Raising chickens in rural areas: avoid these common mistakes

Raising chickens in rural areas is a very common phenomenon. In the past, basically every household would raise chickens, but now rural areas mostly exist in the form of small-scale farms, though of course a small number of household operations still remain. However, there have always been several major mistakes in rural chicken farming, which ultimately lead to low survival rates and poor quality of the chickens. Below are several fairly representative farming mistakes summarized by Qinnongwang, in the hope of helping fellow farmers.

1. Improper selection of chicks

The choice of chicks is actually a mistake many people make when raising chickens: they do not give much thought to the quality of the chicks or the time the chicks were hatched, and buy them as soon as they see the price is lower than in many other places. This may mean that many chicks already carry viruses, and combined with inadequate farming skills, it leads to the death of a large number of chicks and heavy losses. Secondly, many people always want the newest thing and like to raise newer breeds, but these may cause massive deaths because they cannot adapt to the environment. Finally, some people think it is enough as long as the survival rate is high, but if the quality is poor that is also unacceptable. So we need to consider all kinds of factors comprehensively and then choose a suitable breed to raise; only that is the correct choice.

2. Improper selection of feed

The selection of feed is also something many people do not pay much attention to; they think it makes little difference what feed the chickens eat, so in order to reduce farming costs they buy some low-quality feed at a low price and feed it over the long term, which may affect the physical condition of the flock, for example causing chondropathy, red eye disease and the production of soft-shelled eggs and various other diseases. Secondly, some people do not pay attention to cost and therefore buy large amounts of high-protein feed, but ordinary high-protein feed is only suitable for chicks; for adult chickens it puts a burden on the body, thereby causing various diseases such as gout. So when choosing feed we need to select reasonably priced feed according to the chickens' growth stage for feeding.

3. Improper sanitation management

Regarding sanitation in rural chicken farming, the editor must mention here that quite a few people do not clean the chicken coops and chicken farms for a very long time. The large accumulation of manure plus moisture and some leftover feed residue from daily feeding makes it very easy for bacteria to breed, and chickens are quite active and often root around in the manure piles, so they are very prone to bacterial infection. Therefore we need to clean up these wastes regularly and carry out disinfection and sterilization from time to time.

4. Improper rearing management

Improper rearing management mainly shows in mixed raising being too complicated. In fact, the normal rearing method should be to raise flocks of different ages in separate groups, and also to raise roosters and hens separately. But in rural areas many people raise chickens, ducks, geese and various other poultry together, and once disease occurs, it spreads extremely quickly. So we had best stick to the all-in, all-out principle.

5. Improper use of medication and vaccines

Raising chickens actually also requires vaccination at different stages, and when disease occurs there are specific targeted medications for treatment. But in rural areas there is a phenomenon where, when chickens get sick, many people without a confirmed diagnosis casually use medication based on some of the chickens' symptoms, making the condition more serious. Secondly, after vaccination, improper drinking water or improper diet leads to vaccine failure, and all kinds of such disease situations abound. So when using medication we must first get a confirmed diagnosis and then use medication reasonably, and separate the sick chickens for raising individually. Secondly, after vaccination the drinking water must be clean, and disinfection must not be carried out during the same period, because it may cause the vaccine to fail.