How Kasolo hatched his incubator plan
Apr 11, 2011
CONSTRUCTING incubators and hatcheries was not part of Godfrey Walusimbi Kasolo’s plan when he started rearing chicken. In 1988, he started a chicken farm in Kira town. He named it Butenga Farmers Chick Star.
By Joshua Kato
CONSTRUCTING incubators and hatcheries was not part of Godfrey Walusimbi Kasolo’s plan when he started rearing chicken. In 1988, he started a chicken farm in Kira town. He named it Butenga Farmers Chick Star.
A few years later, the farm had grown to respectable commercial levels.
“I wanted to acquire an incubator and hatchery to start producing my own chicks. However, I realised that importing an incubator would be too expensive for me, so I decided to find ways of making one myself. That was in early 2000.
“In 2005, we produced one incubator for our farm and another that we took to the annual agricultural fair in Jinja. The farmers fell for it and orders started coming in,†Kasolo recalls.
That year, Butenga farm was not only declared the best exhibitor, but also the best innovator at the show.
Butenga farm’s innovation has eased chicken breeding in Uganda. At the moment, a number of poultry breeding farms, including Muva and Najjuma, are using incubators manufactured by Butenga Farmers.
Breeding is more profitable than selling eggs. David Mubiru, a technician at Butenga farm, says it is the equivalent of adding value to an egg. To put it into perspective, an egg costs sh200 at the farm. If you have an incubator where you can hatch eggs, a chick will cost between sh2,200 and sh3,000.
Besides, there is also ready market for chicken, as the industry is becoming more developed. According to the 2009 animal census, there were over 32 million chicken in Uganda.
Detailed and exact
A team of trained electrical engineers, carpenters and metal workers came together to produce what has now become one of the most widely used incubators and hatcheries in Uganda.
“A lot of the material we use is imported, including the switches and the heat controlling capsules,†Mubiru says.
The other parts include white boards that are imported from the far-east, while pine wood is acquired locally.
“We use pine because it is light and is not commonly attacked by wood pests,†he says.
Inside the ‘box’ or small ‘house’ are trays on which the eggs are put. Each tray accommodates 140 eggs. For the small incubator of 860 eggs, there are seven trays. The number goes to over 30 trays for that with 3,360-egg capacity and to over 90 trays for the one with 10,080 eggs.
“The gaps in the trays are created in rationality with the biggest egg. If you do not think about the size of the eggs while constructing the trays, you will go wrong,†Mubiru says.
All incubators use single phase power. However, Mubiru advises that a farmer must have a standby power generator that is automatically switched on when grid power goes off.
“In the event that a farmer does not have this stand-by generator, he will find problems with the eggs when power goes off,†Mubiru says.
The eggs are put in the incubator for 18 days and then three days in the hatching boxes on the floor of the incubator to complete the 21-day cycle.
Mubiru advises that in order to have chicks every week, you have to put in eggs every week.
When starting with an incubator of 10,080 capacity, a farmer puts in 2,500 eggs during the first week, then 2,500 in the second, third and fourth week, until it becomes a cycle.
Affordable
The largest incubator from Butenga which has a capacity of 10,080 eggs costs sh15m. Comparatively, a similar incubator from outside the country costs $20,000 (about sh47m).
“You also need to bring in an expert to assemble it for you,†Mubiru says.
The smallest, with a capacity of 860 eggs, costs sh4.5m. In addition, there are others with a capacity of 3,360 eggs and 6,800 that cost between sh8m and sh10m.
Mubiru says a unit can last many years if well kept.
For the last three years, Butenga has been getting an average of 16 incubators every year.
According to Mubiru, most of the demand comes from eastern Uganda.
“At the moment, we have over 100 incubators around Uganda. We have also got at least two in Rwanda and another two in DR Congo,†he says.
Kasolo says they can arrange easy payment terms as long as a customer pays 50% of the cost of the incubator upfront.
Kasolo says the biggest challenge they face is the rising cost of material used in the construction of the incubators.
“We have to import the white boards that work as a flame and the electrical gadgets. Even pine wood is now expensive,†he says.
CONSTRUCTING incubators and hatcheries was not part of Godfrey Walusimbi Kasolo’s plan when he started rearing chicken. In 1988, he started a chicken farm in Kira town. He named it Butenga Farmers Chick Star.
A few years later, the farm had grown to respectable commercial levels.
“I wanted to acquire an incubator and hatchery to start producing my own chicks. However, I realised that importing an incubator would be too expensive for me, so I decided to find ways of making one myself. That was in early 2000.
“In 2005, we produced one incubator for our farm and another that we took to the annual agricultural fair in Jinja. The farmers fell for it and orders started coming in,†Kasolo recalls.
That year, Butenga farm was not only declared the best exhibitor, but also the best innovator at the show.
Butenga farm’s innovation has eased chicken breeding in Uganda. At the moment, a number of poultry breeding farms, including Muva and Najjuma, are using incubators manufactured by Butenga Farmers.
Breeding is more profitable than selling eggs. David Mubiru, a technician at Butenga farm, says it is the equivalent of adding value to an egg. To put it into perspective, an egg costs sh200 at the farm. If you have an incubator where you can hatch eggs, a chick will cost between sh2,200 and sh3,000.
Besides, there is also ready market for chicken, as the industry is becoming more developed. According to the 2009 animal census, there were over 32 million chicken in Uganda.
Detailed and exact
A team of trained electrical engineers, carpenters and metal workers came together to produce what has now become one of the most widely used incubators and hatcheries in Uganda.
“A lot of the material we use is imported, including the switches and the heat controlling capsules,†Mubiru says.
The other parts include white boards that are imported from the far-east, while pine wood is acquired locally.
“We use pine because it is light and is not commonly attacked by wood pests,†he says.
Inside the ‘box’ or small ‘house’ are trays on which the eggs are put. Each tray accommodates 140 eggs. For the small incubator of 860 eggs, there are seven trays. The number goes to over 30 trays for that with 3,360-egg capacity and to over 90 trays for the one with 10,080 eggs.
“The gaps in the trays are created in rationality with the biggest egg. If you do not think about the size of the eggs while constructing the trays, you will go wrong,†Mubiru says.
All incubators use single phase power. However, Mubiru advises that a farmer must have a standby power generator that is automatically switched on when grid power goes off.
“In the event that a farmer does not have this stand-by generator, he will find problems with the eggs when power goes off,†Mubiru says.
The eggs are put in the incubator for 18 days and then three days in the hatching boxes on the floor of the incubator to complete the 21-day cycle.
Mubiru advises that in order to have chicks every week, you have to put in eggs every week.
When starting with an incubator of 10,080 capacity, a farmer puts in 2,500 eggs during the first week, then 2,500 in the second, third and fourth week, until it becomes a cycle.
Affordable
The largest incubator from Butenga which has a capacity of 10,080 eggs costs sh15m. Comparatively, a similar incubator from outside the country costs $20,000 (about sh47m).
“You also need to bring in an expert to assemble it for you,†Mubiru says.
The smallest, with a capacity of 860 eggs, costs sh4.5m. In addition, there are others with a capacity of 3,360 eggs and 6,800 that cost between sh8m and sh10m.
Mubiru says a unit can last many years if well kept.
For the last three years, Butenga has been getting an average of 16 incubators every year.
According to Mubiru, most of the demand comes from eastern Uganda.
“At the moment, we have over 100 incubators around Uganda. We have also got at least two in Rwanda and another two in DR Congo,†he says.
Kasolo says they can arrange easy payment terms as long as a customer pays 50% of the cost of the incubator upfront.
Kasolo says the biggest challenge they face is the rising cost of material used in the construction of the incubators.
“We have to import the white boards that work as a flame and the electrical gadgets. Even pine wood is now expensive,†he says.