What are the jobs created by chicken farming?
Most of the eggs and chickens we consume come from large poultry industries, and only a small percentage are from small farms. Jobs created by small farms are very few or not at all. But many jobs are created in large factory farms.
Poultry jobs range from working among chickens in chicken farms to slaughtering and delivering them to supermarkets. Their salaries range according to the level of labor required and designation. Some posts require a certain level of education, but others just need anyone willing to work.
The poultry industry is massive! Sometimes meat factories, like those making nuggets and chicken wings, buy eggs and chicken from large farms. Sometimes they own the farms that raise chickens. Whichever way they produce, they surely hold many job opportunities. Let’s look at a few such jobs.
Managerial positions in chicken meat companies
- Farmers who raise chickens owned by the company on a contract basis. Farming lands and housing usually belong to farmers, but the chicks are given to raise their food, and the mature chickens belong to the company.
- Manager for breeder farms producing hatching eggs. These farms raise fertile parent chickens that mate with cocks and produce eggs for hatcheries.
- Manager of hatcheries that produce chicks
- Manager of feed mills that mix and manufacture feed for chicken
- Purchasing managers who buy ingredients for chicken feed and other chicken equipment
- Nutritionists decide the best composition of chicken feed, vitamin supplements for birds, and other dietary intakes.
- Live production supervisors who supervise and help farmers in raising chickens
- Managers of slaughterhouses that slaughter chicken, de-feather, and prepare them for sale. This also includes devising the best methods of slaughter.
- Quality control managers who check the quality of chicken produced and look for any faults in production
- Manager of meat processing units that make nuggets, chicken wings, sausages, etc.
- Human resource managers who hire workers and make sure they are paid on time
- Sales managers who are in charge of getting payment bills for meat sold, and managers who pay company bills
- Marketing managers for finding the right food chains and supermarkets to buy chicken and chicken products.
Positions in egg-producing companies
Layer farming in the United States is huge because of the high demand for eggs. These factories may use either deep-litter farming or battery cage systems, but they are on a large scale, and millions of laying chickens are raised at once to meet the egg demand.
The eggs are cleaned and packaged for sale in grocery stores and supermarkets or are broken, and the packaged liquid eggs are sold for restaurants, bakeries, and other factories. This creates many job opportunities like the ones mentioned below
- Manager of pullet farms that raise the layer chickens when they are chicks and not mature yet.
- Manager of layer farms where hens lay eggs
- Manager of the egg processing unit
- Marketing managers who sell eggs to supermarkets and other stores.
- Quality control managers who check for quality in eggs
- Managers to supervise the mixing of feed in mills for layer chickens and pullets
- Purchasing managers for buying ingredients for chicken feed
- Nutritionists who decide the best composition of feed for layer chickens
- Human resource managers take care of workers’ welfare and ensure they get paid on time.
- A business manager who takes care of sales and makes sure the company receives the money for sales.
In addition to the jobs mentioned above, all poultry and meat companies need consultants to make sure the environment is not harmed in the production of eggs and chicken and the disposal of waste. They also need veterinarians to take care of the health and welfare of the chickens. Food scientists are required to produce new products with poultry meat and eggs.
Other jobs include training professionals and computer programmers, technicians to operate machinery, and drivers for delivering chicken and transporting it. Furthermore, laborers are required for packaging and general maintenance.
Geneticists maintain the breeding stock and select breeders for improved growth rate and egg production.
In conclusion, there are a host of jobs available in the poultry industry. Chicken and egg companies provide employment to people all over the world. You could select one that suits your interests and pays well enough. A job in a chicken factory may not be the best for you if you have asthma or other related allergies, as ammonia from chickens can be quite harmful.
There are many large chicken corporations in the U.S., like Tyson, Perdue, and Pilgrim’s Pride. Depending on your job type, you may also need to work night shifts to meet production demands. Visit this site for information on the salaries of poultry farm workers.
Please read my article on organic chicken farming for more information on small farming businesses.
