of weeks, how many eggs they can lay, their growth potential etc. It is better to use pure breeds like the ones listed above, which have known genetic characteristics.

boschveld og

Boschveld Chickens

Stock feeds

Feeding is important so as to increase the production of meat and eggs from roadrunners/free range Chickens/indigenous chicken. A lack of feed or water will reduce resistance to diseases and parasites, and subsequently increase flock mortality. In a free-range or semi-intensive poultry rearing system, adult hens and cocks ought to be given enough time and space for scavenging in the surroundings daily. The best time for scavenging is early morning and late afternoon when there are plenty of insects and less heat. Supplementary feeds should be offered in the morning and evening when the birds come back for the night. Clean water should be provided in shady areas during the day to avoid heat stress. You will also need proper vaccines and medications to prevent diseases and promote growth of your birds.

The advantage of rearing roadrunners/ free range chickens/indigenous chicken is that they will get most of their food from scavenging the surroundings, thus the feed costs are minimized. However, they can not only feed from scavenging the surroundings, if you are keeping roadrunners for commercial purposes. You will need to supplement their diet with commercial stock feeds, or your own home made feed. You can also give them maize, sorghum, wheat, rice e.t.c.

Management and Labour

The number of staff you will need depends on the size of your poultry project.  If you are keeping 50 birds at the back of your house you may not need an employee as you and your family will take care of the birds. On the other hand, if you have a poultry farm you will need dedicated staff to look after the birds, and to manage the business. You need good management skills and technical knowledge of roadrunners rearing techniques if you want to be profitable. Do your research, and train those who are working for you.

Market

Roadrunners/ free range /indigenous chickens are in high demand in Zimbabwe, with farmers usually failing to meet the local demand. The largest buyers are Hotels, restaurants and fast food outlets. They buy roadrunners in bulky to cook meals for their customers. Customers love roadrunners, because they are nutritious, delicious and organic. Butcheries and Supermarkets are an untapped market. We would love to go into all the major supermarkets in Zimbabwe one day, and see dressed organic roadrunners on sale. We would love to see roadrunners for sale in butcheries. There is also another untapped opportunity of exporting organic roadrunners. You can also supply to individuals.  Roadrunners are more expensive than broilers because roadrunners are highly nutritious, delicious, organic, and have no chemicals injected in them. The traditional meals with roadrunners are usually more expensive in restaurants than meals with broilers.

Pre-Written Roadrunners/Free Range/Indigenous Chicken Production Business Plan : Comprehensive Version, Short Bank Loan Version, Automated Excel Financial Statements

For an in-depth analysis of the roadrunners/free range chickens production business in Zimbabwe, purchase our business plan. We decided to introduce the business plans after noting that many Zimbabweans were venturing into the roadrunners business without a full understanding of the industry, market, how to run the business, the risks involved, profitability of the business and the costs involved, leading to a high failure rate of their businesses.

Our business plan will make it easier for you to launch and run a roadrunners/free range chickens business successfully, fully knowing what you are going into, and what’s needed to succeed in the business. It will be easier to plan and budget as the roadrunners/free range chickens production business plan will lay out all the costs involved in setting up and running the roadrunners/free range chickens business. The business plan is designed uniquely for the Zimbabwean market.

Very insightful and relevant homegrown solutions. Empowerment begins in the mind and this is it…
K Muzenda

 

Uses of the Roadrunners Business Plan (PDF, Word And Excel)

The roadrunners/free range chickens production business plan can be used for many purposes including:

  • Raising capital from investors/friends/relatives
  • Applying for a bank loan
  • Start-up guide to launch your roadrunners production business
  • As a project proposal
  • Assessing profitability of the roadrunners/free range chickens production business
  • Finding a business partner
  • Assessing the initial start-up costs so that you know how much to save
  • Manual for current business owners to help in business and strategy formulation

Contents of the Roadrunners/Free Range Chicken Business Plan (PDF, Word And Excel)

The business plan includes, but not limited to:

  • Market Analysis
  • Industry Analysis
  • Automated Financial Statements (monthly cash flow projections, income statements, cash flow statements, balance sheets, break even analysis, loan repayment calculations, start-up costs)
  • Marketing Strategy
  • Risk Analysis
  • SWOT & PEST Analysis
  • Operational Requirements (e.g. type of housing required, feed required e.t.c.)
  • Operational Strategy
  • Why some Zimbabweans in roadrunners business fail, so that you can avoid their mistakes
  • Ways to raise capital to start your roadrunners business in Zimbabwe

The roadrunners/free range chickens production business plan includes technical aspects of how to keep the roadrunners. It also includes a mini-directory with contacts which will prove to be helpful in launching and running the roadrunners/free range chickens business. E.g. We will provide the contact details of the companies that produce feeds, sell day old chicks e.t.c.

The Roadrunners/Indigenous Chickens business plan package consist of 4 files

  1. Roadrunners Business Plan – PDF file (Comprehensive – 91 pages)
  2. Roadrunners/Indigenous Chickens Business Plan – Editable Word File (Comprehensive – 91 pages)
  3. Roadrunners/Free range Chickens Business Plan Bank Version – Editable Word File (Short version for applying for a loan – 41 pages)
  4. Roadrunners/Free range Chickens Business Plan Automated Financial Statements – (Editable Excel file)

The business plan financials are in USD currency. 

The financial statements are automated. This implies that you can change eg the number of birds, price per bird etc, and all the other financial statements will automatically adjust to reflect the change.

Get the  Roadrunners/Free Range Chickens Business Plan (PDF, Word And Excel)

We decided to make them affordable for anyone who would want a business plan, and the price for pre-written business plans is only US$10 for soft copies.

You can purchase via Paynow (Ecocash/Innbucks/One Money/MasterCard/Visa Card) or via Paypal. You just click Buy Now (scroll down)  and you will then be taken to payment website where you make the payment. Just follow the instructions; you will be done with the payment process in 2 minutes. We will email the business plan (PDF format, Microsoft word format, and a Microsoft Excel file with the financial statements)  to you within 24 hours, using the email address you provided when you were paying.

You can also purchase soft copies at our offices in Harare. Visit  StartupBiz Zimbabwe, Suite 201, 2nd Floor, Morgan House, George Silundika Avenue (between 1st Street & 2nd Street), Harare . The cost of the business plan is US$10 (soft copies).

For any questions, other payment options, email us on shop@startupbiz.co.zw , call/whatsapp us on +263778798072 (Whatsapp us by clicking the link https://wa.me/263778798072) .

Roadrunners/Free range chickens/Indigenous Chickens  Production Business Plan 

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