How the county's largest chicken farm grew from a small chicken coop deep in the mountains

In Dongyuanting Village, Huokou She Ethnic Township, deep in the mountains of Luoyuan, lives the county's largest broiler farming family: She woman Lei Taochai and her family. Six years ago, they returned from the city to the deep mountains to raise chickens, turning a simple chicken coop into the county's largest broiler farm.

The whole family said goodbye to working as migrant laborers and returned home to raise chickens

"After graduating from high school, my parents and I were all working in Fuzhou. Later, my father had a stroke and life became difficult, so we decided to return to our hometown to start a business together," said 28-year-old Lan Xiubin, Lei Taochai's son. At the time, there were calls to protect Fuzhou's second water source, and the pig farming industry, a pillar industry in the village, faced shutdown due to pollution problems, which troubled Lan Xiubin greatly as he was seeking a way to make a living.

On a chance trip back to the village, Lan Xiubin heard villagers say the government encouraged people to raise chickens and ducks. "There happened to be a bamboo grove on the mountain behind our hometown. Thinking of flocks of chickens and ducks playing and foraging together, I was very tempted." Soon after, on CCTV's "Road to Wealth," Lan Xiubin saw an episode about getting rich by raising chickens in rural areas, which made him even more determined.

With no experience at all, Lan Xiubin sought advice from specialized chicken farmers in Minqing. "I also read books and went online to learn in my spare time." In 2010, Lei Taochai's family returned to Dongyuanting Village in Huokou Township, put up a simple 70-square-meter chicken coop, brought in 500 chicks, and began the most primitive She township farming life.

The road to entrepreneurship was full of ups and downs

From a simple chicken coop to the county's largest broiler farm, speaking of the hardships along the way, Lei Taochai was full of emotion: "We had just gained some experience raising chickens when my son got the idea to raise ducks. In 2013, he bought more than 3,000 ducklings at once, but because the water conditions on the mountain behind us were insufficient and not good for the ducks' growth, we lost nearly 100,000 yuan, and the results of the first three years of hard work were wiped out."

To encourage her son, Lei Taochai sold all her gold and silver jewelry as capital to reinvest. "This time we focused on raising chickens, and within 2 months bought 1,000 chicks to raise." Lei Taochai told the reporter that chicken coops need to be kept warm, so before each round of raising chickens they prepared stoves for heating and readied 3 cartloads of firewood. "The nursery room must be kept at around 30°C. We had to keep the fire going continuously for 24 hours, for a full month, before the chicks could grow up safely."

"The nights in winter are the hardest. We set the alarm in the middle of the night and added firewood to the stove once every 3 hours," Lei Taochai said.

Keeping the chicken coop warm meant staying up late, and delivering to customers meant staying up all night. "As soon as we receive an order, we start loading the crates at 10 p.m., and meet with the dealers at 2 or 3 in the middle of the night to make sure they don't miss the morning market," Lan Xiubin said. They often delivered to places such as Ningde and downtown Fuzhou, and only dragged their tired bodies home at dawn the next day.

Building the county's largest chicken farm

Years of hard work finally paid off. In 2014, Luoyuan encouraged the development of under-forest economy and gave Lei Taochai a 100,000-yuan subsidy. "We used this money to renovate the chicken coops and upgrade the equipment," Lan Xiubin said. Now the under-forest economy farm has 6 chicken coops, 3 warming rooms and 1 feed warehouse, covering more than 700 square meters. It is currently the largest broiler farm in Luoyuan County. "As the chicken farm grew bigger and bigger, people often came asking how to raise chickens."

"The chickens we raise run in the woods every day and eat naturally growing grass and insects in the soil. This not only saves grain, but also improves the quality of the chicken meat," Lan Xiubin said. Today, the broilers sell steadily and demand exceeds supply. Many chickens are reserved by buyers before they are even fully grown.

"Back then, the village switched industries for environmental protection, and now the chicken manure from our farm is bought by vegetable and fruit farmers in Huokou Township and Rixi Township for fertilizer. Ecological chicken farming not only does not harm the environment, but also brings extra income. Our village is in a remote location, so it is very difficult to make ecological farming bigger and stronger. It would be great if the chicken farm could lead everyone to get rich together!" Lan Xiubin said.