Install CCTV camera, also pay them as at when due, don't delay salary unnecessarily. If possible serve launch on the farm. Let the staff cultivate cassva pepper and tomatoes, why, when they bring flask to your farm saying it is for their food most time the flask is stuffed with egg on their return

Since she cant be there 24/7 , i suggest she opts for a CCTV solution. If the internet there is good we can offer her a CCTV solution with motion detection detection, so she gets an alert whenever anyone goes in. The cameras also come with 2 way audio, so she can hear and talk to her staffs through the cameras.
The cameras also have infrared/15m night vision. With our WiFi bulbs , which can also be controlled via the same app. immediately she notices any movement she can turn on the lights in the poultry, all from her mobile phone.

Send a pm for more details!!

Egg pilfering is one of the major challenge facing poultry farmers, you just have to understand that it must happen, what you should pray for is that those stealing it should be considerate with it, else, you will just end up having issues with your staffs on daily basis.

You can also create some copied of record books for the farm too.

mikolam:


I have a question. CCTV Needs electricity to operate. With power in Nigeria, that is not feasible without Generator. This leads to fuel expense, or another problem if fuel is scarce. How do you manage these costs for the farm?

Solar system

The fact is you cant stop poultry workers from stealing, they always device a new way. The stealing can only be reduced but out completely is not possible.

donestk:
Greetings farmlanders,

I write on behalf of my aunt who's on the verge of shutting down her farm due to eggs theft by her workers.

The more she put in checks, the more the workers devise new means.

I promise to provide advisory to her on a lasting solution.

Farmlanders please proffer workable solutions to save a business on the verge of collapse.

Mod please move to FP.

Thanks!

Goto deeper life bible church, there u will get God fearing people

donestk:
Greetings farmlanders,

I write on behalf of my aunt who's on the verge of shutting down her farm due to eggs theft by her workers.

The more she put in checks, the more the workers devise new means.

I promise to provide advisory to her on a lasting solution.

Farmlanders please proffer workable solutions to save a business on the verge of collapse.

Mod please move to FP.

Thanks!

from experience cutting out completely is difficult. but here are practicable solutions. try and establish a laying percentage of your birds.(this involves you collecting the eggs your self or someone you trust )for a period of a week, record the pattern for example are you recording 75 or 80%production. if after a week of collect eggs you record high number, tell your staff to maintain the laying percentage, any drop in that will affect their pay and possible arrest.

anidat77:
Very easy solution.
In the middle of the night, Install some motion activated hidden cameras , position them at different points in the place to view the eggs during collection. Get only three people to have access to the collection points. When fully charged they can record to 4 days on motion activated mode only and should tell you total number of eggs picked for 4 or more days depending on battery capacity. It has a small memory card you can swap to review videos.

My Brother had a similar problem with his game cafe, always getting N2,500.00 total access ticket sales for games played for a full day.
I kept telling him his staff sit around after close of work eating Suya and roasted chicken daily hin no dey hear my own.

Finally he installed a camera at the payment point and from that day ticket sales jumped to N9,000.00 daily.
So mitigate theft with cheap technology....you'll see the gains outweigh the costs.

Lmao...at suya and chicken...

In Poultry, Biz absentee farming equal bankruptcy,
Ur aunt must be ready to be on the farm at least twice weekly from 6am to 5pm.
Let me share a story with you. I once book for day old together with the wife of a military personnel. At 18wks, my birds started laying and peaked at 85% by the 25th week.
I met this woman where I buy feeds at 30 wks and she told me that are birds are not doing fine that they are on 35% then. I was surprised cos my birds were on deep liters and hers in cage.
I instructed her on how to monitor the birds which I'm literally telling you now.
1. Set aside two days consecutive days of the week.
2. Day 1, go to the farm as early as 6am before the birds will be fed. Monitor the morning ration and drive off.
3. Visit the farm again in the evening when the birds will take the evening ration, oversee the feeding and leave.
4. Day 2 morning, take all the things you will need for the day, food, phone and data and set for the farm. Ensure the birds take the morning ration and collect the key from the manager or attendant.
5. By 12:30pm, call out the attendants to pick eggs, when done, collect the keys and take stock.
6. 30minutes to evening ration, call the attendant to pick the remaining eggs, that will give u an overview of the production.
Back to my story, the woman in question call me by by 11:30 am cos she had picks more than 87%.
The attendants and manager were arrested immediately.

[Plant hidden camera

quote author=donestk post=68143602]Greetings farmlanders,

I write on behalf of my aunt who's on the verge of shutting down her farm due to eggs theft by her workers.

The more she put in checks, the more the workers devise new means.

I promise to provide advisory to her on a lasting solution.

Farmlanders please proffer workable solutions to save a business on the verge of collapse.

Mod please move to FP.

Thanks![/quote]

Let her pick eggs herself. Once staff have fed anf given water, they should go on break

First, she should pinpoint where and why the leakages are happening. Is it at the point of collection? transporting to storage? or at storage or sales point. If it's management lapses or absenteeism issues, which is likely the case, then a tight management structure and process re-engineering is required at this stage of your Aunt's egg production operation.

The most effective control would be for her to suspend everything else she's doing and devote 100% of her time to her egg operation. However, if that is impossible, then she should hire a new manager who can devote 100% of his/her time to the operation - someone who'd police the egg operation 24/7 from picking to transporting to storage and sales.

The new dedicated manager must be a stranger to the area and he or she should be someone from a different ethnic group, or someone who can only communicate with the long time workers in English, not the native language.

She should also set egg/sales targets and then have the new manager sign an agreement to deliver. A weekly audit should also be performed. If egg targets fall short, sack the manager immediately. To be able to compensate the new manager well, it may be necessary to sack some of the old workers. The new manager's salary/compensation should be tied to performance and delivery of agreed-upon targets and expectations.

Also, a combination of other changes may be required namely:

1) Changing or putting in new locks.
2) Redesigning the egg collection and sales process
3) Installing physical security measures - solar-powered security cameras and/or motion detectors/alarms
4) Performing periodic penetration tests by using outside baits to identity who's stealing the eggs and who's selling them. (Setup fake buyers to approach your workers to buy stolen egg)
5) Automating some processes, including the use of computerized records and sales management
6) Overhauling the staff structure at the farm and also assigning and limiting access to certain parts of the farm
7) Basically, instituting new physical/structural and process measures that would make it harder to steal the eggs

Good luck to your Aunt!

Drwyz:
She should get a CCTV with an IP installed, if possible, one with 8 camera at strategic point, she will be able to view activities in her poultry via her phone or any internet enabled device, the cost of installation will be less than her loses in the long run. This is 95%. Try it and thank me later

Light nkor?

How do they leave the farm with the eggs? No one monitors their exit?

Grupo:


The God fearing people that their daddy G O already told that this year is their year will steal your things and say it is the unmerited favor of God. They will even go to church, pay tithe with the stolen money and also give testimony of how God is blessing them in their workplace.

Looool

Guy you harsh oo, hehehe

NwaAmaikpe:




The answer is simple.
Tell your aunty to rear only male chickens.
That way there will be no egg for the thieves to steal.

Too much sense wee not kee me.

this one got me laughing

This solution might be a bit techie, but with a battery, an AC inverter and a sensor counter, she can get an exert number of eggs laid by those birds.

YelloweWest:

Light nkor?

With newer versions of ip cameras you can use alternative power solutions that cost little to nothing.
Our cameras can be powered by your power bank and if you are lucky to have mobile internet modems your setup is good to go. I tried attaching a video of the camera working but its too large(for videos and more info check our instagram page @naijabuys, i have attached the images though. the setup in the image shows a camera being powered by a smile power bank modem , and the internet is being used. that is a complete mobile solution, which you can setup where ever , however and when ever.
We have tested our cameras using an Mi power bank and it powered the camera for 16hours and 10 hours with infrared on. These cameras have a 15 meter infrared range (night vision) also has motion detection triggers.
If you combine this with our wifi bulbs or sockets, you can remotely switch on the lights or trigger the alarm when you get a motion detection alert.
We have outdoor cameras for fish ponds and farms, all come with motion detection triggers.
for more info call us zero-nine-zero-34419196

We would design a schematic for a cctv installation in a prototype poultry. should post this here soon.

This is just a drawing to show what we can offer, not an actual poultry.

Forgot to mention, you do not need a DVR, but can be set up if needed. All cameras are independent of each other, just the same wifi/ network.
You can start with one camera and increase as time goes.
Uses an SD memory card and can take up to 128gb.

Ewamide:
Am a farmer, I was also a victim of that too but what I did was that I lock the pen and go home with the key, they feed the chicken when am there and also pick the egg when am around until I gradually sack all of them, then employ anoda set of staff. Now I have rest of mind

. You were able to achieve that because you are always available at your farm, we are talking about an absentee farmer who entrust her farm to strangers. Nothing can be as frustrating as been an absentee farmer.

YelloweWest:

Na wa o. I'm about opening a farm but now I'm scared.
How was the production level pls?
Outside the theft would you say it was a good business?
I intend to start with 2,000

. Don't be afraid, poultry farming is a very lucrative venture, at the same time a very disastrous enterprise if not well managed. If you insist on starting up one, do not make a mistake of being an absentee farmer, don't even start when you know you won't be there to manage it, secondly don't start it with the anticipation that I am going to raking a huge sum, the reason is when the money doesn't come as at when estimated, anxiety comes in, what happen when your birds refuse to drop as at the anticipate or projected time frame (18-24 weeks)?. Starting with 2,000 birds no be small pikin game oooo, so think twice before jumping in to avoid you jumping out in a bad note. "Mind you poultry business is good, very good only if well managed".

YelloweWest:

Na wa o. I'm about opening a farm but now I'm scared.
How was the production level pls?
Outside the theft would you say it was a good business?
I intend to start with 2,000

. Don't be afraid, poultry farming is a very lucrative venture, at the same time a very disastrous enterprise if not well managed. If you insist on starting up one, do not make a mistake of being an absentee farmer, don't even start when you know you won't be there to manage it, secondly don't start it with the anticipation that I am going to be raking home with a huge sum, the reason is when the money doesn't come as at when estimated, anxiety comes in, what happen when your birds refuse to drop as at the anticipate or projected time frame (18-24 weeks)?. Starting with 2,000 birds no be small pikin game oooo, so think twice before jumping in to avoid you jumping out in a bad note. "Mind you poultry business is good, very good only if well managed".

If you know that you do not have the time to be present on the farm and do not have a honest hand, please look for another business. Poultry business especially the layers chickens for eggs require the personal attention of the owner as much as possible. This is one major cause of failure of many farms in Nigeria

YelloweWest:

Na wa o. I'm about opening a farm but now I'm scared.
How was the production level pls?
Outside the theft would you say it was a good business?
I intend to start with 2,000

Start with 500 to learn the ropes. it is a good business, a viable business that has a large guaranteed market
But the major issue is the management of the farm. Can it be well managed to make profit for the owner?

Phineas01:
The fact is you cant stop poultry workers from stealing, they always device a new way. The stealing can only be reduced but out completely is not possible.

If the staff cannot steal the eggs, they will steal the feeds, when they steal the feeds, the chickens will be underfed and the egg production will drop. Another avenue to steal is broken eggs. They will break some eggs hoping to be allowed to take them away. Never allow that because if you do, the breaking of eggs will continue. they must account for the broken eggs and let there be a record for broken eggs. Broken eggs can still be sold at a discount. There are buyers who buy broken eggs. there must be a control system in place to protect the feeds from being stolen. Another common method is stealing the chickens. Many farmers' chickens are being stolen and the farmer is unaware. The solution is to do a chicken stock count regularly say once a month. Chicken count is easier in the battery cage system and more difficult, more stressing or almost impossible in the deep litter system where there is a large number of chickens in hundreds on the floor and walking about.

Another avenue is to strangle a chicken and smuggle it out. The staff who does that takes it home to eat or sell to roasted chicken suya vendors. They tell the farmer that some chickens died and were disposed. Never accept that story. Let them know that when a chicken dies, you must be informed. The dead chicken must be kept for your confirmation and this works where the farmer comes there daily or at the close of the day. Where the farmer cannot come for days, this check cannot work as dead chickens must be disposed same day. They must account for dead chickens and a record opened for that. The dead chicken must be buried or burned in the presence of the farmer. Never allow the staff to take the dead chickens away from the farm. if you do, they will continue to kill chickens and take them away.
These controls can work for small farms

Your challenge is peculiar issue. First and foremost, it could result if the farm staff are underpaid. And if this is true, then i will suggest their salaries upgraded.
Having said this,other neccessary measures include the following:
a. Take astock of the pullets
b. Make a proper record of the laying pullets available in terms of Hen Day Production
c. Make sure that there is no any form of socket in the pens.
d. Absence of naked wires with access to the mains.
e. No burning of grasses unless authorized.
f. Absence of cooking pots/stoves etc within the perumeter fencing of the poultry house except the staff are housed.
g. Eggs should no longer be given to the staff as gifts either cracked ones or otherwise.
h. Staff should submit themselves for proper searching when coming and leaving the farm premises.
And lastly, spend a week on the farm to DETERMINE the HEN DAY PRODUCTION on the average as this idea will reveal further anomalies.
GOOD LUCK.

knowledge4:



Start with 500 to learn the ropes. it is a good business, a viable business that has a large guaranteed market
But the major issue is the management of the farm. Can it be well managed to make profit for the owner?

Yes. I'll be there everyday. The farm is very close to my house. I also have a good manager