What Breeds Are Good for Raising Chickens Under the Forest? What Points Should Be Noted?

Raising chickens under the forest means using the land resources and shade advantages beneath the trees; it is a new ecological farming model for raising free-range chickens. While increasing the added value of fruit trees and eggs, it also establishes a mutually beneficial cycle between laying hens and the fruit forest. So which breeds should be chosen for raising chickens under the forest to achieve good farming returns? And what points should be noted? Here are the answers one by one:

There are many chicken breeds. Apart from a few large imported meat-chicken breeds from abroad, the vast majority of small and medium-sized meat chickens, dual-purpose meat-and-egg chickens, and laying hen breeds can adapt to woodland rearing. This is because the purpose of raising chickens in woodlands is not only to meet people's demand for high-quality meat and eggs, but also to consider a certain level of economic return. This requires choosing some small and medium-sized meat chickens with short cycles and quick results, as well as dual-purpose meat-and-egg breeds with relatively good economic returns.

Below is a brief introduction to several breeds suitable for selection:

1. Qingjiao Ma Chicken: Produced in Guangxi, also known as Guangxi Iron-Foot Chicken.

Appearance characteristics: The notable external features are: black feet and black beak, fast feather growth, and plumage colors including hemp-yellow, hemp-black, and other different colors. Roosters have red feathers and black tails, light black skin, short legs, and a single comb. Sexual maturity is early; young roosters generally have bright red combs at around 50 days and begin to crow.

Performance: At 70 days of age, roosters can reach a body weight of 1900 grams, and hens 1400 grams. On average, 2.3 jin of feed can produce 1 jin of body weight gain. However, the requirement for feed nutrition is relatively high. During the chick stage, the crude protein content of the diet should reach 21%, metabolizable energy 3000 kcal/kg, crude fat 4%, calcium 1%, phosphorus 0.6%; during the growing chicken stage, crude protein 18%, metabolizable energy 2900 kcal/kg, crude fat 4%, calcium 0.9%, phosphorus 0.7%.

2. Chengdu Ma Chicken: Produced in the counties and districts around Chengdu, Sichuan.

This chicken is relatively large in size, with plumage mostly hemp-yellow, and beak, feet, and skin appearing light black. Its performance is slightly inferior to that of the Qingjiao Ma Chicken.

3. Taiwan Black Chicken: Distributed in the Fujian area. The plumage and the whole body are black, medium in body size, and fast-growing.

4. Shannan Black-Bone Chicken: Distributed in all cities and counties south of the Qinling Mountains. Because the number of imported high-quality foreign chicken breeds increased year by year after the 1990s, and because foreign breeds have good production performance and high economic returns, improved breeds became fully popular in many places, while local native chickens were completely eliminated. At present, apart from a few mountainous areas where populations still exist, they are already very hard to find in most river-valley areas. Our county is currently one of the counties and districts in the Ankang area where relatively many native chickens are retained. According to investigation, in remote places of townships such as Taishanmiao, Longwang, and Tangping, the number of native chickens is not small, and the native chickens currently kept by farmers in some villages and groups basically have no foreign bloodline and belong to pure local native chickens.

Because there are many strains of Shannan Black-Bone Chicken, their appearance characteristics are not entirely the same, and the plumage colors are also very mixed, including pure black, pure white, yellow, hemp, and spotted (bamboo-speckled chicken), etc., and there are also single comb, rose comb, strawberry comb, pea comb, etc. However, the pure black black-skin, black-bone chicken is the most representative, and attention should be paid to selecting and retaining stock for breed conservation and purification and rejuvenation.

In our country there are quite a few farmers engaged in nursery stock planting who have achieved very good economic returns by raising chickens under the forest. This is because this integrated planting-and-raising model can not only earn an extra income from raising livestock, but also remove insects and weeds, achieving multiple benefits at once. Of course, raising chickens under the forest does not mean simply driving the flock into the woods and letting them grow on their own; the following six major points should also be observed:

1. Pay attention to pesticide use: In some orchards or nursery stock plantations, farmers usually spray pesticides to prevent pests and diseases, and this is still very destructive to raising chickens under the forest. Therefore, farmers should try to choose good nursery stock varieties to reduce pesticide use; if pesticides must be used, then use highly effective and low-toxicity pesticides as much as possible, and it is best to spray the woodland in sections.

2. Pay attention to feed supplementation: Raising chickens under the forest does not mean letting the flock find all their food in the wild; feed still needs to be provided, though all of this depends on whether there is abundant food available for the flock under the forest. If there are relatively many weeds, flies, and insects, then only a small amount of feed needs to be supplemented in the evening; if the insects, flies, and weeds under the forest are not enough for the flock to eat, then feed should be supplemented both at noon and in the evening.

3. Pay attention to dangerous animals: There may be dangerous animals such as rats and snakes under the forest, which are quite harmful to chicken raising. In some places there may also be weasels, eagles, and others, which pose an even greater threat to the flock. Farmers can guard against these dangerous animals by setting up fences in the grazing areas, increasing light at night, and training dogs to protect the flock.

4. Pay attention to protecting fruit trees and nursery stock: Whether fruit trees or nursery stock, protection must be done well. After all, chickens' claws and beaks are quite formidable, and they also have a certain ability to fly high. Therefore, forest trees should be well protected; otherwise, if the chickens peck the fruit, leaves, bark, and so on, it will not be worth it.

5. Pay attention to flock training: The training here is mainly so that the flock can return to the chicken coop by itself in the evening. Usually, raising chickens under the forest is also not suitable for letting the flock roost outside; instead, a chicken coop should be built, and even if simple and crude, there must be a place to shelter from wind and rain. Farmers should train the flock from a young age to develop the habit of returning to the coop in the evening.

6. Pay attention to coop lighting: As mentioned in point three, increasing light can play a role in driving away dangerous animals. In addition, supplementing light inside the chicken coop at night can also attract some insects from the woods to come in and become a late-night snack for the flock.

Under the guidance of the national agricultural industrialization poverty alleviation policy, farmers in mountainous areas rely on their own forest clearings, barren hills, and wasteland to vigorously develop chicken raising under the forest. The under-forest chicken raising industry is developing extremely rapidly, and its prospects will be limitless.