4 Best Breeds of Rural Chickens for Egg and Meat Production

The chickens mentioned below can be raised either as rural chickens or used for crossbreeding. There are many breeds of chickens around the world. Not all breeds are raised commercially. Although chickens are found in almost all countries, they are generally divided into the following four categories:

1. American Class: Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island Red, New Hampshire, Wyandotte, etc.
2. Mediterranean category: Leghorn, White Minorca, Ancona, etc.
3. British class: Astralop, White Cornish, Arpingto, etc.
4. Asian class: Sakini, Gwarakhuile, Pwankhaulte, Langsang, Brahma, Cochi, etc.

There is confusion among our country’s poultry farmers, who are limited to local, broiler, layer, and some other chickens. Therefore, we will focus more on the foreign and local chickens that have been developed from these categories and are found in our country.

What are the local breeds of poultry?

1. Sakini
2. Naked Neck Chicken
3. Frizzle Chicken
4. Red Junglefowl ( Gallus gallus )

Although production data is available for all of the above chickens, the Red Junglefowl has not been studied much. When it comes to average production, Sakini, Naked Neck Chicken, and Frizzle Chicken produce about 60 to 70 eggs per year. All these breeds have the nature of nesting and brooding chicks. Among these, the Frizzle Chicken is even smaller than the Sakini and the Naked Neck Chicken.

Numerically, Sakini chickens are the most numerous chicken breed found throughout the country. Sakini chickens start laying eggs after five to six months of age. Depending on the conditions, they usually hatch chicks three to four times a year. In adulthood, the weight of the males is two to two and a half kilograms, while the weight of the females is one and a half kilograms. When left alone, their weight is only half a kilogram on average, even up to the age of eight weeks.

As for the Frizzle Chicken, the weight of the males does not exceed two kilograms even in adulthood. All local breeds of chickens have a high ability to fight diseases. They can be raised in the wild. Therefore, they can be raised for both meat and eggs. Of these, the Naked Neck Chicken and Sakini are found everywhere, but the number of Naked Neck Chickens is gradually decreasing.

The Frizzle Chicken is found in greater numbers in some districts of the Terai. Its number is still decreasing at a high rate. Despite differences in body color and shape, chickens like the Frizzle Chicken and necked neck chickens are also found in other countries. Generally, the weight of these chickens is slightly more than that of our country’s chickens.

Not only in meat production, but the size and weight of the eggs of local chickens are slightly smaller than those of others. For example, the size of the eggs of Sakini, necked neck, and Frizzle chickens is only 40 to 45 grams. While the weight of other layer chickens is 50 to 60 grams. However, the eggs of local chickens are tasty. If all the eggs laid by these chickens are male and of good quality, they will hatch chicks at a rate of 80 to 85 percent.

Local chickens become adults only after 25 weeks. After laying 15-20 eggs at a time (clutch size), they will lay and raise chicks, and then lay eggs again and nest again after two to three months, which is why the average egg production of these chickens is said to be no more than 60-70 eggs. However, during research conducted by our country’s Agricultural Research Council, scientists involved in an informal conversation said that Sakini chickens raised in an intensive system are producing more than one hundred eggs annually.

This means that if selection, proper nutrition, and other management can be arranged, the average productivity of these chickens can definitely be increased. Local Sakini chickens with good nest management can also be seen raising 16-17 chicks in our villages.

In our country, the local chickens mentioned are being bred with each other indiscriminately, so it is not possible to be sure that they are purebred. For example, sometimes when a Sakini hen sitting in a nest hatches chicks, split-necked Neck chicks have also been seen. A similar situation can also be seen in a flock of chicks with split-necked Neck chickens.

The reason for this is that either the hens themselves were infected with a cock of the Sakini breed while going to pasture, or some generation of their mother or father had a part of that breed, which manifested itself in the later generations. Although it is generally found that there are no reproductive problems in local chickens that are bred with each other, it is beneficial to keep these breeds as purebred as possible.

No significant difference in production and productivity is found when these three breeds are bred with each other. Due to the lack of studies and research on this, it is not possible to say anything definitive about their interbreeding.

Other rural chickens and their general characteristics

Other rural chickens are considered to be pure breeds that have not been prepared at various stages of crossing, such as layers and broilers, but have been introduced into Nepal through local and selection processes in their respective countries, such as New Hampshire, Rhode Island Red, Australorp, Arpington, Minorca, White Cornish, etc. Although these breeds are weaker than broilers and layers in terms of productivity, they have a sweeter taste.

They have the ability to fight disease and grow even under poor management. These breeds are also very competitive in terms of production capacity, grazing capacity, production cost, geography, and ease of management. For this reason, they can be raised as rural chickens. That is, these chickens can also be raised semi-intensively or intensively. The price and demand for chicken meat and eggs of all these breeds are very high. Its market is also very secure. The productivity of all the breeds mentioned is significantly higher than that of our local Sakini, Frizzle Chicken, and Naked Neck Chicken breeds.

Among the mentioned chickens, the number of New Hampshire and Australorp breeds of chickens is significant in our country compared to other chickens. Therefore, it has been practically proven in some areas of our country that these chickens can be raised commercially without breeding or by crossing them with our local breeds of Other chickens.

It is noteworthy that although the tendency to brood in purebred chickens of New Hampshire and Australop breeds is low, the cross females born after crossing with local breeds of chickens do brood.