How to stop egg theft

After finding out that my employees have been stealing between 2 and 3 trays of eggs Daily, (translating to a loss of ksh20,000 a month.), I have come up with tips on how to mitigate egg and feed theft. I hope these instructions will assist anyone rearing layers chicken. I have decided to share and would appreciate anyone with any other info on how to deal with the same.

1. Trust

a. Never trust anyone 100%. Never trust an employee to the extent that you think he/she does not steal. Always have some reservation be on the lookout

2. Supervision

a. Supervise feeding and egg collection regularly at least once a week. Lock houses from 6.30am before laying starts and ensure to spend full day there. Open only to allow watering and supervised collection and counting of eggs. This should be done randomly at least one day every week. NB: From experience production should always be atleast 80%. If not someone is stealing. Monitor the whole weekend. I.e. Sat and Sunday since two consecutive days will give better results.

b. Do not accept less than 80% production unless there is a valid reason like de-beaking, early/late age. During early days of production, eggs should increase to about 90% by end of 4 weeks. The increment should be above 10 eggs per day. Even at late age, ensure that production is at least above 70%.

c. Contract someone you trust 100% (if any) to do counting on some random weekdays when you are not available.

d. Perform random searches in the house, inside feeds, in bags, in chicken houses, and around the houses for hidden eggs.

e. Make visits randomly when not expected – lunch time on a weekday, late night, early morning, in the evening ... this will make it possible to catch those rule breakers eg thieves, absentees, unwanted visitors. Do not make a routine to only visit at a certain time.

3. Purchases and repairs

a. Demand printed receipts for all purchases such as vaccines, boaster, DCP. These items should only be bought from a reputable shop to ensure authenticity of the receipts.

b. Dog meat: Should only be bought in your presence or ensure you buy personally.

c. Bike repairs: Identify a bike repairer and I always inspect the bike to see if it truly needs repair. Then estimate the correct cost/inquire from the repairer.

d. Purchase items like torch, bulbs, waterers, feeders personally to ensure quality and value for money

e. Place feed orders personally and also pay for the same yourself

f. Know the exact number of bags/kgs required for the week and purchase all feeds for the whole week at once. When feed is bought within the week there is greater risk of fraud.

g. Ensure you receive all sales (M-Pesa) as soon as possible -every 2 days. This might be revised to daily

h. Check and confirm amount of feed given to poultry regularly. Visist before feeding starts (6.30am). This will reveal if there is under feeding/feed being sold

4. Feeding

a. Ensure that excess feed is accounted for every week. Currently 9.5 bags are consumed per week while we purchase 10 bags. This means there is a left-over of 0.5 bags. Hence every other week only 9 bags should be purchased.

b. Mix dog flour with real dog feed to avoid dog unga theft.

c. Check available feed stocks regularly to ensure what is available is the expected amount

5. Sales and Marketing

a. Ensure to find out price movements for eggs like every 2 weeks and review wholesale and retail prices regularly. You may identify someone to find out price of eggs every 2 weeks NB: a difference of 10bob translates to ksh6000 loss per month!! When prices increase, the employee will not inform you but pocket the excess.

b. Only those who buy at least 10 trays should be supplied at wholesale price. The others should be supplied at Retail price i.e. wholesale+ksh10 or 15.

c. Every week there should be a list of number of trays sold at retail price, ensure at least 50% of total trays sold. A sales register should be maintained and at no time should delivery be made before being recorded. If you meet someone at the gate with eggs that are not recorded, then he was stealing

d. Eggs should always be sold in Cash.

6. Head Count

a. Ensure head count of chicken in presence every 2 months. Dec,Feb,Apr,Jun,Aug,Oct

b. Keep record of the count and when lastly done

c. Ensure you are informed of any mortalities immediately it occurs and adjust your records accordingly

d. Hold everyone accountable for unexplained chicken losses.

7. Assets

a. Keep assets inventory – trays, tools etc and check every month before paying salaries

8. Investigation and Prosecution

a. Get someone you can trust to always watch for malpractices and report. Ask them if they think someone is stealing/messing up and assure them of confidentiality. Then take action to investigate and unravel the truth. You can get a lot of info from your neighbors. Talk to them regularly

b. Once someone is caught, carry out necessary disciplinary action including warning, suspension, expulsion and prosecution depending on magnitude of the crime.

Hey all poultry farmers, has anyone here reared chicken with the purpose of selling eggs for hatching? Please share your experiences on this one. There are many upcoming hatcheries around the country and I think this is an area worth exploring.

Dear Poultry Farmers, has anybody used chicken cages that are stacked and fit 2-5 chicken per cage for layers? if yes, what is your experience in terms of production, hygiene, feeding/watering and efficiency/time saving compared to the kawaida drinkers/feeders and having them on one floor. Asanteni

@haron,
Since you are a member of the karaopepe community can you ask bigboss the following:
1.Is there an advantage in purchasing the day old chicks as opposed to month old ones?
2.Did bigboss attend a broiler rearing course before starting?
3.What was to middleman price per bird and what was the period between delivery and payment?

madhaquer, I have done the opposite and have crossed kienyeji cocks with Kenbro layers and am getting very good results. The main issue is that the Kenbro layers do not incubate their eggs so I am using kienyeji hens to do it. Your approach will be less successful because the kienyeji hens will stop laying after about 12 eggs to hatch them. My approach is that I get a continuous supply of kenbro cross eggs and all I have to do is have enough kienyeji hens to 'sit' on them, as they also hatch their own eggs. To date I have hatched over 60 such cross chicks and I have over 40 eggs under hatch by 4 hens and a daily supply of 6 eggs from 9 kenbro layers. Feed is another challenge but the cross products are very good at 'scratching' around as taught by their foster mothers. Consider my approach before going for the Kenbro cocks.

@Gathige - I have not been at it for very long - only since September last year when I bought the Kenbro before they were mature. They started laying in January this year. However, I am not looking to convert back to pure kienyeji - I'll just keep the pure kienyeji mainly for incubating the kenbro cross chicks. I want take advantage of the fast growth of the Kenbro. When the current ones 'retire' I will buy more pure Kenbro and continue the crossing with kienyeji cocks. You could buy some pure kienyeji hens to do the incubating job for you or buy an incubator (cost?). The crosses I have now I am aiming to sell during the coming Christmas period with a target price of over 800 bob each. BTW, my pure Kenbro layers already weigh over 5kgs each!

If you are in Nairobi,drive past Kinoo and you will see a sign board written Magana flowers,follow the sign post to below the fly over and ask for kwa kuku.You will find the Kenbros there.

Kindly advice on how to get the fertilised kenbrew or kienyeji eggs within Nairobi.

Look no further
https://www.facebook.com/groups/farmingkenya/

Need supplier along thika road for pembe feeds.