Detailed Explanation of Free-Range Chicken Farming Techniques and Chicken Farm Construction Plans

AbstractSelection of site: choose a location far from villages, with convenient transportation, facing south, sheltered from wind and exposed to sun. Building a greenhouse chicken coop: building materials are moso bamboo, wooden strips (saw board scraps), plastic film, shade netting, reflective paper, etc. Chick requirements: select healthy chicks that are agile, have loud chirps, no navel studs, and do not huddle together. Later-stage management: can feed coarse and fine feeds such as bran, wheat, corn, soybean cake, tofu dregs, soybean powder, etc. Disease prevention and control: inject vaccines according to different growth stages.

I. Selection of Site

A chicken farm is suitable to be chosen on a hillside far from villages, with convenient transportation, facing south, sheltered from wind and exposed to sun, with abundant water resources, easy to manage, shaped like a pot mouth (with a smaller entrance and a larger hinterland), and with a slope of 25° or less. This facilitates the transportation of materials and products, and also gives the chickens sufficient range of activity and food sources, which is conducive to the robust growth of the chickens.

II. Building a Greenhouse Chicken Coop

1. The construction of a greenhouse chicken coop generally follows the principles of being economical and practical, convenient and flexible, and using local materials. The main building materials include moso bamboo, wooden strips (saw board scraps), plastic film, shade netting, reflective paper, etc.

2. Farmers raising free-range chickens in mountainous areas generally build a two-tier chicken coop covering an area of 132 sq m, with the coop being 22 m long, 6 m wide, and 2.3-2.5 m high.

3. Internally, moso bamboo is made into support frames, and wooden strips from saw board scraps are used as flooring boards, constructing a middle tier 0.6 m above the ground and an upper tier 0.6 m above the middle tier. In this way, a multi-rack, dry and clean habitat for free-range chickens, a two-tier chicken-raising greenhouse with an area of 260 sq m (the middle and upper tiers), can raise 1 batch of free-range chickens.

III. Chick Requirements

1. Chick seedlings need to be purchased from a regular hatchery with a production license. During this period, select healthy chicks that are agile, have loud chirps, glossy and shiny feathers, no navel studs, and do not huddle together. After hatching, they need to be vaccinated against Marek's disease and transported to the chicken coop within 24 hours.

2. After the chicks enter the brooding room, heat preservation work needs to be done well, with 40-50 chicks raised per sq m, and later the stocking density is gradually reduced, maintaining a room temperature of about 30-32°C, then decreasing by 2°C every week, and after 25-30 days they are taken off heat, raised on the mountain during the day, and raised in the greenhouse at night.

3. Chicks should drink water first and then be fed. Antibiotics and vitamins can be added to the drinking water, and they should drink continuously for about 3 days. This can enhance the physique of the free-range chickens and improve their disease resistance. Chicks need to be fed complete pellet feed.

IV. Later-Stage Management

1. For free-range chickens aged 30-50 days, feeding management is carried out according to the growth stage. During this period, according to the characteristics of free-range chickens at this stage, such as extensive foraging, tolerance of coarse feed, and rapid growth, various agricultural by-products can be fed more.

2. For example, coarse and fine feeds such as bran, rice, corn, soybean cake, rapeseed cake, tofu dregs, soybean powder, etc., with an appropriate increase in trace elements. The feed ratio is 55%-65% grains, 5%-10% bran, 15%-25% plant beans, plus other feed. It is not advisable to feed animal-based feed.

V. Disease Prevention and Control

1. Although fewer diseases occur in free-range chickens raised in mountain greenhouses, the principle of comprehensive prevention and control with prevention as the priority still needs to be implemented. According to the immunization program for free-range chickens, chicks need a subcutaneous injection of Marek's disease vaccine within 24 hours; at 7 days of age, intranasal or drinking-water administration of Newcastle disease TV strain vaccine and infectious bronchitis H120 vaccine; at 14 days of age, subcutaneous injection of avian influenza vaccine; at 21 days of age, drinking-water administration of infectious bursal disease attenuated vaccine and Newcastle disease TV strain vaccine.

2. At 30 days of age, fowl pox vaccine is inoculated by wing web puncture; at 35 days of age, infectious bronchitis H52 vaccine is administered in drinking water; at 45 days of age, subcutaneous injection of avian influenza vaccine; at 60 days of age, intramuscular injection of Newcastle disease strain I vaccine or inactivated vaccine; 14 days before laying, free-range laying hens are given subcutaneous injection of avian influenza vaccine, as well as combined vaccines for egg drop syndrome, Newcastle disease, infectious bronchitis, etc.

3. At the same time, according to the condition of free-range chickens in mountainous areas, anti-coccidial drugs or traditional Chinese medicine should be used alternately from 15-60 days of age to prevent and control coccidiosis; before release and 15-20 days after release, as well as every 1 month thereafter, deworming drugs need to be administered to prevent and control the occurrence of nematode disease in free-range chickens.