Boosting egg production in villages

 By FRED BESARI

VILLAGE chickens are reared in traditional ways with minimal external input; the birds scavenge freely around the homestead, gardens and perch everywhere around the village. 

That’s why meat and egg production from these birds is very low; they take several months to attain mature body weight. 

Annual egg production by hens is as low as 77 eggs, compared to the expected annual egg production of 240–260 from high-producer commercial Hy-line Brown hens. 

This is of course not a fair comparison because the latter are specifically bred and managed for maximum egg production and profitability in large commercial farms, whereas the village chickens literally fend for themselves. Regardless, can egg production from village chickens be increased? Without doubt, it can.

The National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), in collaboration with the Papua New Guinea University of Technology, has just completed comparative experiments conducted at Domil, in Jiwaka, and Boana, in Morobe, that compared egg production by village chickens, exotic layer hens and their crosses. These were maintained under farmer management with basic improvements in housing and standard feeding of commercial layer pellets. 

During the eight-week observation period, village hens achieved average egg production of about 40 per cent, compared to 62 per cent for Commercial Hy-Line hens and 76 per cent for their crosses. 

These figures are equivalent to projected annual production of 146 eggs for village chickens, 226 eggs for Commercial Hy-Lines and 277 for their crosses. 

Therefore, if proper feeding and housing are provided egg production by village chickens can be doubled. 

Average feed intake per day during the same period was 124 grams for village chickens, 148g for crosses and 141g for commercial Hy-Lines and average egg weight was 46g for village chickens, 58g for crosses and 70g for commercial Hy-lines. Commercial layer pellets are nutritionally balanced and intended for commercial layer chicken. The retail price of layer pellets has more than doubled over the past decade. 

The same experiment tested the effectiveness of a locally formulated layer diet with similar nutrient profile but using mostly local feed ingredients. 

On this local lower cost diet, egg production declined for all genotypes, to 76 per cent of the level achieved on standard commercial layer pellet for village chickens, 74 per cent for crossbred hens and 68 per cent commercial Hy-Lines, indicating that village chicken can perform well on locally made layer feeds as well. This collaborative research project has two lower cost chicken feeding options that can be used to raise village chicken for market oriented egg production.  

The first option involves blen­ding a custom-designed Layer Concentrate with either sweet potato or cassava at the right ratio, so as to produce final balanced rations that constitute as much as 50 per cent by dry weight of either sweet potato or cassava tubers. 

When these energy sources are brought straight from the garden the farmers can significantly reduce the total feed cost, apart from adding value to what is abundantly available during the harvest season. 

Two types of this concentrate are being tested. The High Energy Layer Concentrate (HELC) goes well with boiled and mashed sweet potato tubers with the wet weight blending ratio of 1:2.2. Similarly, the Low Energy Layer Concentrate (LELC) is blended well with boiled and mashed cassava tubers in the wet mixing ratio of 1:2. Sweet potato should be cleaned thoroughly and cassava skins need to be peeled off before boiling and mashing. 

Both concentrates are currently produced for NARI by Niugini Tablebirds and distributed by NARI and preparations are under way to commercialise the concentrates and distribute them through retail outlets.

The second lower cost feeding option looks at producing the concentrates in small mini feed mills run by private firms or cooperatives, using locally available feed resources as possible. 

These can blend the concentrates produced at big feed mills with floors of sweet potato and cassava to make complete diets. 

Six such mini mills with different socio economic settings are being assessed for this option.

The potential of village chickens as an important contributor to the domestic chicken egg market is yet to be recognised and exploited. 

Unlike improved commercial chicken breeds, village chickens can be easily and cheaply acquired because: 

• Village chickens are already in the hands of many smallholder farmers, and are self-reproducing at household level without being dependent on external inputs. The hens can sit on their eggs and hatch them;
• interventions required to increase production are expected to be within the means of smallholder farmers using locally available resources,  and,
• Smallholder farmers may al­ready be familiar with improved layer chicken husbandry practices that they need to adopt in order to raise the level of production. 

The same recommended housing and feeding, ventilation, brooding, and other practices applicable to layer chicken can be easily adapted to manage village chickens for increased production.