THANH HOA – The herbal chicken farm helps Ha Minh Nguyen and his compatriots earn 50-60 million VND per month despite many initial failures.
In the early morning of 2024, 31-year-old Nguyen and a group of workers carefully inspected the batch of Polyscias fruticosa leaves that were half-dried in the yard, preparing to be used to process chicken food. After finishing work, he busily packed the newly collected eggs in the barn to prepare for shipment. Near the Lunar New Year, the owner of a chicken farm in Dong Son ward, Bim Son town received more orders than usual.
Nguyen has only been involved in chicken farming for more than two years now, but asserts that he “has accumulated a lot of experience from failure” and is confident that the model will succeed. Graduating with a major in electricity from Electricity University, Nguyen said he had a salary of nearly 20 million VND per month in the city after graduating. His job was stable when Covid-19 struck, making him decide to change.
“Every time I return to my hometown, I look at the rice and corn fields that people produce but don’t have a high income, making me feel the need to find an idea to start a business in my hometown,” Nguyen said. Thinking that agricultural fruit and vegetable products have great potential that can be utilized to raise clean chickens, he wants to turn those advantages into high-value agricultural products.
Vows to quit his job at the company and then pack up and return to his hometown. When he brought up the idea of ”staying at home raising chickens”, Nguyen surprised his relatives and tried to dissuade him, but he was unmoved. The idea of raising chickens with herbs was hatched by him about 5 years ago. He spent a lot of time researching farming methods through scientific documents and magazines. In his free time, he also goes to chicken farms to experience and study.
The young engineer’s idea initially encountered obstacles because of the lack of a farm location. By chance, while drinking coffee with a friend, Nguyen met Mr. Lai Thanh Bien (43 years old, from the same hometown) who was a lime kiln manager. During a 15-minute conversation, knowing that Nguyen shared the same passion for farming and that his family had 3 hectares of inefficient agricultural land, the two decided to cooperate.
Mr. Bien used to work abroad and saw effective farming methods, so he was very interested in it, but had no chance to do it until he met Nguyen. He then quit his job managing the lime kiln and went to the hills at the foot of the mountain to build a clean chicken farm.
“At first, many people thought we were crazy for choosing this direction…”, Mr. Bien said. Two men born in the same year as the Rooster quit their jobs and focused on the chicken farm.
Wishing to share the current consumption trend of organic and safe. At first, the duo was confused between chicken and duck. After a period of experimentation, they decided to choose chicken because they thought it was less risky. The two started their business with Egyptian chickens, specializing in egg-laying.
The process of raising chickens of two equally skilled men is not as smooth as expected. From the first 200 chickens and subsequent batches, many times they died. In addition, because they have not yet mastered the technique, the eggs laid by the chickens are not productive, the nutrient ratio is not high, and exporting to the market also faces many difficulties… For more than a year, the two brothers’ chicken farm Nguyen lost more than 400 million VND.
Not discouraged, every day I vow to diligently research and find the principle to “correct the error”. In early 2023, the herbal chicken farming model was successful.
“During a year of experimental farming, I don’t remember how many batches of chickens failed, the chickens died before laying eggs…”, Nguyen said. As he walked and probed, he tested the bran and through many improvements, he now had his own basic formula. According to Nguyen, in the process of raising chickens, in addition to herbs such as polyscias fruticosa, moringa, and lemongrass (the proportion of herbs accounts for about 5%), his chicken farm absolutely does not use industrial bran or antibiotics.
Chicken feed is mainly agricultural by-products including corn, rice, and soybeans. In particular, Nguyen also researched herbal fish protein, which is considered a link to the success of the chicken farm. Herbal fish protein is a form of microbial technology to supplement food, increase nutrients and resistance for poultry.
Nguyen said chickens raised with herbs have good resistance to the environment, but they also often suffer from diseases such as asthma and intestinal diseases. Therefore, he must focus on creating a good environment for the chickens to grow. The barn area was designed by him to be airy in the summer and cool in the winter, avoiding harmful winds. In addition, he also uses biological bedding made from smoked rice husks combined with microbial fermentation to ensure safety for the chickens.
“Our goal is to produce safe, good quality products. Even when the chickens are sick, we only use herbs to treat them,” the chicken farm owner shared.
Currently, the farm of Nguyen and her colleagues is more than 3 hectares large with about 1,200 Egyptian chickens laying eggs. In addition, the facility also cooperates in production with two other chicken farms of local people with a scale of 3,000 chickens. On average, Mr. Nguyen and Mr. Bien’s chicken farm exports about 2,500-3,000 eggs to the market every day, minus expenses for an income of about 2 million VND per day.
The farm owner representative shared that herbal chicken eggs have high nutritional value because the Omega-3 content is 10-15 times higher than regular chicken eggs. “This is a difference that only exists in herbal chicken eggs. The Omega-3 content is high, so when eaten, it will feel greasy and the yolk will not be dry,” Nguyen said, adding that according to scientific testing, chicken eggs Good herbs for pregnant women, young children and the elderly.
Nguyen is completing procedures for the farm’s herbal chicken egg products to be recognized as products meeting VietGap standards. Recently, realizing the effectiveness of the model, many people in Bim Son town have contacted to register for livestock farming or process transfer.
Because it is a new product while the market is flooded with all kinds of eggs, so that customers can trust and use herbal egg products, Nguyen diligently records videos of chicken care steps, posts and shares on all platforms. social networking platform.
He also regularly brings eggs to big cities and directly to clean food stores for marketing. Most customers who tried it for the first time returned to using herbal eggs provided by Nguyen. Herbal chicken egg products are currently distributed mainly in Hanoi and Thanh Hoa markets…
Mr. Lai Thanh Tuyen, Vice Chairman of Dong Son Ward People’s Committee, assessed that this is a new and first model in the locality. In addition to the success with herbal chicken egg products, Mr. Nguyen’s farm is creating regular jobs for 5 workers with a salary of 7 million VND per month.
“Herbal chicken egg products made at the farm have been sampled and tested, and the nutritional quality is much higher than regular eggs. In addition to good quality, the product uses very safe food sources, which are locally utilized products from agriculture such as corn, rice combined with easy-to-grow herbs…”, Mr. Tuyen said. The commune government intends to support people in learning techniques and replicating the model in the near future.
($1~24,000 VND)
Photo,Video: Internet (Vinlove.net)