What Breeds Are Good for Raising Chickens Under Trees? These Precautions You Need to Know

Raising chickens under trees means using the land resources and shade advantages beneath the trees; it is a new ecological farming model for raising free-range chickens. While increasing the added value of fruit trees and eggs, it also establishes a mutually beneficial cycle between laying hens and fruit forests. So what breeds should be chosen for raising chickens under trees to get good farming returns? And what precautions should be taken? Here are the answers one by one:

There are many chicken breeds. Apart from a few large broiler breeds introduced from abroad, the vast majority of small and medium-sized broilers, dual-purpose meat-and-egg breeds, and laying breeds can adapt to woodland rearing. This is because the purpose of raising chickens in woodlands is not only to meet people's demand for high-quality meat and eggs but also to consider a certain level of economic benefit. This requires choosing some small and medium-sized broilers with short cycles and quick returns, as well as dual-purpose meat-and-egg breeds with relatively better economic returns.

Below is a brief introduction to a few breeds suitable for selection:

1. Green-legged partridge chicken: Produced in Guangxi, also known as Guangxi iron-foot chicken.

Appearance characteristics: The notable external features are black feet and a black beak, fast feather growth, and plumage colors including partridge yellow, partridge black, and other different colors. Roosters have red feathers and black tails, light black skin, short legs, and a single comb. Sexual maturity is early; young roosters generally have bright red combs at around 50 days and begin to crow.

Performance: At 70 days of age, roosters can reach a body weight of 1900 grams, and hens 1400 grams. On average, 2.3 jin of feed can produce 1 jin of body weight gain. However, it has relatively high requirements for feed nutrition. During the chick stage, the dietary crude protein content should reach 21%, metabolizable energy 3000 kcal/kg, crude fat 4%, calcium 1%, phosphorus 0.6%; during the growing chicken stage, crude protein 18%, metabolizable energy 2900 kcal/kg, crude fat 4%, calcium 0.9%, phosphorus 0.7%.

2. Chengdu partridge chicken: Produced in the counties and districts around Chengdu, Sichuan.

This chicken is relatively large in size, with plumage mostly partridge yellow, and the beak, feet, and skin are light black. Its performance is slightly inferior to that of the green-legged partridge chicken.

3. Taiwan black chicken: Distributed in the Fujian area. The plumage and the whole body are black, medium in size, and fast-growing.

4. Southern Shaanxi black-bone chicken: Distributed in all cities and counties south of the Qinling Mountains. Because the number of improved foreign chicken breeds introduced after the 1990s increased year by year, and because foreign breeds have good production performance and high economic returns, improved breeds became fully popularized in many places, while local native chickens were completely eliminated. At present, except for a few mountainous areas where populations still exist, they are already very hard to find in most valley areas. Our county is currently one of the counties and districts in the Ankang region with relatively more native chickens retained. According to surveys, there are quite a few native chickens in remote places in townships such as Taishanmiao, Longwang, and Tangping, and the native chickens kept by farmers in some villages and groups basically have no foreign bloodline and belong to pure local native chickens.

Because there are many strains of southern Shaanxi black-bone chicken, their appearance characteristics are not all the same, and their plumage colors are also very mixed, including pure black, pure white, yellow, partridge, and spotted (bamboo-partridge chicken), and there are also single comb, rose comb, strawberry comb, pea comb, and so on. However, the pure black black-skinned, black-boned chicken is the most representative, and attention should be paid to selecting and retaining breeding stock and to purification and rejuvenation.

In our country there are many farmers engaged in seedling cultivation who have achieved very good economic returns by raising chickens under trees. This is because this integrated model of planting and breeding can not only earn an extra income from breeding but also remove insects and weeds, achieving multiple benefits at once. Of course, raising chickens under trees is not simply driving the flock directly into the woods and letting them grow on their own; the following six major precautions also need to be taken:

1. Pay attention to pesticide use: In some orchards or seedling plantations, farmers usually spray pesticides to prevent pests and diseases, and this is still very destructive to raising chickens under trees. Therefore, farmers should try to choose good seedling varieties to reduce pesticide use; if pesticides must be used, try to use high-efficiency, low-toxicity pesticides, and it is best to spray the woods in sections.

2. Pay attention to feed supplementation: Raising chickens under trees does not mean letting the flock completely find food in the wild; feed still needs to be provided. Of course, all of this depends on whether there is abundant food under the trees for the flock to eat. If there are relatively many weeds and flies and insects, then only a small amount of feed needs to be supplemented in the evening; if the insects, flies, and weeds under the trees are not enough for the flock to eat, then feed should be supplemented at noon and in the evening.

3. Pay attention to dangerous animals: There may be dangerous animals such as rats and snakes under the trees, which are quite harmful to chicken raising. In some places there may also be weasels, eagles, and so on, which pose an even greater threat to the flock. Farmers can guard against these dangerous animals by setting up fences in grazing areas, increasing light at night, and training dogs to protect the flock.

4. Pay attention to protecting fruit trees: Whether fruit trees or seedlings, protection must be done well. After all, chickens' claws and beaks are quite formidable, and they also have a certain ability to fly high. Therefore, trees must be well protected; otherwise, if chickens peck the fruit, leaves, bark, and so on, it will not be worthwhile.

5. Pay attention to flock training: The training here is mainly to enable the flock to return to the chicken coop by themselves in the evening. Usually, raising chickens under trees is also not suitable for letting the flock roost outside; instead, a chicken coop should be built, even if simple and crude, there must be a place to shelter from wind and rain. Farmers should train the flock from a young age to form the habit of returning to the coop in the evening.

6. Pay attention to coop lighting: As mentioned in point three, increasing light can play a role in driving away dangerous animals. In addition, supplementing light inside the chicken coop at night can also attract some insects from the woods to come in and become a late-night snack for the flock.

Under the guidance of the national agricultural industrialization poverty alleviation policy, farmers in mountainous areas rely on their own forest clearings, barren hills, and wastelands to vigorously develop chicken raising under trees. The under-tree chicken raising industry is developing extremely rapidly, and its prospects will be limitless.