A Veteran Carpenter in Yuhuan, Zhejiang, Switches to Raising Chickens and Becomes a "Chicken Commander"

In Shangjiaomen Village, Ganjing Town, Yuhuan, Master Huang Genling, who worked as a carpenter for more than 30 years, can be considered a first-rate craftsman. Last year, he actually quit his carpentry work and became a "Chicken Commander."

A few days ago, this writer visited Huang Genling's guinea fowl farm. In an area of more than 200 sq m, flocks of chickens were pecking at food and playing. When someone came slightly closer, these little creatures were startled and flew up with a "whoosh." Looking closely, these guinea fowl, which are gray all over with regular round white spots, have longer necks than ordinary chickens and also have two cheek flaps on their faces, making them look a bit like peacocks at first glance.

Huang Genling, 52 this year, why did he abandon carpentry to become a "Chicken Commander"? He said that doing carpentry earned 200 yuan a day, with fewer than 10 months of work days accumulated over the year, and total income of less than 60,000 yuan. His wife, Qin Lixiu, was unable to work normally because of a foot injury, and all the family's expenses depended on him alone. He wanted to change careers and raise chickens at home, so that he could take care of his wife and also achieve decent returns. Therefore, in March last year, he discussed with his wife not to do carpentry work anymore. After that, he took 30,000 yuan in savings to Fujian and introduced more than 1,200 guinea fowl and 600 High-line Gray laying hens.

"I introduced guinea fowl mainly because what we raise here are generally native chickens and Sanhuang chickens. I wanted to raise a breed that others had not raised to increase returns," Huang Genling said. This kind of chicken rarely gets sick, is resistant to cold, and eats only rice grain and miscellaneous grains. Moreover, guinea fowl meat has relatively low cholesterol content, while its nutritional value is higher than that of ordinary chicken.

After several months of raising, chicks weighing two or three liang grew into finished chickens weighing about two kilograms. Looking at the guinea fowl ready for market, Huang Genling felt quite delighted. However, sales made him worried.

"After the whole village was relocated from the high mountains, we kept our chickens at our own home and my brother's home. Because the location is rather remote, and when we took them to the market to sell, people did not understand this kind of chicken and offered very low prices," Qin Lixiu said. "These chickens themselves are raised on rice grain. They can eat 16 buckets of rice grain a day, a full 150 jin. Costs are high, and if the price is too low, we cannot even recover the cost. If we do not sell them quickly, every extra day of feeding means one more day of loss."

During the day, Huang Genling releases the chickens to forage on the hillside and let them search for food in the woods, and only drives them into the coop at night. This not only saves costs but also makes the chicken meat better.

Before the Spring Festival, after local media reports, the sales channels for Huang Genling's chickens were basically opened. At present, he still has more than 700 guinea fowl and 420 High-line Gray laying hens left.

That day, Huang Genling and his wife happily did the accounts for this writer. Raising one chick to market requires a cost of 75 yuan to 80 yuan. If each one sells for 150 yuan, there is a profit of nearly about 50%. After deducting labor and other expenses, it is much better than doing carpentry before.

Now, these chickens have high egg production. Especially the High-line Gray laying hens, one can lay about 360 eggs in total; each guinea fowl lays 170-180 eggs in total, while local chickens lay only 120-130 eggs. In terms of egg prices, High-line Gray laying hen eggs are 60 yuan per kg, also about 20 yuan higher than ordinary eggs. Huang Genling said that at present they plan to use all the money saved from selling eggs for reinvestment, hatch chicks themselves, and expand the chicken-raising scale to several thousand.