Keeping birds in production over 113 weeks
113 weeks of ISA Brown hens of Mr Talleh's farm
That the COVID-19 Pandemic is also causing amazing results is clearly demonstrated by the flock of ISA Brown hens managed by Mr. Alhaji Inrahim Bah (Mr. Talleh) and his team. When we were conducting the interview, the flock was already 113 weeks of age. Since the outbreak of the Pandemic, it has been impossible for Mr. Talleh to import a new flock of Day-Old Chicks to Sierra Leone. As his flock of ISA Brown was still very productive, he decided to keep the flock as long as he was still able to make a profit out of them (i.e. the revenue coming from the egg sales should still cover the cost of feed + labor). Mr. Talleh developed the interest in chickens during his childhood. When he was a little boy, he already enjoyed keeping the feathered friends, and by the age of 11 he already had close to 100 chickens roaming freely in his backyard. In those early days it was chickens coming from the local breeds. His first encounter with modern chicken breeds, were the 2 “English chickens” which he bought at a local chicken farm in his village. He brought them as day-old chicks to his home and raised them as best as he could. He stimulated the birds with artificial light coming from a battery torch, he fed them with special chicken feed and was able to rear them to good quality pullets. This experience with the Rhode Island Reds made Mr. Talleh even more enthusiastic about chicken farming.
Mr. Talleh left Sierra Leone to study abroad, after several years of studying and working in Malaysia and Dubai Mr. Talleh was able to save enough money to return to Sierra Leone and to set up a chicken farm in 2018. He bought 15 acres of land and constructed a poultry house. Via word of mouth he heard that chicks coming from Hendrix Genetics were the best birds for his business. He met Paul van de Ven (who has been working for Hendrix Genetics for decades), Peter Arts and with André Kruiper. There has been a great relationship straight from the beginning. Mr. Talleh shares the same philosophy as Hendrix Genetics, he strongly believes that creating and investing further on existing relationships is part of the success, or as he said, “seen is believing”. Mr. Talleh is very happy with the technical support coming from the team of Hendrix Genetics, they have helped him to increase his knowledge on keeping laying hens and to let him focus more and more on the data coming from his flock, by having a close look at his data he can better understand the bird’s needs, it is like communicating with them. By also setting targets and raising those targets with every new flock he can get more and more out of his flocks. But as Mr. Talleh said, I cannot do it alone, he gets great help of his uncle and his younger brother in the daily management of the flocks.
One of the reasons for Mr. Talleh his success is that he is very serious about keeping laying hens. Biosecurity rules are very strict at his farm, and he makes sure that the team is following the biosecurity rules. By having such great results with his birds, Mr. Talleh has become a true ambassador for the other egg farmers in the region. He gives them advices and training, by all working together they can bring the egg production in Sierra Leone to the next level. Food health and safety is extremely important, as Sierra Leone is mostly dependent on food imports from abroad, the time that food travels from being produced to being consumed is often long. Some recent food scandals about contaminated imported foods will for sure drive the growing demand for local produced food.
The younger brother of Mr. Talleh inside the poultry house
Mr. Talleh is not sitting still; he is currently working again abroad to save money for future expansions of his farm. He would love to strengthen his partnership with Hendrix Genetics and be also involved in keeping Parent Stock and building a hatchery. His goal is to gain about 10% of market share for eggs consumed in Sierra Leone. With his current Flock of 10.000 birds there is still room to grow. But he is looking positive to the future, “with the progress I have made during the past 2 years, and with the great collaboration with Hendrix Genetics and the trust in their product I see a bright future ahead!
About Sierra Leone
Population: close to 8 million Est. population of laying hens 100-150.000 Sierra Leone is heavily depending on imports of chicken egg and poultry meat, about 80% of the consumed eggs and poultry is coming from imports. Further growth of the sector is expected in the years to come, unfortunately COVID-19 is causing massive disruptions in the supply of day-old chicks to the country. As no laying hen hatcheries are present now in Sierra Leone, they fully depend on those imports.