Are Silkie Chickens Easy to Raise? Mastering Scientific Breeding Techniques Is Key
The Silkie chicken, as the name suggests, is a chicken with a completely black body, and even its meat is black. Despite its dark, unremarkable appearance, it has extremely high nutritional value, and its meat is more delicious than that of ordinary chickens, making it especially suitable for making soup. So, are Silkie chickens easy to raise? How do you raise Silkie chickens scientifically? Let's find out together below!
Are Silkie Chickens Easy to Raise?
Silkie chickens are quite easy to raise as long as you master the correct breeding methods, but whether they are truly easy to raise, you will know once you try. Silkie chickens, also known as black-boned chickens or Wushan chickens, have a history of more than 400 years. There are varieties with white feathers and black bones, black feathers and black bones, speckled feathers and black bones, all-black bones and meat, and white meat with black bones. Silkie chickens are characterized by their lightweight build, rich nutrition, and early maturity.
Scientific Breeding Techniques for Silkie Chickens
1. All-in, all-out raising method. Free-range on the floor, with litter changed once in between. Determine the stocking number based on the housing area, all-in and all-out (or sold out within a short time), with sales mainly by wholesale. After selling out, disinfect and leave the house empty for 1 week before raising the next batch.
2. Separate and staged raising. Use 2 or more relatively independent houses, with 1 as the brooding house and 1 as the grow-out house. After transferring the flock, disinfect and leave the house empty for about 1 week, then bring in chicks for brooding. After the first batch is raised, all-in and all-out (or sold out within a short time), with sales mainly by wholesale. After selling out, disinfect and leave the house empty for about 1 week before raising the next batch.
3. Separate and staged raising mainly for retail. Use 3 or more relatively independent rooms, divided into a brooding house, an early grow-out house, and a late grow-out house, with an area ratio of 1:2:4. Brood for 25-30 days, then transfer the flock to the early grow-out house; after transferring, disinfect and leave the house empty for more than 1 week, then bring in chicks for brooding; raise in the early grow-out house for 30 days, then transfer to the late grow-out house; after transferring, disinfect and leave the house empty for about 1 week, and raise in cycles; after about 20 days in the late grow-out house, begin marketing and selling, mainly by retail. The body weight of sold chickens should reach over 1 kg per bird, and they should be sold out in about 10 days. After 20 days, whole chickens that have not reached the sale weight are discarded, the empty house is disinfected, and preparations are made for the next transfer. Raising in cycles like this, the batch raising quantity is 20 times the average daily sales volume.
Feeding Standards for Silkie Chickens
The feeding standards for Silkie chickens are formulated based on the nutritional needs of the flock at different ages and different developmental stages. A good feed formula must take two aspects into account: first, it must meet, or as far as possible meet, the nutritional needs of each stage; second, the feed varieties should be selected based on price to minimize the cost of the formula. Only then can it be considered a good formula.
As a meat-type breed, the laying hens of Silkie chickens are breeding hens, divided into three different physiological stages, namely the brooding stage (0-42 days of age), the growing stage (43-150 days of age), and the adult or laying stage (151 days of age to culling).
Medicinal young chickens are divided into two physiological stages, namely the growth period (0-42 days of age) and the fattening period (43 days of age to sale). From the feeding standards, it can be seen that breeding hens in the brooding stage require higher nutrition, the growing stage requires lower nutrition, and after laying, breeding hens not only require higher nutrition but also have high quality requirements for various individual feed ingredients. Some ingredients cannot be used or can only be used in small amounts, such as undetoxified cottonseed meal and rapeseed cake, and some drugs are also on the prohibited list, such as furans and sulfonamides.
Environmental Hygiene of the Farm
1. Pay attention to ventilation, change litter frequently, and ventilate and exchange air reasonably, which can promote the development of the heart and lung systems. Change litter frequently to ensure cleanliness and hygiene in the chicken house; generally change the litter once every 10 days, and immediately replace any litter bedding that has been soaked by water.
2. Do a good job in environmental hygiene. Regularly carry out hygiene and epidemic prevention work in the chicken house and the surrounding activity areas. Persist in using disinfectants weekly to carry out disinfection with chickens present in the chicken house and surrounding activity areas.
3. Pay attention to biosecurity. Check whether there are rat holes in the chicken house, and promptly plug rat holes in the chicken house. Take effective measures to prevent cats and dogs and eliminate rats, avoiding harm to chickens from cats, dogs, rats, and birds and reducing the spread of disease.
Through the above content, I believe everyone has gained a certain understanding of Silkie chicken breeding techniques. Silkie chickens contain 18 amino acids and other nutritional components, and their nutritional value is much higher than that of ordinary meat chickens, making them deeply loved by everyone.