Ecological Chicken Farming: What Are Ecological Chickens? How Do Free-Range Chickens and Forest-Raised Chickens Differ, and How Are They Sold?

  The sun rises over the Songshan hollow, the morning bell startles the flying birds, a stream babbles through the woods, green grass on the slope... For many years, this female solo "Shepherd's Song," brimming with tender, water-like emotion, has been hailed by experts as a classic of China's pop music scene and a symbol of the voice of the times, thanks to its plain and fresh lyrics and its beautiful, moving melody. Ecological chickens, free-range chickens and forest-raised chickens are all free-range chickens; they simply differ in location.

  One day not long ago at noon, this writer went to Bayan Hamlet, Xinlin Village, Gengxin Township, Tian'e County, to interview the registered poor household couple Wei Wensheng and Huang Xiaoyun about their free-range "poverty-alleviation chickens" raised under the forest, and it felt as if I had stepped into the moving scenery of the lyrics of "Shepherd's Song."

  That day, after walking 2.5 km along the path behind Wei Wensheng's house, I entered a stretch of primeval forest. Beneath the trees a stream babbled, so clear you could see the bottom; birds chirped in chorus among the woods, cicadas sang again and again, and from time to time bursts of "cluck, cluck, cluck" drifted over from afar... It turned out that this was the ecological family farm of the specialized chicken-farming couple Wei Wensheng and Huang Xiaoyun.

  "Cock-a-doodle-doo, cluck-cluck..." Huang Xiaoyun had just scattered a handful of corn and blown a whistle when a flock of native chickens with yellow feathers, black skin, long necks and thin legs came flapping and dashing over from the tree branches and the grass to snatch the feed.

  "The native chickens here are in hot demand on the market and have been in short supply all year round." Speaking of the native chickens produced at her own breeding base, Huang Xiaoyun smiled so broadly she could not close her mouth.

  One

  Wei Wensheng, a poor villager living deep in the mountains, is 45 years old this year. His mother has been ill for more than 20 years and needs to take medicine year after year, and he himself suffers from recurring rhinitis. Years of medical expenses drained the family's already modest savings, leaving them impoverished because of illness.

  How could they escape poverty and become prosperous? Wei Wensheng and Huang Xiaoyun felt they had to rely on their own hard-working hands to carve out a new life. In 2010, the couple joined the ranks of migrant workers, drifting between Guangdong, Qinghai and other places for work. Because they could not adapt to the local climate and water, Wei Wensheng's rhinitis relapsed; after deducting medical expenses from their wages, almost nothing was left, and a year later they could only return home.

  "A living person can't be choked to death by urine!" Faced with hardship, Wei Wensheng and Huang Xiaoyun did not lose heart. ⟦12   Bayan Hamlet sits against a mountain, with a stream flowing all year round, a large stretch of natural forest, more than 400 mu of Chinese chestnut, plus a large area of tea-oil camellia and more than 10 kinds of wild fruit; the conditions for free-range ecological chickens under the forest are uniquely favorable.

  Bayantun sits against a large mountain, with streams flowing year-round, a large stretch of natural forest, more than 400 mu of chestnuts, plus a large stretch of tea-oil camellia groves and more than 10 kinds of wild fruits, making it uniquely suited for free-range ecological chickens under the forest.

  Wei Wensheng discussed with his family the idea of free-range raising "poverty-alleviation chickens" under the forest.

  "That's a good idea!" The family almost unanimously approved raising ecological chickens under the forest. In March 2015, Wei Wensheng, drawn by their reputation, went to Beiliu City and several townships in Hechi to study native chicken farming and learn chicken-raising techniques on site. In addition, they bought books such as "Practical Techniques for the Prevention and Treatment of Modern Chicken Diseases," "A Complete Guide to Modern Practical Chicken Farming Techniques" and "Atlas for Differential Diagnosis of Chicken Diseases and Safe Medication" to study.

  After doing sufficient preparation, in March last year Wei Wensheng, through a small poverty-alleviation loan plus money borrowed from relatives and friends, invested a total of more than 400,000 yuan to build a footpath and put up a chicken coop covering more than 400 sq m on the back hill 2.5 km from home.

  Investing so much money all at once made the relatives and friends who had always been timid and afraid of losing break into a cold sweat for him: What if the farming failed? What if there was no market for what he raised?

  "The relatives' and friends' worries were unnecessary." Wei Wensheng and Huang Xiaoyun said that in May of that year they brought in their first batch of 1,500 native chick seedlings from Nanning, strictly followed the methods described in scientific chicken-farming books for nasal-drop plague prevention, and fed them around the clock in a heated room. Because the natural environment was good and the water source unpolluted, all the chicks survived; five months later they were put on the market and brought in more than 50,000 yuan, their "first bucket of gold" from free-range native chickens.

  Having tasted success, Wei Wensheng and his wife went on to invest in and free-range raise several more batches of native chickens, and their income rolled up like a snowball.

  Two

  However, fortune is fickle. Avian influenza struck, leaving Wei Wensheng's native chickens unsold and eggs piling up; the heavy farming costs and financial pressure left the couple unable to eat or sleep in peace.

  That bout of avian influenza cost their family farm a direct loss of more than 100,000 yuan!

  In the face of setbacks, they did not lose heart. After the epidemic passed, Wei Wensheng and his wife once again welcomed a good opportunity for raising chickens.

  Three

  The ecological native chickens that Wei Wensheng and his wife free-range in the woodland are supplement-fed a measured amount of local cornmeal. Because the native chickens run and fly among the trees, drink clear spring water all year round and catch small insects on the ground, the finished chicken meat is tender, nutritious and delicious, and the product is safe and pollution-free. Merchants who have bought his native chickens and eggs after hearing of his reputation all say they just love this flavor!

  With the help of the local Party committee, government and assisting officials, the sales channels for Wei Wensheng's native chickens and eggs kept widening; more and more calls came in to place orders, and more and more merchants came to his door asking for goods...

  When it comes to free-range native chickens in the woodland, Wei Wensheng and his wife are "as determined as a turtle biting a steel scale." They said that, as long as policy permits, they will widen and pave the road leading to the chicken farm and further expand the scale of farming. Right now, Wei Wensheng is busy planning to improve the sanitation of the chicken coop to make chicken farming easier and safer.

  Today, Wei Wensheng has more than 5,000 native chickens on hand. On the basis of vigorously developing free-range "poverty-alleviation chickens" under the forest, the couple has also invested more than 100,000 yuan to raise 32 sows. They say with full confidence: "Escape from poverty and prosperity is already just around the corner!"