How this Kerala couple built a highly profitable backyard poultry business with high-yield BV 380 layers

While many see backyard poultry as just a side hobby or a minor source of supplementary income, one young couple from Kerala is proving that it can easily serve as a primary livelihood. Based in Olakettiyambalam near Kayamkulam in Alappuzha, Abhilash and his wife Surya are harvesting impressive profits through their thriving enterprise, Red Star Poultry.

Before stepping into the agricultural sector, Abhilash worked abroad and later ran a textile retail outlet locally. When the retail business failed to deliver sustainable returns, he began looking for viable alternatives. Turning to social media for inspiration, he stumbled upon the potential of poultry farming. Intrigued, he set up a tiny temporary shed in his backyard to test the waters.

Finding the right model
The couple started out by adopting an intermediary model. They bought 45-day-old vaccinated chicks from local eggger nurseries, reared them for another two months, and sold them to home growers looking for active layers. "We initially chose this route because we heard raising day-old chicks was highly risky," explains Surya. "Through Facebook updates, we reached plenty of local homemakers, but the profits with this approach remained modest."
There was also a breed limitation. They were initially raising the popular Gramasree breed, which lays around 200 eggs annually. Because gender cannot be easily distinguished in Gramasree chicks until they are about three and a half months old, almost half of what Abhilash sold turned out to be roosters. Fortunately, since the roosters had meat value, customers did not complain, but Abhilash realised the business model lacked scalability.

Unlocking success with BV 380
Determined to optimise his farm, Abhilash researched higher-yielding alternatives and discovered the BV 380, an incredibly productive breed that can lay up to 300 eggs a year. Armed with this knowledge, they shifted focus to setting up an eggger nursery and selling eggs directly to the public. To fuel this expansion, they secured a capital investment loan of around ₹4 lakh with a generous 75% subsidy under a block panchayat project, backed by the District Industries Centre.

How the eggger nursery works
According to Abhilash, Venkateshwara Hatcheries’ BV 380 is undoubtedly the most profitable layer breed in the market. They begin laying eggs at around four and a half months and maintain consistent production for roughly 18 months. Currently, the couple handles batches of 1,000 day-old BV 380 chicks. They purchase these chicks from the Kerala State Poultry Development Corporation (KEPCO) at ₹46 per chick. The chicks are then brooded—a crucial process where artificial heat is provided to mimic maternal warmth—and thoroughly vaccinated. By the time they reach 55 days, they are sold to customers at ₹220 each.
Surya highlights the power of social media in driving their sales: "We put up simple video updates on Facebook, and within a week, the entire batch gets sold out in batches of ten or twenty. Our biggest customer base consists of local homemakers who want to earn a steady daily income from their backyards."

Mitigating risks and managing feed
While transition to a full-fledged eggger nursery brings superior profits, Abhilash warns that it carries equal risks. Proper brooding and meticulous disease prevention are absolutely crucial. The chicks are raised on a dry sawdust floor, which needs regular replacement to maintain hygiene. The feeding schedule is equally strict: they are fed commercial chick starter for the first 30 days, followed by grower feed. Around 25 days into the grower feed regime, they are sold. To yield up to 300 eggs a year, the birds must be given high-quality commercial feed rather than random kitchen scraps, Abhilash notes.

A highly efficient laying unit
Alongside their nursery, the couple maintains a separate laying unit featuring about 300 BV 380 hens. These birds are housed in elevated wire cages raised about four feet off the ground, ensuring constant ventilation. Automated nipple drinkers provide clean drinking water on demand.
Abhilash points out that standard odour issues in poultry farms can be fully managed with a bit of vigilance. "Odor and flies occur only when water drips from the automatic nipple drinkers on to the droppings below. If the drinkers get stuck or the birds play with them, water flows continuously. A daily check is all it takes to prevent this."
The couple also managed to minimise their initial capital expenditure by building their sheds out of repurposed iron pipes and metal sheets purchased from dismantled structures. This resourcefulness has helped them keep overheads low and profitability high.

Diverse revenue streams
The distinct brown eggs of the BV 380 hold excellent market appeal, as consumers traditionally associate brown shells with country eggs. Abhilash sells them to local grocers for ₹8 each and directly to retail customers for ₹9. Once the hens complete their laying cycle and egg production drops, they are sold for meat at ₹200 each. Even the poultry manure has a ready local market, with organic vegetable farmers eagerly buying it at ₹100 per bag. Confident in the endless demand for high-quality eggs and poultry, the couple looks forward to an exceptionally bright future.