How to Raise Free-Range Chickens? Detailed Guide to Farming Methods and Techniques
As people's quality of life improves, they are no longer satisfied with simply raising chickens; they want to eat genuine free-range chickens. So let's take a look below at free-range chicken farming techniques.
Free-Range Chicken Farming Techniques
1. Breed Selection
Breed selection for chickens is very important; a good breed has the advantages of strong disease resistance, good meat quality and high egg production. Breeds generally include meat-type, dual-purpose and egg-type free-range chickens, and dual-purpose breeds are the best. China's local high-quality free-range chickens, such as Chongren Partridge Chicken, Ningdu Yellow Chicken, Three-Yellow Chicken, Xinghua Chicken and others, each have their own excellent characteristics and are deeply loved by chicken farmers and consumers. Chicks should generally be selected from farms holding a breeding livestock and poultry production and operation license, and preferably come from the same chicken farm and hatchery. If chicks come from different farms, they must undergo isolation, observation and quarantine, and can only be reared together after being confirmed free of infectious diseases.
2. Site Selection
The site for raising free-range chickens should be chosen where investment in roads, water and electricity is low, there are no nearby industrial or pollution sources, and there is little foot traffic - wasteland or mountainous areas are suitable, preferably places with smaller tree crowns and sparse fruit trees, rich ground vegetation, and about 60% of the terrain in the farming area should be relatively flat. The terrain should face away from the wind and toward the sun, be high and dry, and have convenient access to water; it is strictly forbidden to have chicken farms densely packed along rivers, and the spacing between farms should be no less than 200 m.
3. Building the Chicken House
A simple free-range chicken shed can be built. In poorer conditions, bamboo, cement posts and the like can be used to build a simple chicken house with eaves 2 m high, covered on top with asbestos tiles and enclosed on all sides with plastic sheeting. An exit should be opened at each end of the shed to allow the keepers and the flock to come and go, and also to facilitate ventilation. The main supports of the shed should be secured with wire in four directions. Generally the shed is about 5 m wide and about 10 m long, about 2 m high in the middle and about 1 m high on the two sides.
4. Feed Selection
The quality of the feed directly affects the quality of the free-range chickens and their by-products. Considering the growth stage of free-range chickens, during the brooding period complete chick feed is mainly used, and after release into the range, self-mixed feed is mainly used. The self-mixed feed includes concentrated feed, green feed and fresh live feed. The concentrated feed uses corn and soybean meal as the main ingredients, supplemented with wheat, rice bran or wheat bran, plus an appropriate amount of compound premix. Green feed includes various crop by-products and pasture grasses, while fresh live feed includes various insects and so on.
Nutritional Value of Free-Range Chicken
1. Compared with the broiler chickens we raise, free-range chicken meat is firmer, and its meat structure and nutritional proportions are more reasonable. Free-range chicken meat is rich in protein, trace elements and various nutrients, and its fat content is relatively low, giving it important value for our health. It is a meat product that we Chinese people relatively prefer, and belongs to the high-protein meats.
2. Free-range chicken is rich in amino acids, which play a very important role in the human body. They are the most basic substances that make up our body proteins and are related to life activities; they are the basic units that constitute protein molecules in organisms, are the basic substances of our life, and are closely related to human life activities. They are indispensable nutrients in our bodies. These nutrients in free-range chicken meat are of very important significance to our body's growth and development.
3. The skin of free-range chicken meat is rich in collagen protein, which can be quickly absorbed and used by the human body; it is a very good collagen. When we cook free-range chicken, we will notice the difference in meat quality between free-range chicken and the chicken we buy in the market. Free-range chicken can serve as a nourishing food. In the past, after pregnant women gave birth, stewing soup with free-range chicken could promote the body's recovery; stewed free-range chicken soup is also a very good choice in the recovery diet after illness. Eating free-range chicken regularly can strengthen our body's constitution and improve our body's immunity. There are many ways to prepare free-range chicken - it can be stewed plainly, roasted, air-dried and prepared in various other ways - and it is a truly green, pollution-free meat food.