Getting rich by raising chickens, Zhang Haihua forges a path of breeding entrepreneurship

When people in the village of Quanshuigou in Jingouhe Town, Shawan County, talk about Zhang Haihua, many of them call him "Mother Hen." Because he knows how to raise chickens and has a knack for preventing and treating poultry diseases, everyone in the village who has raised chickens has received his help at some point, and that is how he earned the affectionate nickname "Mother Hen." Now 45 years old, Zhang Haihua has been dealing with chickens for 25 years. During those 25 years, raising chickens has brought him joy and disappointment, success and frustration, but in the end he paved a road to prosperity by raising chickens and tasted the sweetness of happiness.

Finding business opportunities in big plate chicken

In the 1990s, Shawan's big plate chicken was quietly rising. Although it did not have the fame it has today, at that time many people who ate out or treated guests would basically order big plate chicken. For one thing, it looked generous; for another, it was very affordable. Back then, some travelers passing through Shawan would go into restaurants and order big plate chicken.

The township where Zhang Haihua lived was not far from the old National Highway 312 (now Provincial Highway S115). With traffic coming and going on the highway, the restaurant business in Jingouhe Town became brisk for a time, and big plate chicken, beloved by customers, became the signature dish of many restaurants.

Zhang Haihua said: "At that time, I was still farming at home. In autumn I had to go to the town to hand in grain. While queuing, people from the village would gather together and order a big plate chicken for a hearty meal. Later, when I chatted with the owner, I learned that he could sell nearly 50 portions of big plate chicken on average every day, and I had the idea of raising chickens in my heart."

Rural courtyards are very large, so Zhang Haihua started breeding in his own yard. Although his family had raised chickens before, it was only on a scale of about 100 or so. Apart from eating them themselves, it could also serve as a side business to supplement household income. When the scale of chicken raising reached 1,000 birds, Zhang Haihua began to find it hard to cope.

Zhang Haihua said: "At that time, not many people raised chickens on a large scale. I had heard that some people made money raising chickens, and some people stumbled in raising chickens, mainly because they suffered losses in poultry disease prevention and control. At that time, there were not many technical personnel for poultry disease prevention and control, and even fewer experts. It all depended on exploring and learning by oneself and accumulating experience."

At first, Zhang Haihua worked from dawn to dusk, thinking all day long about how to raise chickens well. During that period, if the chickens got sick, he felt as if he were sick too. Sometimes, looking at the chickens he was raising, he would silently pray that they must not get sick.

Zhang Haihua said: "If a batch of chickens went smoothly, I could earn 2,000 yuan. If they were not raised well, the loss would be more than 2,000 yuan. So during that time I was tense all the time. Whenever I met someone knowledgeable, I would ask; whenever I came across a book about raising chickens, I would read it carefully. I was always afraid that if I did not do well, I would drag my family down."

With the accumulation of chicken-raising experience and his hardworking, eager-to-learn efforts, Zhang Haihua not only mastered some methods of poultry disease prevention and control, but also gained a good understanding of chickens' habits, and gradually developed his own set of secrets for raising chickens. Because he raised chickens well and on a large scale, he soon became a well-known specialized chicken farmer in nearby villages.

Twists and turns on the road of raising chickens

During that period, many people became rich by raising chickens, and many others joined the ranks of chicken farmers one after another. Oversupply in the chicken market also dealt a blow to Zhang Haihua's chicken business. Having no choice, Zhang Haihua could only reduce the scale of his chicken raising.

Zhang Haihua said: "At that time, we mainly raised the layer hens and Sanhuang chickens we used to keep at home. There was still some market within Xinjiang. If we sold outside Xinjiang, the costs were high and the risks were great, and people outside were unwilling to come and buy. If the chickens we raised could not be sold, I was anxious but had no way out."

In 1996, the chicken-raising business was sluggish, and Zhang Haihua became disheartened for a time. His enthusiasm for raising chickens also faded day by day. Just then, a friend from the regional breeding sheep farm sought him out because of his reputation, hoping Zhang Haihua would go to his chicken farm to help take care of things, with room and board provided and a monthly salary of 1,000 yuan. At that time, this was already a decent income.

Zhang Haihua said: "That friend came to me because he had heard that I raised chickens well. At the time he was very sincere and also very anxious, so I agreed. After I went there for a while, I found the main reasons. One was that not enough had been done in poultry disease prevention and control, and the other was that chicken manure was not handled properly, which caused cross-infection."

He stayed in Tacheng for two years, and his friend's chicken farm gradually got on track. Because his family called him back many times, Zhang Haihua returned to Shawan in 1998. After that, he went to Shihezi University for a one-year specialized study in poultry disease prevention and control, and after completing his studies he went to work at the Jingouhe Town Veterinary Station.

Zhang Haihua said: "When I worked at the Jingouhe Town Veterinary Station, every year college students majoring in animal husbandry and veterinary medicine would come in. At that time I thought, if I had had them when I was raising chickens, how much worry and how much fatigue I could have saved. No matter what we do, with technical support, we will take many fewer detours."

In 2002, on a friend's recommendation, Zhang Haihua went to work at a chick breeding enterprise in Changji, where he was mainly responsible for poultry disease prevention and control and business work. Because he worked conscientiously and had flexible ideas, his business kept rising, and he gained recognition from the company's leaders and colleagues. But just at this smooth-sailing stage, an accidental traffic accident nearly killed him, and because of that it also cut off his path of development at the company.

Zhang Haihua said: "I really do not want to recall that experience. Many friends said that surviving at the time was a miracle, so I must live well and work well, and not let down the experiences of the first half of my life."

Returning to his old trade and making a career out of "chickens"

While recuperating at home, Zhang Haihua did not put aside his profession. Through books, television, and the internet, he learned about the chicken market, studied new ideas and methods, and kept enriching himself. By this time, Shawan big plate chicken had already become a calling card of Shawan, and the new market and new opportunities also laid the foundation for Zhang Haihua to return to the chicken industry.

In 2010, with the help of family and friends and the support of the town government, Zhang Haihua became chairman of the Shuangying Breeding Professional Cooperative in Jingouhe Town. This time, he once again locked horns with chickens.

Zhang Haihua said: "I am now over 40. If I want to do something else, I have to learn from scratch and pay tuition all over again. Being skilled in many trades is not as good as being expert in one. If I have to say what I am best at in this life, it is still raising chickens. Raising chickens well is more reassuring than anything else."

During that period, all kinds of cooperatives in Shawan sprang up like bamboo shoots after rain, but Zhang Haihua's breeding cooperative was not easy to build. His farm was in a rather remote location, and at the beginning there was no water and no electricity, which made even construction difficult. So he found his own ways to solve the water and electricity problems and built the chicken farm buildings. At the beginning of operation, there was a shortage of funds, so he turned to relatives and friends and coordinated funding. For operations and management, there was a shortage of manpower, so he again sought out old partners and hired new people, and finally got the chicken farm on track.

Zhang Haihua said: "Whatever you do, the beginning is always difficult. The more times are like this, the more you have to hold on. As long as you are certain of it and persist, you can get past that hurdle and you will be rewarded."

Through Zhang Haihua's careful management, the cooperative gained the capacity to keep 50,000 chickens, and it also introduced a fully automated management equipment system. Some catering enterprises also began doing business with him.

Zhang Haihua said: "Now the sales channels of our cooperative have been opened up. Our chicken farm is already the main raw material base for Shawan's 'Baoweiyuan' brand big plate chicken. Of course, we will also seize the opportunity of developing Shawan County's big plate chicken culture and supply our customers with genuine big plate chicken raw materials."

As for future development, Zhang Haihua said: "In breeding, we must grasp the market, update varieties according to market demand, ensure raw material supply, and develop special poultry breeding. From the current situation, green, organic, and healthy are the main themes of the catering industry. Big plate chicken using free-range chickens as the main raw material is more popular with the public. I think raising free-range chickens is the trend for the chicken industry in the future."