Qingliu Guinea Fowl from Fujian Sold Across the Country
The winter sun shone lazily over the land, and Li Qingchuan of Lijia Township, Qingliu County, was busy slaughtering guinea fowl, hurrying to deliver them the next morning to Liancheng County, more than 20 li from his home, to be mailed to more than 40 customers with orders in Sichuan, Heilongjiang, Shandong and other places.
Meanwhile, his phone rang nonstop, with most callers asking about guinea fowl prices and courier services. "Customers have no objection to the price, but because it is fresh meat sent by courier, some worry that the meat will spoil if the journey takes too long," Li Qingchuan said. In fact, after quick-freezing, the guinea fowl is packed in sealed foam boxes with ice packs added, and can be kept for at least 4 days. So far he has sent out more than 500 guinea fowl, all by SF Express, basically delivered within three days, with no case of the meat spoiling.
In 1991, Li Qingchuan was discharged from an anti-aircraft artillery unit. After returning home, he worked as a worker in a light calcium plant, did odd jobs in Jinjiang and other places, and later came home to grow edible fungi and brew cold-spring aged liquor. His cold-spring aged liquor in particular is very fragrant, very pure, and does not cause hangovers, and is deeply welcomed by customers, and was even brought by local people to Mauritius.
Li Qingchuan's guinea fowl farming was a path to wealth that was "forced" out of him. In front of the distillery was a large plot of land leased from local people, which Li Qingchuan later subleased to a man from Liancheng to raise white mallard ducks. The man from Liancheng made his first pot of gold and wanted to return home to start a business, and the year before last proposed ending the lease. A large plot of land, with rent to pay even if idle - what to do? Li Qingchuan had no choice but to take it on himself.
A friend suggested: raise guinea fowl, the market prospects are very good. Li Qingchuan immediately set out and went to a guinea fowl farm in Changting to study and investigate. When he returned home, he also deliberately bought a guinea fowl to bring back and taste. He found that this kind of chicken has fine, smooth meat, and after being stewed into soup, the flavor is very fresh and especially good to drink.
Guinea fowl is also called pearl fowl, mountain chicken, or guinea bird. It originated in Guinea on the west coast of the African continent. Originally a wild bird, it was domesticated and raised and became a new breed of meat poultry. As a special meat poultry, the guinea fowl has relatively high economic value and nutritional value. Its meat is tender and delicious, high in protein and low in fat. Compared with ordinary meat chickens, it has higher protein and amino acid content, while its fat and cholesterol content are very low. It is a special poultry with a gamey flavor.
After simply renovating the original farm, in April last year, Li Qingchuan brought in the first batch of 200 guinea fowl for trial breeding.
Guinea fowl has good adaptability and strong disease resistance, has simple requirements for equipment and housing, tolerates coarse feed, and is easy to raise. Li Qingchuan raises guinea fowl mainly by free-range methods, feeding them mainly corn and coarse grains, to ensure the meat quality of the chickens. "In the first three months, the guinea fowl grew very fast and could reach 1.5 kg. Some farmers, to save time and improve returns, would send the chickens to market, but the meat of such chickens is too fine and not tasty," Li Qingchuan said. He extended the raising time by 4 months and only sent them to market after 7 months. The meat of such chickens is no different from local native chickens, and the soup is even more delicious.
In November, the first batch of guinea fowl was ready for market, and the 200 chickens quickly sold out. Li Qingchuan did some calculations: one guinea fowl chick costs 7 yuan, eats an average of 0.2 kg of corn per day, about 0.6 yuan, which comes to more than 120 yuan over 7 months, and one chicken brings about 40 yuan in profit. From the first batch, he earned nearly 10,000 yuan.
To ensure market supply after the guinea fowl go on sale, Li Qingchuan adopted a staggered breeding method. On the basis of the first batch of 200, he purchased another 800 guinea fowl chicks in two batches for breeding.
After the guinea fowl went on sale, Li Qingchuan sold them through WeChat Moments and an online mall. "Many friends who have bought them have become repeat customers," Li Qingchuan said. For every new customer who called to order guinea fowl, he asked to add them on WeChat, so he had more and more customers. "Today I received more than 30 more orders, and I have to deal with them quickly and deliver them to SF Express early tomorrow morning for shipping," Li Qingchuan said.
At present, Li Qingchuan has more than 300 guinea fowl left, and they are expected to sell out before the Spring Festival. "After the Spring Festival I will bring in more chicks and strive to expand the breeding scale and make a good profit," Li Qingchuan said with a chuckle.