Guangdong's Chicken King spent 38 years growing from 12 hens to 150,000 breeding chickens
Su Chinan
Qingyuan chicken is famous worldwide for its tender, smooth meat, crisp skin, soft bones and fresh fragrance, and was recorded in the Qingyuan County Gazetteer as early as the Song Dynasty. As the saying goes, no banquet is complete without chicken, and a hundred chickens have a hundred flavors, but in Su Chinan's life, Qingyuan chicken has gone beyond the realm of fine food to become an unchanging belief he holds fast to. He says: the good things left by our ancestors must not be ruined in our own hands. As a man now past fifty who was the earliest in Qingyuan to step into large-scale Qingyuan chicken farming, Su Chinan started from just 12 hens in 1979, and after 38 years of ups and downs, his base has grown to 150,000 Qingyuan partridge breeding chickens, producing about 15 million eggs a year, making him a widely known "Qingyuan Chicken King."
Relying on high-tech, refined farming
In the chilly March of early spring, at the foot of Huangteng Gorge - the Fengxiang Partridge Chicken Breeding Base - Qingyuan chickens eat healthily and lively in one modern coop after another, full of vitality. The base cooperates with South China Agricultural University, and Qingyuan chicken farming has achieved fully automated production. The high-standard breeding chicken houses are equipped with automatic constant-temperature air conditioning, realizing automation of chicken feeding and manure collection, and raising the farming efficiency and quarantine standards for Qingyuan chickens.
What is even more remarkable is that outside each chicken house is placed a container of imported probiotic flora nutrient solution, which is fed at any time through automatic feeding equipment into the feed of the Qingyuan chickens. "At present, I am the first to explore and innovatively adopt imported probiotic flora technology feeding in the province, and the taste and health indicators of Qingyuan chickens have made breakthroughs again. Indicators such as amino acids have been tested by the quality supervision department, and the data are very ideal. Next, I plan to send samples to an authoritative institution in the province for testing, and strive to obtain relevant certification." According to Su Chinan, after experiencing several setbacks over 38 years, he gradually realized that he must rely on science and technology and management to achieve refined farming.
It is reported that Fengxiang partridge chickens, from chick purification to rejuvenation, are all raised with the company's own special feed as a supplementary feed and probiotic flora. The probiotics are also made from corn bran plus coconut bran, ensuring a natural ecology, and greatly improving the meat quality and physical constitution of Qingyuan chickens.
"We feed Qingyuan chickens with this kind of feed, which greatly enhances the chickens' immunity, while also shortening the time to market and reducing costs," said one farmer.
Su Chinan's purebred Qingyuan chicken farming production line
Starting with 12 hens and being awakened by an expert
Su Chinan was born into a farming family in Shajing, Dushu Village, Jiangkou, Qingyuan City. After graduating from high school in 1979, in order to help support the family, he and his father, who had long been ill at home, raised Qingyuan chickens together. Starting from independently raising 12 chicks, he embarked on the road of entrepreneurship. In 1981, Su Chinan came to a farm in Sanshan, Nanhai, and began raising chickens on a large scale. It was precisely this opportunity that led him to meet Professor Bi of South China Agricultural University. Seeing the young man throw himself wholeheartedly into the chicken farm, Professor Bi awakened him: "Qingyuan chicken has been famous since ancient times and is a precious treasure left by our ancestors, more valuable than anything. Why don't you go back to your hometown to raise Qingyuan chickens?" This suddenly enlightened the young Su Chinan, so in 1985, he returned to Qingyuan and began raising Qingyuan chickens using traditional free-range methods.
In October 1999, Su Chinan established the Qingyuan City Fengxiang Partridge Chicken Breeding Base, signing contracts with more than 100 farming households, and the number of cooperating households soon reached more than 400. In 2005, Su Chinan invested heavily to formally cooperate with South China Agricultural University, and in 2012 successfully developed an integrated technology for safe, high-quality ecological farming of Qingyuan partridge chickens. This scientific research achievement won the 2012 Qingyuan City Science and Technology Progress Award and the 2013 Guangdong Province Science and Technology Award.
"After experiencing several setbacks over 38 years, I gradually realized that I must rely on science and technology and management to achieve refined farming." - Su Chinan talks about the unchanging belief he holds fast to
"In order to maintain the good reputation of Qingyuan chicken, I searched everywhere for mountains and hills with green mountains and clear waters, and through the ecological environment maintained the unique quality of Qingyuan chicken." - Su Chinan talks about the unchanging belief he holds fast to
"Persisting in raising authentic Qingyuan chickens and refusing to pass off outside eggs as genuine is something I say every day, and it is also the creed by which the company has operated for so many years." - Su Chinan talks about the unchanging belief he holds fast to