Traditional backyard poultry farming was in practice since the time immemorial. It has a good potential in our country especially in rural areas of North Eastern Hill region to improve the socio-economic condition and overcoming protein deficiency among the poor. The primary objective of backyard poultry rearing is that the birds would collect feeds available around the house and should be good foragers, efficient brooders, highly adaptable to local climatic conditions with disease resistance and heat tolerance. Concept of improved colour feathered bird was identified as the fowl of choice for backyard poultry production. Vanaraja, Gramapriya, Giriraja, Girirani, Gramshree, Krishipriya, Krishibro, CARI-Gold, Kuroiler etc. have been introduced as dual purpose and/or layer suitable for backyard farming. These improved varieties have all the desirable qualities of indigenous chicken combined with better production potential both for meat and egg production.
Why improved germplasm for backyard poultry farming?
Although indigenous birds are desirable but they are poor performers in terms of meat and egg production. The indigenous birds are mostly non-descript and are of very little value as layer because of their low production potential (70-80/year), which is far less compared to either improved strain of birds or layers.
The following desirable major characteristics of scavenging chicken were considered while selection of breed for backyard poultry farming.
1. Colour of the bird: Bird with coloured plumage escape from the predators being camouflaged by their colour as against white or light coloured bird. Better immunocompetence has been reported for coloured birds as compared to white plumage.
2. Body conformation: There is always danger of predators like wild cats, stray dogs, mongoose etc. in free range systems. A bird with low body weight, low shank and strong wings has a greater chance of escaping from predators by fast running and flying till they reach a safer place.
3. Productivity of the birds: The heavy dual purpose birds cannot perform well as compared to layer bird both from the survival and economic parameters point of view. Less nutrient availability and long distance to be covered for collecting the feed suggests the choice of light layer bird than heavy bird.
4. Disease resistance: The scavenging birds must have immunocompetence as there is always lack of quality feed and drinking water and they have to roam into dirty surrounding in search of feed. In addition appropriate prophylactic measures are not always possible in remote areas.
5. Tropical adaptability: Many improved chicken varieties adoptable in tropical region have been produced through genetic modification, are now introduced for backyard system of rearing in NEH region.
6. Self propagation: The capacity of self propagation is an essential requirement for the scavenging bird as it might not be possible always to get the replacement chicks from the hatchery for the remote areas and for weaker section of the society due to financial constraints.
Poultry housing: Under free range system of rearing the birds are let loose for foraging during the day time while at night they are kept in shelter made of bamboo, wood or earth or allowed to rest on the tree branches. Houses are preferably constructed on elevated areas with the orientation of east to west in hotter parts of the country and sides should face north-south to prevent direct sunlight however, in colder parts it should face south or south-east to get maximum sunlight. The height of the poultry house should be 2.4 to 3 m from the foundation to roof line. The floor of the house should be moisture proof, free from cracks, easily cleaned, rat proof and durable. The roofing materials like tins, asbestos sheets, tiles or thatches may be used. A slanting over-hang of 0.9 m will help to prevent the rain water splashing the house. Usually half to two-third area of the side walls are kept open in open-sided house and fitted with wire mesh. In brooder houses half the area is left open, in grower and layer houses two-thirds and in cage houses the maximum.
Brooding: The desi broody hens can be used as natural incubator for hatching of fertile eggs of improved varieties. Generally, a broody hen can comfortably take care of hatching and brooding of 8-10 chicks. Since all the improved bird varieties developed for backyard poultry farming are hatched out artificially, they essentially require initial brooding. Electrical heater or kerosene lamp can be used for heating the brooder house. Bukharies with burning of woods charcoal or saw dust are useful in remote areas where availability of electricity, gas or kerosene is limited. Heat source of 2 watts/chick is adequate upto 6 weeks of age.
Feeding of poultry: As the backyard birds scavenge on grass field to have an access to novel protein and energy rich sources like insects, white ants, green grass, grass seeds, waste grains etc., thereby the requirement of concentrate feed is much less than those reared under intensive poultry farming. Feed supplementation in the form of scratch usually given in the morning/evening to develop habit to reach owner’s place for laying eggs and for night shelter. Depending on the availability of free range area and also the intensity of vegetative growth, the requirement of supplemental feed varies between 25 to 50 g/bird/day. These birds can also perform well on whole grain feeding under scavenging conditions. However, for better shell quality, shell grit or marble stone chips need to be supplemented @5-7 g / bird / day during laying period. The poultry feed should be well balanced with respect to energy, protein, minerals, vitamins, fiber and water in proper proportion. Use of feed stored for a long time should be avoided. Two feeding regimen should be followed (morning and evening) and feeders should not be filled more than 2/3rd of their capacity to avoid wastage
Health care: Controlling the incidence of diseases in the free-range and backyard chicken is a challenging task as they are exposed to adverse environmental conditions such as weather changes, poor quality feed, contaminated water and air, predators etc. Contacts between flocks of different households, and the common practice of buying and selling chicken are the important sources of disease transmission. Ranikhet disease (RD) and fowl pox are most important diseases. Vaccination against these diseases on community basis can minimize their occurrence and resultant economic losses. The schedule of vaccination depends on the varieties of the bird. However, the minimum required vaccination should be completed before they reach 6 weeks of age.
Dr. Ebibeni Ngullie
SMS, Animal Science
KVK, Dimapur
ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region
