If you seriously intend to start your own business, but can’t decide on a profile of activities, we recommend including a crayfish growing farm in your business ideas. After all, this is not only a very unusual occupation in which you will have a minimum number of competitors, but also a rather profitable business.
Breeding crayfish as a business: the basics
The cultivation of crayfish cannot be called a fast process, which, by the way, is not year-round. But a similar disadvantage is more than compensated by low costs and high income. By the way, keeping crustaceans is often even cheaper than keeping fish.
Farm equipment
We suggest starting breeding of crayfish as a business with 75 individuals of these arthropods, of which 25 will be males and 50 will be females. To ensure their viability, it will be necessary to equip four reservoirs with dimensions of 5 by 10 meters and a depth of about 2 meters.
The first two reservoirs are intended directly for adults at your disposal: 25 females and 12 males should be placed in each, which will be engaged in the reproduction of offspring. Another pond is designed for young animals. And since in one warm season the crayfish do not have time to grow to the size that allows them to be sold, the fourth reservoir will be used for young animals, which will be born next year. As a rule, the size of the cancer for sale should be about 10 centimeters, and weight - at least 50 grams.
At the bottom of the reservoirs it is necessary to place a half-meter layer of sand, clay and stones. This allows the crayfish to feel comfortable, and gives them the opportunity to bury and dig holes, and also provides shelter in the winter.
Breeding Crayfish as a Business: Feeding Features
A very big plus is that crayfish are very unpretentious in food. But it must be borne in mind that these animals are scavengers, so both meat and grass should be included in their diet. In addition, crayfish should be fed with various additives, for example, chalk (as a source of calcium).
Useful Tips
If crayfish breeding as a business is, in your opinion, an attractive idea, then pay attention to the following important nuances of this kind of activity:
1. When creating ponds for these creatures, keep in mind that you have to flush or set traps to remove the crayfish. Therefore, it is advisable to think over all the details at the initial stage.
2. The cultivation of crayfish requires the constant presence of a person, therefore, if you do not live on the site where you plan to organize ponds, constantly, perhaps you better give up this idea.
3. Just before developing a crayfish farm plan, be sure to check the demand for your products. It is better to immediately determine the sales volumes that you can count on in order to conduct business as efficiently as possible.
4. Also keep in mind that if you plan to sell crayfish in bulk, then your products must have a quality certificate. Otherwise, you will not be able to cooperate with cafes, restaurants, retail chains, etc.