Yellow chickens stroll leisurely at the foot of the mist-shrouded Jiufeng Mountain
He Xingmin looks at his mountain yellow chickens and smiles
The mountain yellow chickens raised by He Xingmin
In December, mist shrouds Jiufeng Mountain in Hengyang County, where green hills and emerald bamboo give off a fresh fragrance, and at the foot of the mountain a flock of mountain yellow chickens drives away the cold winter weather without a trace. On the 14th, as the reporter followed He Xingmin into the mountain forest, mountain yellow chickens appeared one after another on the slopes, in the grass and on the branches, running and flying toward him from all directions. He Xingmin, walking in front, looked just like a battlefield commander. When he scattered the rice, it drew a golden-yellow flock of chickens gathering around him.
He Xingmin, 48 years old this year, is a villager of Jiufeng Mountain in Xijiang Township, Hengyang County. Due to the family's financial difficulties, he and his wife had long worked in Guangdong, but because he has suffered from multiple illnesses in recent years and cannot do heavy work, he returned home alone this year to recover. Thus the whole family could only rely on his wife working in Guangdong to maintain their livelihood, and life was very tight.
After the Hengyang City poverty alleviation work team learned of the situation through visits, it guided him, based on local conditions, to use the rich forest land resources of Jiufeng Mountain to develop an under-forest chicken raising project, and took him to Junping Special Breeding Farm in Hetian Village of the same township for on-site visits and learning. With the help of the work team, He Xingmin first bought 5,000 mountain yellow chicken chicks. At the same time, he learned on site from breeders while also teaching himself by consulting books related to chicken raising, constantly accumulating experience. Through his efforts, after the first batch of mature mountain yellow chickens sold well in Hengyang, Shaodong and other places in July, He Xingmin saw the joy and hope of a harvest.
Talking about raising mountain yellow chickens, He Xingmin told us with a chuckle that his chickens are raised freely in the woods of Jiufeng Mountain, freely foraging for natural green grass and insects, and are usually supplemented with rice bran and other coarse grains. The chicken manure remains in the woods, increasing the fertility of the forest land, while the trees create a suitable growing environment for the chickens. The chickens raised this way have strong immunity and high nutritional value, preserving the natural quality of the mountain yellow chickens to the greatest extent, truly achieving "pure ecology, pure green" and forming a virtuous-cycle ecological system.
The high-quality mountain yellow chickens of Jiufeng Mountain have attracted many customers to come and buy them. At present, there are 8,000 mountain yellow chickens on hand. On average, each chicken can grow to about 3 jin, and at a market price of 28 yuan per jin, after deducting expenses, each chicken can bring a net income of 10 yuan. This year's net income reached 100,000 yuan. Next, He Xingmin also wants to use the recovered funds to expand the breeding scale and take a distinctive breeding entrepreneurship path by using the rich natural mountain forest resources of Jiufeng Mountain.
"You see, so much mountain forest in Jiufeng Mountain was originally unused. Next, I want to put all the village's mountain forest to use. Next year my wife won't need to work away from home either. Staying at home now is much better than working outside!" said the taciturn He Xingmin with full confidence.