What Is the Current State of the Silkie Chicken Market? A Full Breakdown of Raising Precautions

The Silkie chicken is one of China's precious chicken breeds. It gets its name from its black skin and black bones, and it is renowned at home and abroad for its high tonic, medicinal and ornamental value. Its breeds include the Taihe Silkie and the Chinese Black Phoenix chicken, among others. The feeding and management of Silkie chickens is basically similar to that of other chicken breeds.

1. The current market state of Silkie chickens

In recent years, as people's health awareness has increased, market demand for Silkie chickens has risen sharply. At present, Silkie chickens are in fairly short supply in most rural markets in China, and prices are climbing. Therefore, farmers who seize this favorable opportunity to raise Silkie chickens in small batches or large batches will surely achieve relatively high economic returns. However, when raising Silkie chickens, you must pay attention to the following points:

2. Raising precautions

1. Pay attention to raising density

Silkie chickens grow more slowly than other chicken breeds, so you must ensure suitable density requirements. The specific density requirements are:

At 30 days of age, the average body weight is 180 grams. The raising density during the brooding period is: 60 birds per sq m at 1-10 days of age, 40 birds at 11-20 days of age, 30 birds at 20-40 days of age, 18 birds at 40-60 days of age, and 12 birds per sq m after that.

2. Pay attention to feeding management

Because Silkie chickens are raised for different purposes, their feeding management should follow the requirements of those different purposes. Pay attention to the following feeding management requirements:

1. Body condition requirements for breeding chickens: During the growing period, if Silkie chickens are intended as reserve breeding chickens, then in addition to ensuring comprehensive nutrition, take care to prevent them from becoming too fat, so as not to affect production performance during the laying period.

2. Body condition requirements for commercial chickens: During the growing period, if Silkie chickens are intended as commercial medicinal or meat-type black chickens, then do not restrict feeding; use high-energy, high-protein feed and let them eat freely to fatten them. Usually at 100-150 days of age, their body weight can reach 0.75-1.2 kg, at which point they can be sold to pharmaceutical factories and for foreign trade, or marketed as ordinary meat chickens.

3. Prevent crossbreeding: Strengthen the management of reserve breeding Silkie chickens and prevent crossbreeding with other chicken breeds, which would cause breed mixing, so as to ensure the purity of the Silkie chicken and the economic returns of raising them.