Kbishi farms, where domestic, wild animals rearing flourish

Many unemployed youths take advantage of poultry farming and rearing other animals to sustain themselves in the area, a decision that is yielding them positive result.One of such ventures is rearing the Kbishi birds and other animals in general which unlike the conventional poultry farming, requires one to specialise in all kinds of domestic and […]

Many unemployed youths take advantage of poultry farming and rearing other animals to sustain themselves in the area, a decision that is yielding them positive result.
One of such ventures is rearing the Kbishi birds and other animals in general which unlike the conventional poultry farming, requires one to specialise in all kinds of domestic and wild birds and animals such as peacocks, turkeys, geese, pigeons, ostriches, flamingos, deer, antelope, pythons and the like.
One of such businesses has the pens housing its animals situated in Jabiri, along Zaria road in Funtua. One other interesting part of the enterprise is how it involves variety of birds and animals brought from overseas – American, China and Australia – such as the Australian geese, coloured and white peacock, Egyptian rabbits, Malian bullet, pot pigeons and a host of others.
The entrepreneur of the venture, Malam Bashir Usman, said the sources of their animals vary based on the type of the animals. He said, for example, local hunters are chief suppliers of our wild birds and animals even though darners do sell some to us. We also source the international species of the animals from France through our agents who are based there.”
Malam Usman added that he started the business casually about 10 years ago with a local hen of N350 which he used in hatching guinea fowls, turkey and geese, adding, “it was people that put me into this business proper through their constant demands of eggs and young geese and turkeys. God so kind I started with a hen of N350 and now my business is worth not less than N800, 000.”
He said most of the buyers of the birds and animals from him are wealthy individuals who like keeping them as pets as well as poultry farmers that need variety of bird species, adding, “we do supply wild animals and pythons on request to zoos in Ilorin, Jos, and Kano.”
Daily Trust finds have shown that a set of matured deer cost N150, 000 while antelope goes for N280, 000. The two animals are of the same species and eat the same type of food with goats or sheep though antelope is said to be more fragile. “Antelope needs proper care as its environment must be kept clean. If by mistake it eats the dung of rat it will die immediately,” Malam Usman said.
“Though I did not study veterinary medicine or animal husbandry but experience coupled with regular consultations with the experts in the field have enabled me to give proper care to the animals through regulations of their food, monitoring their stool and their general behavior.  When a serious change is noted a veterinary doctor is consulted to give the animals adequate treatment,” he said.
Malam Usman lamented that even though they work hand in hand with veterinary doctors, at times they buy expensive wild or foreign specie of bird with peculiar diseases which in most cases result to the loss of the bird as they could not diagnose or treat it.
He said poultry farming and animal rearing, particularly wild animals, is a daunting task as the farmer must be very observant, skillful, keep accurate records and be willing to adopt a regime to suit a particular animal if he wants to succeed.
“Similarly, knowledge of the natural history of the animal and bird concerned is very helpful in all aspects; from choosing a suitable milk replacer or chick diet to knowing the weaning age, socialisation requirements and the place and time of release.
“In case of a wild animal, a good hand rearer should be prepared to invest a lot of effort with the reward being the release of healthy and successfully rehabilitated animal as a pet,” he said.