FARMS: THE DOMESTIC CHICKEN

The chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) that we all know is a domesticated bird descended from wild roosters from India that are still free.

The chicken domestication process is very old, the first evidence of aging dates back to about 7,000 years ago.

Domestic chickens have always been bred for many purposes: to obtain meat, eggs, feathers, pets, combat or ornamentals.

The chicken is an omnivorous animal, when they live in freedom they are always looking for worms, seeds and various insects and looking for prey with their beaks, however, it is mainly granivorous, which feed on cereals such as wheat, corn, soybeans .

A peculiarity of the chicken is the fact of also ingesting the soil from which they derive important vitamins and minerals for their correct development.

Particularly important are the minerals, since they will be used for the construction of the typical limestone shell of the species.

They are gregarious animals that live in groups and that respect the hierarchy: if in the group there is a dominant cock, there are also dominant hens that see that their role predominates in the right of pecking in comparison with the others.

In the wild, the chicken can live up to 10 years, the hens reach their peak of egg production in the first year of age and then decrease and stop.

Even if they are birds, chickens are very bad aviators that can move a few meters at most, flapping their wings.

For millennia, many breeds of chickens have been created with different characteristics that make them more or less suitable for breeding, depending on the type of breeding.

Let's see the main ones.

BREEDS OF CHICKENS FOR RAW

The considerable interest in domestic chick raising has led to the birth of many selected breeds, each with specific characteristics.

If races are currently specified by the geographical origin of the same, a classification determined by the size of the chicken and the productive attitude was established over the years.

For the dimensions, we have:

• The dwarf breeds (Chabo, Beijing, Bantam de Java), of small size, reach an average weight of 0.6-0.9 kg and produce small eggs.

• Light breeds (Hamburg, Ancona, Lakenvelder, Livorno, Sicilian), with an average weight of 1.2-1.6 kg and with a poor attitude to hatching, produce white eggs.

• Moderately heavy breeds (Barnevelder, Australorp, Sussex), that is, intermediate, with an average weight of 1.8-2.4 kg, rustic and suitable for outdoor breeding, produce eggs with a colored shell, have a good position of breeding.

• Heavy breeds (Cocincina, Brahma, Jersey Giant), which due to their sedentary lifestyle can not graze.

If we divide them by production attitude, we have:

• Egg races (Livorno, Ancona, Hamburg);
  meat breeds (Jersey Giant, Valdarnese, North Holland Blue).

• Mixed breeds (New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Plymouth rock).

• Ornamental breeds (eg, Cocincina, Brahma, Phoenix and all Bantam) fight against races (eg, English Game, Wrestling Witch).

The small farmer should ideally choose native breeds, namely local or adapted poultry breeds, which show as the fundamental characteristics of the resistance, the attitude of the pastures and of a medium or slow growing, for the benefit of their health and the quality of your meat.

The local rustic breeds also have a greater resistance to outdoor life and diseases of poultry.

The choice of local breeds is necessary because small breeding must be differentiated from industrial products of lower quality.

The industries have selected highly productive cosmopolitan races with lower ecological requirements, such as lower grazing skills and less aggression among people.

In fact, chickens are social animals, but they need their individual spaces.

In open-air biological farms, these spaces are respected, while in intensive breeding animals live in small spaces where vital cycles are completely altered.

Suffice it to say that to increase production we use dark light cycles of 2 hours to force the animal to eat.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HENS, CHICKENS AND GOATS

In the eyes of the less experienced, all common terms that indicate the same species may confuse the less experienced reader.

As an agricultural entrepreneur, you will have the task of educating your clientele about the correct choice explaining what products you have to offer.

The differences in the names refer essentially to the two aspects of the animal, namely, age and sex.

CHICK

Specimens of newborns up to approximately 40 days, a period in which it is difficult, if not impossible, to determine the sex of the animal.

CHICKEN OR CHICKEN

Man of 40 days up to the age of sexual maturity that occurs around one year of age. Usually it is about 1.5 pounds of weight. In large farms, the chicken is slaughtered after approximately 6-8 months, while in the industrial farms only after 40 days.

PULLET

Feminine 40 days to sexual maturity that occurs around six months of age.

CHICKEN

Female specimen of reproductive age that lasts from six months to one year of age. The chicken becomes a chicken when it incubates fertilized eggs to generate the chicken.

ROOSTER

Where the rooster is the young rooster, the adult male is called rooster and as they say in the field, he is the king of the chicken coop, The chicken becomes a rooster after the first year of age. The capon is the castrated rooster.

HOW TO START AN OUTDOOR CHICKEN FARM

The optimal situation to manage a small farm is that of mixed activities that include fields grown with cereals, vegetables, fodder, fruit trees or small fruits, integrated with the raising of broilers, chickens and other farm animals. .

Many farms also carry out educational agricultural activities with children and adults in order to strengthen the bond with the client and future generations.

In fact, education can and must teach a model of sustainable development that is respectful of animals and the environment.

A multifunctional company has several advantages, such as reducing the cost of feeding chickens and, above all, restoring old ties between animals and the land.

The crops are, in fact, a source of nutrition supply for the animals that are raised, that produce excrement (manure), which are used for the maintenance of the organic substance of the soil, and therefore the fertility.

The ecological cycle that opens and closes within the company itself.

There are protocols to follow if you want to respect the biological cycle, such as not using chemical pesticides and respecting the number of animals per hectare,

Companies can also sign agreements with other nearby organic companies that want to buy pollen to fertilize their land.

The occupied land can be covered by simple land, pastures, shrubs and orchards to offer ample opportunities of recreation for the animal that will grow healthy and strong.

There are also rules for protected areas for the night and the refuge that must provide areas for hatching, collecting eggs and the rest of the animals.

The pasture fence is vital not only to prevent chickens from escaping, but also to protect them from predators such as wolves, foxes and weasels. Very important is the nocturnal closure of the animals in the poultry house to avoid predation.

Adequate nutrition of animals is vital to the success of the activity. In a broiler biological brood, the commercial weight of 2-2.3 kg, choosing slow and medium accretion breeds, is reached in approximately 120 days.

CHICKEN AGING: FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

I hope this article has been useful for your project to raise chickens. Writing these post are necessary for small sustainable farms instead of large industrial camps where all is respect, but the dignity of the animals.

I am not opposed to the consumption of meat, but I am absolutely against the current model of development, where profit is the only thing that matters and does not look at anything or anyone.

I do not see the reason to produce a surplus of meat in a shameful way and then throw it away because it may have expired on the shelves of a supermarket.

Promote days of the week without animal food, the reduction of consumption is necessary for us and for the environment and that little meat that we consume must be produced in small farms on lands where animals can live a peaceful life before their sacrifice.