Free-range native chicken farming has many problems? Mastering the techniques is key

At present, consumer demand for free-range native chickens raised in woodlands is high, and farmers also make good profits, but the author has found quite a few problems in actual production. Farmers must truly master the key techniques and pay attention to solving the problems they encounter in a timely manner.

Unstable source of breeding stock

The native chickens currently raised by farmers fall into two categories: one is pure native chicken breeds, all sourced from Guangxi, Guangdong, Jiangsu and other places; the other is ordinary chickens raised on a diet of mixed grains. These chicks come from a wide range of sources, and farmers bring them in wherever they are sold. Chick quality is uneven, with large differences between batches.

Single sales channel

Although market demand for woodland free-range chickens is very large, for farmers the biggest problem is still the lack of sales channels. Some farmers sell retail, which means the chickens still cannot be fully sold after passing the marketable age, greatly increasing feeding costs and even leading to losses. Here the role of the government is particularly important: it needs to provide sources of information to help farmers buy chicks and sell their chickens, and solve the sales problem for woodland chicken farmers.

Lack of key techniques

For example, some farmers use too low a stocking density, yet still feed large amounts of feed. In this situation the chickens are unwilling to move around and forage, and gather around the feed troughs, which both increases feeding costs and lowers the quality of the chicken meat. In terms of breeds raised, some farmers, in order to improve economic returns, choose fast-growing large broiler breeds, feed them large amounts of feed, and sell them at 2 months, which ultimately results in poorer meat quality and loss of the flavor that woodland free-range chickens should have, thus leading to sales difficulties. Other farmers believe that raising chickens under the trees means fewer diseases, so they do not use vaccines for immunization. All these situations bring great hidden dangers to chicken farming and can easily cause disease outbreaks in the flock.

Lack of brand concept

Farmers must change traditional farming concepts and establish brand awareness. In terms of breeds, fast-growing large breeds are clearly not suited to the requirements of pollution-free production. In production, woodland chicken farming must be carried out in accordance with pollution-free production standards, and supervision and inspection must be especially strengthened regarding the use of banned drugs, additives, and drug withdrawal periods, so that woodland free-range native chickens meet pollution-free product standards. Win market reputation and economic returns with high-quality, famous-brand products, and build a pollution-free woodland free-range chicken brand. Use brand effects to drive sales and extend into agricultural tourism and so on.

Common parasitic diseases and their prevention and treatment

The free-range method for native chickens also has drawbacks, namely that after pecking for food the chickens are easily infected with parasitic diseases, causing major economic losses. For this reason, prevention and treatment of parasitic diseases in free-range broilers should be strengthened. Common parasitic diseases in free-range chickens include chicken Raillietina tapeworm disease and ascariasis in young chickens. The prevention and treatment measures are as follows:

1. Generally, after 20 to 30 days of grazing, the first deworming should be carried out, and after an interval of 20 to 30 days a second deworming should be carried out. Deworming mainly means expelling internal parasites such as roundworms and tapeworms. Piperazine, levamisole or albendazole can be used. For the first deworming, use half a tablet of piperazine per chicken; for the second deworming, use 1 tablet of piperazine per chicken. It can be given directly by mouth at night, or the tablets can be ground into powder and mixed evenly with all the feed for the evening meal for feeding. Be sure to mix the drug and feed thoroughly and evenly, otherwise drug poisoning can easily occur. The next morning, check the chicken droppings to see whether worm bodies have been passed, then clean up the droppings completely to prevent the chickens from pecking at the worm bodies. If adult worms are found in the droppings, the same dosage can be used again at the evening meal the next day for another deworming, in order to expel the worms completely.

2. Frequently clean the droppings and litter in the roosting house, and pile them at a fixed point for fermentation to kill worm eggs.

3. Strengthen feeding management. Keep the chicken house dry and well ventilated, and carry out thorough disinfection regularly; observe the flock's condition frequently and achieve “early detection, early treatment”; prevent the flock from being exposed to rain and harm from animals; reasonably adjust the quality of the concentrate feed to enhance the body's resistance.