FARM VISIT ▶▶▶
Strong demand for mixed day-old chicks in South Africa
The coronavirus lockdown in South Africa really brought the country to a halt. However, for South African chicken producer Mike Bosch business was brisk. He saw an increase in demand for mixed day-old chicks.
BY CHRIS MCCULLOUGH O
riginally from Zimbabwe, Mike runs his own poul- try breeding business in Bela-Bela, a town in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. Since having bred his own indigenous free-range bird called
the Boschveld over 20 years ago, Mike has enjoyed huge suc- cess exporting his chickens all over Africa. The Boschveld chicken is a three-way cross between three indigenous African breeds: Venda, Matabele and Ovambo, in a ratio of 50%, 25% and 25%, respectively. The breed Mike created has become very popular throughout the African continent with its distinctive red and brown colour with white feathers in between. There are now over two million of these birds in existence thanks to the breed’s characteristics of being resilient to the toughest conditions the continent can throw at them.
Package for smallholder farms Mike developed a new package that included 10 birds and a small chicken coop to sell to small farmers and anyone who want to produce their own eggs and poultrymeat. This be- came a huge success and was exported to 17 African coun- tries, but since the coronavirus struck the export market has all but disappeared. Mike is now concentrating on the home market which has excelled, particularly so for mixed day-old chicks. Mike said: “The Boschveld chicken is bred purely for hardiness and health. They survive and produce on what na- ture can provide, with only a small amount of maintenance feed to boost production. Africa can be a tough place to exist,
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particularly with varying climatic conditions, so we needed a breed that could adapt to the weather changes.”
Free range “Chickens in Africa are kept in free range conditions and need to keep producing in these conditions,” Mike continues. The birds on Mike’s farm are tested every three months for bird flu and salmonella and are vaccinated for the regular diseases, such as Newcastle disease, Gumboro disease and coccidiosis. “I am still farming at Bela-Bela with the Boschveld chickens and currently have about 27,000 birds in various stages on the farm,” said Mike. “Overall the chickens are selling well even during this coronavirus period, boosted by sales of the younger birds.”
Stop sexing “Six months ago I took the decision to stop sexing my day- old chicks. As more customers preferred only hens, the rooster sales sometimes were not so good and I was being left with too many males. I thought stopping sexing the chicks would have a detrimental effect on my sales, but no, the opposite happened. Customers now buy mixed day-olds and I can’t keep up.” The mobile coop is selling well but cus- tomers just buy the coop as they don’t want the other equipment.” Mike used to sell solar panels and LED lights with the coop but these extra items are not so popular any- more. “Now I am only selling locally because of lockdown. Nothing is being exported out of the country from the farms now.”
Anticipating high sales Mike has around 24,000 eggs in the incubators at the mo- ment and is anticipating high fertile egg sales. Mixed day-old chicks are selling for R12 (US$ 0.69) each; fertile eggs at R8 (US$ 0.46) each; point of lay chickens at R115 (US$ 6.63) each; and four week old birds at R49 (US$ 2.82) each. “The lock- down has caused all exports to stop because of closed bor- ders and no air transport,” said Mike. “However, on the plus
PHOTO: BOSCHVELD
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