First, without a good environment, chickens raised by polluting the environment will lose the qualification of being called Chai Chicken. The good environment is in the mountains far away from the urban market.
Second, the price of green traditional feed has risen, with corn per catty 1. 1 yuan and an average of 3 A Liang days per chicken. The cost of food for eight months is 72,000 yuan in 72 yuan, and the minimum cost of 1 1,000 chickens is 72,000 yuan.
Third, the feeding cycle is long: it takes 8 months at the earliest, and the best Chai chicken takes 1.5 years.
Fourth, the price is high: the food cost is high, the field loss rate is high, and epidemic prevention is difficult.
Fifth, chicken feet are slender, meatless and sharp.
Chai chicken has the characteristics of roughage resistance, strong adaptability, foraging, stable genetic performance, strong nesting ability and strong disease resistance. After 5 months, the average weight of cock is about 3.5 kg, and that of hen is about 2.5 kg. Sexual maturity is 5 months, and delivery begins in 5 months; The annual egg production is 150-180, the average egg weight is 40-45g, and the eggshells are mostly white and light brown. It has a large proportion of yolk, yellow color, thick egg white, thick yolk film and bright color.
In recent years, the free-range rearing of Chai chicken in mountainous areas (forests and fruit trees) has flourished in various places, catering to people's consumption demand for advocating green food. At the same time, the adoption of free-range breeding has improved the growth environment of chickens, which is of great significance for strengthening the physique of chickens, reducing the diseases of chickens, reducing the expenditure on drugs, reducing the environmental pressure brought by the chicken industry and improving the quality of chicken products. However, through our visit to the countryside, we found that there are still some problems that farmers need to pay attention to.
1. Selection of chicken breeds
Through investigation, it is found that some farmers have a one-sided understanding of the variety of Chai Chicken, and think that Chai Chicken refers to local local miscellaneous chickens, so they choose to breed local miscellaneous chickens. Although the price of eggs produced is high, the economic benefit is very poor because of the low production performance. In fact, Chai Chicken is a general concept, which can be a local variety suitable for local farming, or a breeding variety suitable for intensive production and free-range. According to the production practice in recent years, the current chicken breeds such as Lanhai, Heiske and Nongda No.3 are all suitable for free-range, and the eggs laid under free-range conditions are of good quality and high economic benefits.
2. Free-range chickens also need to be fed with high-quality full-price feed.
Only through scientific breeding and management can excellent varieties give full play to their genetic characteristics. Whether it is centralized farming or free-range farming, it is necessary to ensure adequate nutrition of chickens. Many farmers stubbornly believe that the production of real free-range eggs can not use full-price feed, only raw grain. As a result, the egg laying rate is too low and the benefit is low. Practice shows that there is no obvious difference in the quality of eggs laid by chickens supplemented with raw grain and full feed in the free-range environment, but there is a great difference in egg production and comprehensive benefits.
3. Reasonable feeding density
In order to make use of the limited space, some farmers excessively increase the feeding density, reaching the feeding capacity of each acre (667 square meters) 1000 in orchards or forests, and they are fixed in an area, and weeds on the ground are pecked by chickens. This loses the meaning of free-range farming. The reasonable feeding density should be about 200 birds per mu, and the fence should be divided according to the size of the site, the number of long grass and the number of free-range chickens. , and should adopt the feeding method of regular rotation grazing. When the grass in one free-range area is almost eaten by chickens, the chickens will be driven to another free-range area to ensure that there are enough edible grass, insects and leaves in the free-range area.
4. Set the laying box reasonably.
The laying boxes should be set around 1 month before laying eggs, and 1 laying box should be set every 4 ~ 5 chickens. Egg boxes should be consistent in form and size to avoid pecking when chickens choose egg boxes. In order to let the chickens find their spawning nest, 1 ~ 2 eggs or eggshells can be placed in the egg box at the early stage of laying eggs to help the chickens fix their spawning places, thus reducing "egg dropping". Don't wait for the chicken to lay eggs before setting up the egg box in a hurry.
5. Strictly implement epidemic prevention procedures.
Free-range chickens are stronger and reduce the chance of getting sick, but that doesn't mean they won't get sick. Free-range chickens have more contact with birds and animals in the wild, and there are more diseases spread by birds and animals. Therefore, in addition to scientific feeding management, we should also pay attention to epidemic prevention and strict epidemic prevention procedures.