Detailed Explanation of the Key Technical Points for Free-Range Native Chicken Farming
For most farmers, native chicken farming has low costs and is relatively easy to raise. Therefore, it has attracted many farmers to join this farming industry. Let's take a look at the techniques for free-range native chickens.
1. Carefully select good breeds.
A good breed is the foundation for raising high-quality meat chickens. You should choose to raise famous local breeds with colored feathers that have thin skin and fine bones, plump muscles, delicious meat, strong stress resistance, and small to medium body size. These can be Sanhuang chickens or Mahua Qingjiao chickens, such as Gongting Huang chickens, Henan Gushi chickens, Guangxi Cenxi Sanhuang chickens, and Zhejiang Xianju chickens, as well as other excellent famous chickens from various places. You can also, according to local raising habits and market consumer demand, breed and select excellent meat chicken varieties suitable for local raising.
2. Pay attention to grazing.
Grazing is one of the important measures for improving the meat quality of meat chickens. The brooding technical requirements for high-quality free-range native chickens are no different from those for fast-growing large meat chickens. Brood indoors for about 30 days, then move them into a greenhouse for raising. Generally, start grazing at 30 days of age in summer, 45 days of age in spring and autumn, and 50-60 days of age in cold winter. The grazing site should ideally be selected in bamboo groves, orchards, tea gardens, mulberry gardens, and similar places with high and dry terrain, shelter from wind and sun, a quiet environment, convenient drinking water, no pollution, and no animal pests. The chickens can eat the pests and weeds in the above-mentioned "four gardens" and can also accumulate fertilizer for the "four gardens." A sand pit can be set up at the grazing site to let the chickens take sand baths. It is also necessary to build grass sheds or plastic greenhouses for rain shelter, shade, and cold protection. Meat chickens go out early and return late, with a grazing density of 50-70 birds per mu, and each flock should preferably be about 500 birds. To prevent chickens from getting lost or damaging nearby crops, fences can be set up around the grazing area, and grazing can continue until sale. Strengthening grazing can improve the firmness of chicken meat, promote a strong physique and tight, glossy feathers; they can also eat green grass, grass seeds, dead leaves, insects, and flies, saving feed and improving meat quality. If conditions permit, you can move to a different place after grazing one batch of chickens, which is beneficial both for disease prevention and for the chickens' foraging.
3. Feed skillfully.
Feed is an important factor affecting meat quality. During the brooding period, high-quality native chickens should be fed a complete-price chick feed that is easy to digest and nutritionally complete. Because their growth rate is slower, the crude protein content in the feed should be 2 percentage points lower than that of complete-price feed for fast-growing large broiler chickens, and they should be fed small amounts more frequently to promote good growth and development of the chicks. During the growing and grazing periods, feed more green fodder, agricultural by-products, and miscellaneous local grains to improve meat quality and reduce feed costs; generally, only supplement with compound feed after they return late. In the 1-2 weeks before sale, if the chickens are relatively thin, increase the amount of compound feed and restrict grazing for moderate fattening. In the middle and late stages, animal-based feeds such as silkworm pupae, fish meal, and meat meal must not be added to the compound feed; feeds that adversely affect meat quality and meat color, such as rapeseed meal and cottonseed meal, should be used in limited amounts; do not add artificial synthetic pigments, chemically synthesized non-nutritive additives, or drugs; appropriate amounts of natural substances such as orange peel powder, pine needle powder, garlic, ginger, fennel, cinnamon, and tea powder should be added to change meat color, improve meat quality, and increase freshness.
4. Strict epidemic prevention.
Doing a good job in epidemic prevention and disease elimination is an important guarantee for raising high-quality free-range native chickens well. Under normal circumstances, free-range native chickens have strong disease resistance and suffer fewer diseases than confined fast-growing large meat chickens. However, because their raising period is long and they graze outdoors, they have many opportunities to contact pathogens, so you must conscientiously follow chicken-raising requirements and strictly do a good job in hygiene, disinfection, and epidemic prevention work without any slackness, and focus on epidemic prevention work according to local actual conditions.
In addition, special attention should be paid to preventing and treating coccidiosis, Leucocytozoon caulleryi disease, and digestive tract parasitic diseases. Check frequently, and once they occur, expel them promptly. In the middle and late stages of meat chicken raising, for disease prevention and treatment, use artificial synthetic drugs as little as possible and use more Chinese herbal medicines and biological control to reduce and control drug residues in chicken meat.
5. Sell at the right time.
A suitable raising period is an important part of improving meat quality. If the raising period is too short, the chicken meat will have a high moisture content, insufficient accumulation of nutrients, and low levels of umami substances and aromatic substances; the meat quality will be poor and the taste not fresh, failing to meet the standards of high-quality native chickens. If the raising period is too long, the muscle fibers will be too old and the raising cost too high, making it uneconomical. According to the growth physiology and nutrient accumulation characteristics of native chickens, as well as the characteristics that roosters grow faster than hens and reach sexual maturity earlier, determine the market time as 100 days for small-type meat chicken roosters and 120 days for hens; 110 days for medium-type meat chicken roosters and 130 days for hens. At this time, the body weight of the chickens on the market and the accumulation of nutrients, umami substances, and aromatic substances in the chicken meat have basically reached the content standards of adult chickens, and the meat is still relatively tender, making it a better balance among body weight, quality, and cost.
Complete Collection of Native Chicken Breeds
The relatively famous chicken breeds in China include: Pudong chicken, Xianju chicken, Xiaoshan chicken, Bai'er yellow chicken, silkie black-bone chicken, Jiangshan white-feathered black-bone chicken, Chongren spotted chicken, Hetian chicken, Huiyang bearded chicken, Xinghua chicken, Qingyuan spotted chicken, Xiayan chicken, Taoyuan chicken, Liyang chicken, Luyuan chicken, Langshan chicken, Zhongyuan game chicken, Zhangzhou game chicken, Beijing You chicken, Shouguang chicken, Jining chicken, Gushi chicken, Pengxian yellow chicken, Emei black chicken, Wuding chicken, Banna game chicken, Lindian chicken, Daguji chicken, Jingyuan chicken, Bian chicken, Yang chicken, Zhengyang Sanhuang chicken, Tibetan chicken, Turpan chicken, etc.