The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

An Abaco poultry farm yesterday said its $45,000 hatchery will be completed by the end of September 2023.

Lance Pinder, Abaco Big Bird Poultry’s operations manager, told Tribune Business that if this investment produces the yield of birds that he anticipates then further expansion could be initiated by December this year.

“We bought a small hatchery set up as an initial phase to putting a hatchery here at the farm, which should help with the problem of getting chicks because then we can get our own eggs right here,” he added.

Supply shortages continue to challenge Abaco Big Bird as its ability to secure layer eggs from regular suppliers is still strained due to “shipping challenges and the rise of inflation on everything”.

“I hope by the end of September or the first part of October we will have this hatchery set up,” Mr Pinder added. “We have all of the parts now; we just have to set everything up. I just have to install it and make sure everything is running well. It may not be for all of our chicks, but if it goes well then maybe by December we will expand it.”

Abaco Big Bird currently has an estimated 15,000 chickens, but is having difficulty meeting the country’s total demand. The hatchery, it hopes, has the potential to increase its inventory by 25 percent over the next six months.

“This hatchery is very important because it is what really held us back for the last two years because, despite all of the other problems, if you can’t have chicks to raise then you have no product to sell,” Mr Pinder explained.

“When we get the hatchery up and running we can hatch pretty much everything from chicken eggs to quail eggs. This is just one more part of the supply chain being inside of the country rather than outside of the country.

“This hatchery will cost us about $45,000 for the entire investment - from the parts to installing it. I hope to have multiple sets of chicks to come off of it by December if it’s going well. We will buy more equipment and expand it; that’s what we’re looking at doing. This should help us to get our supply under control and maybe cut down some of the costs a little bit barring nothing else coming along to eat it up.”