Raising chickens under the forest helps farmers increase income, and the breeder has realized his dream of getting rich

In the verdant Chinese fir forest, flocks of chickens are leisurely foraging. A few days ago, the author came to the mountain forest chicken farm of Li Fulin, a farmer in Changfu Village, Longtang Town, Dingnan County, and interviewed this farmer who returned to his hometown to start a business.

Born in 1964, Li Fulin went to Chaozhou, Guangdong to work as an electric welder after graduating from high school, and he did this for 20 years. However, he always had a dream in his heart, which was to start his own eco-friendly breeding farm.

During his days working away from home, Li Fulin always insisted on teaching himself breeding techniques. In 2012, Li Fulin returned to his hometown with his dream. Considering the realities of his hometown, Li Fulin found that forest land could be used to develop under-forest chicken raising. On the one hand, chicken manure can serve as fertilizer for the trees, providing organic fertilizer for them, and the chickens can peck at pests, which both promotes tree growth and reduces feeding costs; on the other hand, the trees also create a suitable growing environment for the chickens, and the chickens raised this way have strong immunity and high nutritional value. After careful consideration, Li Fulin decided to plant Chinese fir trees and raise chickens under the Chinese fir forest. So he first invested more than 200,000 yuan to plant more than 300 mu of Chinese fir trees, and then introduced 1,600 Leghorn chicks.

Because Li Fulin had persisted in self-study for decades and accumulated rich breeding techniques, he had rules to follow when he first started breeding. In addition, with the guidance and help of technicians from the town's animal husbandry and veterinary station, every step was arranged just right, and Li Fulin's life as a "chicken keeper" got off to a smooth start. In the process of developing the breeding business, Li Fulin attached great importance to the input of science and technology. He released the chickens in the Chinese fir forest to freely forage for natural green grass and insects, and fed them rice bran and other coarse grains twice in the morning and evening as a supplement. The chicken manure remained in the Chinese fir forest, increasing the fertility of the forest land and forming a virtuous-cycle ecological system. This feeding method ensured the natural quality of the chickens to the greatest extent and truly achieved "purely ecological, purely green."

At present, the chickens raised by Li Fulin can lay more than 800 eggs per day. The under-forest eggs, which are delicious and highly nutritious, have attracted many customers to come and buy them, and egg sales have continued to rise. Today, Li Fulin can profit more than 250,000 yuan each year from raising laying hens alone.