A Detailed Guide to Chicken Farming Techniques and Chicken Disease Prevention and Treatment Methods
The chicken is a very common domestic fowl, and it has many varieties, including the turkey, the silkie, and the pheasant. The chicken is also one of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs. Today we introduce chicken farming techniques and chicken disease prevention and treatment.
1. Chicken farming techniques
1. Selecting breeds
An excellent 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 muscle, delicious meat, strong resistance, and a small-to-medium body size. If raising laying hens, you can choose Hy-Line Brown or Jinghong No. 1; both of these chickens are quite good, with high egg production and strong adaptability.
2. Free-range grazing
Normally, chicks are brooded indoors for about 30 days and then moved into a greenhouse for rearing. Generally, grazing begins at 30 days of age in summer, 45 days of age in spring and autumn, and 50 to 60 days of age in cold winter. For the grazing site, it is ideal to choose bamboo groves, orchards, tea gardens, mulberry fields, and similar places with high, dry terrain, shelter from wind and sun exposure, a quiet environment, convenient access to drinking water, no pollution, and no animal pests.
3. Feed
Free-range chickens grow relatively slowly, so 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 local coarse grains to improve meat quality and reduce feed costs; generally, supplementary compound feed is given only after the chickens return at night.
4. Disease prevention
Generally, free-range chickens have stronger disease resistance than chickens kept indoors. However, because the rearing period is long and they graze outdoors, they have more opportunities to come into contact with pathogens, so hygiene, disinfection, and disease prevention work must be carried out carefully and strictly according to requirements.
2. Chicken disease prevention and treatment
When raising large numbers of free-range chickens, special attention must be paid to disease prevention and treatment. The common prevention and treatment methods are the following three.
1. Provide adequate nutrition: according to the chickens' age, breed, type, body weight, and purpose, feed them a complete mixed feed to meet their needs for various nutrients.
2. Feed carefully: do not feed moldy, sour, spoiled, or rotten feed, and do not let them drink turbid, unclean, or toxic water, so as to guard the gate of “disease entering through the mouth.”
3. Create the environment: strive to keep the chickens' living environment relatively stable, requiring indoor air circulation, reasonable density, and suitable temperature and humidity. Clean and scrub frequently, remove waste, and control pollution. All staff must strictly comply with the established feeding and management systems. Outside visitors should be declined to avoid bringing bacteria inside.
China is the country that first domesticated chickens in the world, with a history of at least more than 4,000 years. Chicken bones or pottery chickens from more than 4,000 years ago have been found in Hubei, Jiangxi, Shandong, Henan, Gansu, and other provinces.