Rattan Poultries at Naudhrani village in Malerkotla has a capacity to accommodate 5 lakh egg-laying birds and rear 1.5 lakh chicks in fully environment-controlled automatic sheds. The chicks produce an astounding 11.5 crore eggs per year, making it the biggest poultry farm in the state.

The farm is equipped with a 200-KW electricity production plant and a fully computerised chicken feed mill which can prepare 100 tonnes of feed in 10 hours.

The company recently also ventured into retail marketing of eggs.

The more than 175 employees of the farm live on the campus and are provided with biogas, electricity and residential facilities free of cost.

It has indeed been a fruitful journey for company Chairman Ranjit Singh Sidhu since he first diversified into poultry farming in 1981 with 500 birds and an investment of Rs 18,000. He expanded the business to a capacity of 3 lakh egg-laying birds by 2001 along with his brother as a joint venture. He led two companies -- Sidhu Poultries Pvt Ltd and Rattan Poultries Pvt Ltd as Chairman till 2007.

Rahuljeet Singh Sidhu joined the family business after the completion of his studies in 2005. A year later, Ranjit Singh Sidhu surrendered Sidhu Poultries and took over Rattan Poultries as chairman along with Rahuljeet Singh Sidhu as director.

Driven by the passion to fulfil the dreams of his father Sardar Bahadur Rattan Singh Sidhu, Ranjit Singh recalls his career since 1969 when after graduating in science, he opted for agriculture and rotated three crops per year. He first earned the sobriquet of ‘kharbuja king’ (muskmelon) during the eighties. And now, the title of ‘poultry king’ should sit pretty on his head.