How to Raise Free-Range Native Chickens? A Detailed Guide to Native Chicken Farming Techniques

Nowadays, everyone's diet is starting to focus on healthy eating and a balance of meat and vegetables. People not only need to eat various kinds of meat, but also pair it with some green vegetables. When it comes to meat, I believe that aside from pork, chicken is the most widely eaten, because chicken is a very delicious food with extremely high nutritional value. And native chicken is the most popular kind of chicken, so do you know how native chickens are raised?

How to Raise Native Chickens

Free-range training of native chickens is a key part of rearing, and it must start with the chicks. After the chicks are raised indoors for 4 weeks and their body weight reaches about 200 grams, they are switched to free-range rearing on a site with grass and fencing, and the chickens are deliberately trained to form conditioned reflexes. After a certain period of training, the chicks will come back to eat and drink when they hear human sounds. At this point, you should seize the opportunity to train the flock's ability to forage for feed and catch grass. After about 4-6 weeks of training, the chicks have formed conditioned reflexes, and their ability to catch food and protect themselves is greatly improved. When the individual weight of the chickens reaches about 500 grams, they already have the basic conditions for free-range rearing, and the flock can be released into a pre-designated grazing area to begin natural ecological rearing, letting the flock display their abilities freely in the open hills and fields, catching insects, searching for grass seeds, and pecking at tender grass.

The growth period of native chickens is mainly based on free-range rearing, and they spend most of their time active in the wild. Moreover, the growth period of ecological chickens is relatively long, generally requiring 4-5 months, and they may be infected with various diseases at any time. For this reason, vaccination work for the chickens must be done well. In the prevention and treatment of chicken diseases, the "emphasis" is on prevention, and the "value" is in being early. From the first day after hatching, the Marek's disease vaccine must be administered. At the same time, under the guidance of a veterinarian, vaccination injections for Newcastle disease, infectious bronchitis, avian influenza, fowl cholera, bursal disease, fowl pox, and other vaccines should be done well. In addition, attention should also be paid to the timely prevention, control, and treatment of other diseases to ensure the healthy growth of ecological chickens.

Free-Range Native Chicken Farming Techniques

1. Choosing a site, building a chicken coop, and buying chicks. First, we need to choose a good farm, that is, the place where the chickens will be raised. The editor suggests that it is best to raise them in a garden. Of course, if conditions do not allow, there is no other way. It is best if your home has a garden, because raising them in a garden provides a natural environment, so it is very suitable. If it is your first time raising chickens, it is best to build the chicken coop smaller. Once you have experience and are more skilled, then expand the scale. Of course, experienced farmers can ignore this. This is done only to reduce your losses. When buying chicks, it is best to buy high-quality chicks in the first year.

2. Drinking water and diet. After the chicken coop is built, it is time for daily diet management. The staple food can be corn kernels, rice grains, or rice. Usually, just letting them out to roam is enough; they will forage on their own. Add water to the water container on time so that the water supply is sufficient. You can also give them some vegetable leaves and other foods to eat, to supplement the balance and comprehensiveness of nutrition and meet their growth and development needs.

3. Vaccination. Vaccinating chickens is very important. Chicken plague and chicken diseases are very likely to break out on farms, so every chicken must be vaccinated on schedule. The cost is calculated according to the number of chickens, and the general price is 20 yuan per dose. In addition, native chickens must also be dewormed regularly to ensure their smooth growth.

4. Daily life. Usually, just let the chickens live and grow naturally. In autumn and winter, they can be kept in the chicken coop more. At other times, let them come out to move around as much as possible and move freely in the garden or farm. Let them live as comfortably as they like. Regularly disinfect and sterilize the chicken coop and farm, and take preventive measures against nearby threats such as weasels to ensure the safety of the chickens' lives.

Selection of Native Chicken Feed

Generally speaking, high-quality native chickens grow more slowly and have relatively low requirements for the nutritional level of feed, but they cannot be fed only a single type of feed, lest it cause nutritional deficiency, affect growth and development, and reduce the survival rate. You should choose a complete pelleted feed or mixed feed from a high-quality native chicken series. In addition, miscellaneous grains such as pumpkins, sweet potatoes, and cassava grown in mountainous areas can be used to replace part of the mixed feed.

Farming Characteristics of Native Chickens

1. All parts of China have native chicken breeds with local characteristics. Try to choose native chickens suitable for local farming.

2. Feed is very particular. Grass chickens must eat "standardized feed" such as green grass, insects, and miscellaneous grains. Those that eat formulated compound feed are absolutely not acceptable. Breeders certainly must not feed them in a "force-feeding" manner.

3. They must be allowed to actively find food on the grass of a spacious farm. Air is the factor that has the greatest impact on chicken meat quality. Chickens that grow up in a repressed environment not only taste bad, but can also have adverse effects on the human body.

4. The reason grass chickens have a strong "chicken flavor" is precisely due to exercise. Because when chickens exercise, their muscles can fully grow and develop, intramuscular fat is abundant, and the proportion of aromatic substances in the fat increases, so the taste is naturally very fragrant.

As mentioned above, there are many kinds of chickens in our lives. Different breeds have different nutrition and taste, and different rearing methods also differ in taste and nutrition. Because free-range native chickens have a more varied diet, their taste and nutrition are better than those of confined chickens.