Chickens in extensive and semi-intensive poultry production systems
account for more than 75% of all poultry in the South. Owned by
smallholders in rural areas, these birds provide food security and family
income and play an important role in socio-cultural events.
Poultry is an important farm species in almost all countries. It is an
important source of animal protein, and can be raised in situations
with limited feed and housing resources. Chickens are ‘wasteconverters’:
they ‘convert’ a scavenged feed resource base into animal
protein. They are therefore by far the most important species for generating
income for rural families.
People raise chickens all around the world under widely varying circumstances.
Their main objective is generally the same: maximum
production for minimum costs and with minimum risks.
The two main forms of keeping small-scale chicken are small-scale
subsistence farming and commercial farming. If poultry is mainly kept
for home consumption of eggs and meat, costs and effort can be kept
to a minimum. But for a poultry enterprise to be successful, it must
have a reliable market for its products and a steady supply of reasonably
priced quality feed. It is important that feed resources are locally
available. See figure 1.
This Agrodok refers mainly to semi-intensive farming. It can help beginners
and experienced poultry raisers to solve problems that come
up. Its focus is on keeping layers. Keeping broiler poultry presents
different problems and requires particular expertise. Nevertheless,
some attention will be paid to keeping cocks as these have to be fattened
too..
These heavier birds have more muscle. They grow fast and can quickly
reach a high slaughter weight. This requires plenty of high quality
feed. It requires special skills to keep this in good supply and balance.
Hybrids or cross-breeds result from combining special lines or strains
of chickens developed for this purpose with e.g. a local breed. The
hybrids are more productive. In countries in the South, cross-breeding
between pure breeds is also common, e.g. White Leghorn crossed with
Rhode Island Red. Nowadays hybrid breeds have become very common.
2.2 Local breeds
If you want to breed your own stock of chickens, you cannot go on
using the hybrid breeds, as their high productivity will go down. You
can only get high production with hybrid layers if you buy chickens
regularly. It is therefore advisable to use local breeds, which are often
much cheaper to keep. Another advantage of local chicken breeds is
that they are better adapted to local conditions and are less susceptible
to diseases than the more fragile hybrids. Local breeds are usually
lighter in weight and have smaller eggs than those of hybrid breeds.
Local breeds can be distinguished according to their appearance. See
figure 6.
Figure 6: Local breed types: (a) frizzle feather (b) naked neck (c)
dwarf (Poultry Network)
Chicken breeds 11
However, local chickens are far less productive in terms of egg numbers.
In rural areas, local chickens lay about 50 eggs per year, while
hybrids can lay 250-270 eggs a year under favourable conditions. On
the other hand, local breeds make better use of waste material than
hybrid chickens do, so they are more suitable for keeping around the
house.
This booklet discusses various factors influencing egg production and
methods for improving it, with the aim of reaching medium to high
production levels.
2.3 Choosing a chicken breed
Important factors when choosing the best breed of chickens for your
situation are: price, market situation, experience, farm management,
local preference and availability.
The price will determine your choice. Modern hybrids are very expensive.
They also need very good care and high quality, balanced feed to
be productive. Local breeds are cheaper and better adapted to local
conditions. With adequate care, they are reasonably productive. However,
if you want to raise chickens on a larger scale and decide to buy
balanced feed, it is better to choose the more expensive hybrids.
It is important to consider the local market situation. Medium-weight
hybrids should only be chosen if there is a good market for eggs and
meat and a steady supply of good, balanced chicken-feed. If you want
to concentrate on selling eggs, consider buying lighter, white layers. In
all other situations, the heavier, usually brown breeds would be a better
choice. If you live far from a market and mainly want to produce
for home consumption, only selling extra eggs and meat locally, you
are best off with a local breed.
If you have no experience of raising chickens,
