Beauty salon owner who switched to raising chickens becomes a "chicken commander"

A young woman just 30 years old spent millions of yuan in only three years to start ecological farming, and carved out a new world for herself in the ecological farming industry. In mid-August, large numbers of pine-needle chickens raised by Pingxiang woman Luo Huan began laying eggs one after another, and some local supermarkets and specialty local-product stores signed purchase contracts with Luo Huan...

Pine-needle chicken breeding base

Woman raises chickens and ducks to build a "happy farm"

Luo Huan is 30 this year. After leaving school and entering society, she ran a beauty salon. In 2013, when business was growing well, Luo Huan chose to change careers, using the "first bucket of gold" earned from the beauty salon to introduce and purchase 10,000 ducks. The couple chose Shiban Village, Anyuan Town, Anyuan District as the site to build their own "happy farm."

After two years of raising ducks, Luo Huan saw the prospects of ecological farming. Luo Huan said that in April this year, she invested more than 2 million yuan again to build a fully automated farm with automatic disinfection, automatic feeding, automatic manure scraping and automatic water supply, and then introduced 30,000 pine-needle chickens (also called golden powder chickens) from Guangzhou.

Luo Huan's husband is a veteran. He has his own job and normally works at his workplace, while the farm has many affairs to handle, so Luo Huan, who switched careers to become a "chicken commander," called on her father and other relatives to help, and also arranged employment for people from some local disadvantaged families.

Always optimistic about the prospects of ecological farming

Compared with ecological farming, the beauty industry makes money very quickly and yields generous profits. Luo Huan said that ecological farming is a sustainable development project and that she has always been optimistic about its prospects, so over the past few years she first raised ducks and this year began raising chickens, continuously investing in ecological farming.

In the feed workshop of this ecological farm, the reporter saw that in addition to automated grinding machines, large amounts of corn, soybean meal, millet and other whole grains were also piled up. Luo Huan said that after these whole grains are mixed and ground in proportion, something called "pine needle powder" is added, and only then can it finally be made into natural green chicken feed.

A person associated with the farm said that pine leaves are needle-shaped, hence the name "pine needle." The "pine needle powder" mixed into the chicken feed is powder ground from pine leaves, and so-called "pine-needle chickens" are chickens raised on pine needle powder. Pine needles are cool in nature, and when poultry consume a small amount over a long period, it can effectively improve their immunity, ensuring that the eggs laid by the poultry are ecological, green and healthy.

Good selling point brings merchant orders

"Now that people's living standards have improved, when it comes to food, everyone pays more and more attention to green ecological crops," Luo Huan said. Because ecological farming costs more, the eggs laid by pine-needle chickens are a bit more expensive than ordinary eggs on the market. The market price of ordinary eggs is 7 yuan/jin, while eggs laid by pine-needle chickens cost 8 yuan/jin.

It is understood that the growth period of pine-needle chickens is about 140 days, after which they can lay eggs, and the peak egg-laying period is the stage from 150 days to 240 days. At present, the pine-needle chickens raised by Luo Huan have already begun laying eggs one after another. Although the price is a bit higher than ordinary eggs, because the eggs laid by pine-needle chickens taste good and are ecological and environmentally friendly, some local supermarkets and specialty local-product stores have already signed orders with Luo Huan even before the peak egg-laying period of the pine-needle chickens has arrived.

Now, the farm founded by Luo Huan not only raises chickens and ducks, but also raises crayfish, fish and other agricultural products in the ponds near the farm.