Meet Yanga Qithi, A Young Entrepreneur Who Started A Chicken Farm Which Produces 1 000 Chickens After Her Beauty Business Was Affected By Covid

Meet young entrepreneur and chicken farmer, Yanga Qithi who owns beauty business, Quite Hair and catering company Millysuns. The buzzing entrepreneur widely credits Covid-19 for inspiring her to start a booming chicken farming business, Millysun Farm & Produce at a time were many people were losing their livelihoods and closing their businesses. Forced by the pandemic to close down her beauty business during the stricter lockdowns, Yanga had to explore other avenues to earn a living which led to her starting a chicken farm in Gauteng which currently produces 1 000 chickens every six weeks. Below is an interview we did with her about her chicken farm. Enjoy!

Please tell us about Millysun Farm & Produce

Millysun Farm and Produce is a farm that is focused on poultry farming and growing vegetables in Gauteng.

What Inspired You To Pursue Chicken Farming?

During hard Covid lockdown, I decided to start selling meat due to my salon business being continuously strained by closures of non essential businesses. I knew that Covid would be in our lives for a very long time and business looked very uncertain so it led me to start selling meat as I have a huge passion for cooking and because of the requests I kept getting for meat. I also realised that people will always want food and when I started selling I felt that my profit margins were quite low because I was buying from a supplier and that’s when I thought about growing my own.

You have been widely applauded for selling healthy and big chickens, how big are they and whats your secret formula?

Lol to secret formula, my chickens range from 2.5kgs to 3kgs. I think growing big and healthy chickens is dependent on a number of factors e.g the type of feed you use, how often chickens eat, do you have lights on in the chicken run through out the night? Are the chickens well hydrated? Are they well looked after? I think the following has resulted in me growing big and healthy chickens.

What were some of your biggest challenges starting up?

Chickens dying, that’s the worst thing that can happen, the heat, the cold and trying to build a clientele.

How many chicken did you start with? And what was the experience like?

I started with 500 chickens, the experience was scary because I was going into an unknown territory but it was also exciting and it challenged me to step up, research and acquire skills and knowledge to make sure this business is a success!

How many chickens are you currently producing and how much does each chicken cost?

Curently producing 1000 chickens every six weeks. Retail price is R85 and stock price is R70.

Where do you see your chicken farming business in the next 5 years

Well I see myself owning a 5-10 hectare farm and producing 10 000 chickens monthly and supplying meat and vegetables to companies such as Spar, Shoprite, Picknpay , Nandos, KFC, Chicken Licken, Food Lovers etc

We noticed you also growing vegetables, which vegetables are you also growing?

Spinach, carrots, onions, herbs, potatoes, tomatoes, mealies, beans etc

How can people contact you to buy chickens ?

They can call or WhatsApp me on 076 871 3425 / Email: [email protected]. They can also check us out on Facebook- Millysun Farm and Produce