A GUIDE ON HOW TO RAISE FREE-RANGE MANOK PINOY

By Manny Piñol

(Note: I was pleasantly surprised by the intense interest of many followers of this page on a post I made about raising free-range chicken. For the benefit of those who would like to learn more, I am sharing in this page a farmer’s manual to guide those who would like to get involved with poultry raising. I actually give this out to those who buy Manok Pinoy breeding materials.)

Manok Pinoy Farmer’s Manual

You are now a proud owner of Manok Pinoy, a new line of free-range backyard chicken developed and bred for Philippine conditions.

It is important that you get to know the chicken that you own now.

Manok Pinoy was developed in the Braveheart Farms in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato in 2010 in response to the growing and unfilled demand for “native” chicken for “Tinola” and BBQ or lechon.

As a farmer myself, I realized that the reason why the production of the “native” chicken for the local market was very poor was because our indigenous backyard chicken are basically mongrels or products of so many crossbreedings thus they do not have distinct characteristics.

The “native” chicken is also vulnerable to diseases, are poor egg producers, slow growers and do not carry much meat mass in their body.

Your Manok Pinoy, which is actually an improved backyard chicken breed, possesses the following traits:

1.They have shown resistance to common poultry diseases and this mainly because they were bred from indigenous Oriental fowls;

2.They grow faster, weighing as much as 800 grams to 1 kilo in 3 to 4 months, and they carry more meat in the body;

3.Each hen lays an average of 140 to 180 eggs every year;

4.They best perform when given properly formulated feeds but could also thrive on feeds commonly available in the rural areas.

The Manok Pinoy, however, is not a “Super Chicken.” They could get sick if they are properly taken care of.

Here are some pointers on how to care for your

Manok Pinoy:

-Feeds:

If you would like to produce organic eggs and organic chicken for meat, you have to rely on your own feed formulation because there is no available organic poultry feeds in the stores nowadays. Your feeds could use rice or corn bran or hammered corn which you could mix with a 10th of copra meal. You could also add dried ipil-ipil leaves or malunggay leaves up to a 10th part. You could also cook Gabi, Palawan or cassava and give these to them at noon time as their merienda. If you grow bananas, squash or coconuts, you could also give your chicken these items as supplemental food. Food left-overs would also be good for your backyard chicken. However, if these materials are not available in your area, you could just rely on the commercial feeds available in the market. Give them maintenance feeds and laying mash or pellets when the pullets are about 5 to 6 months old. Here is an important reminder: Chicken also have body clocks. So if you feed them at 7 a.m., 12 noon and 4 p.m., make sure that you observe these feeding schedules or else their egg laying, and even their health will be affected.

Water:

Never ever commit the mistake of forgetting to give water to your chicken. You will ruin your flock. Since the Manok Pinoy which you have just received had a long travel, it is best to put a little sugar in the water to prevent stress. For maintenance, squeeze Mayana, Malunggay leaves or Turmeric into the water container at least three days every week to protect them from diseases. Their water must be fresh everyday and your water container must be cleaned before you put in fresh water.

Protecting your chicken:

-Your Manok Pinoy has been immunized for NCD or Newcastle Disease and vaccinated for Fowl Pox. This is not a 100% assurance that they will not be infected. Repeat the NCD vaccination every six months or better yet consult your neighborhood veterinarian. For newly hatched chicks, vaccinate them for Fowl Pox when they are at least 15 days old and NCD at an even earlier age. These are the two most dangerous poultry diseases in the country. Be watchful of indications of diseases. Your chicken could get “sipon” when there is a drastic change of climate and the indication would be a runny nose. Get the infected chicken out of the yard and confine it. Seek help from your vet.

-Your Manok Pinoys have been dewormed but it is recommended that you deworm them every 45 days, especially so since they are in the free-range. For organic chicken raisers, use betel nut by giving your chicken 1/4 slice of the meat of the betel nut. If you grow a lot of papayas, you could just throw ripe papayas into your yards. This is a very effective natural dewormers. If these materials are not available, you could use commercial dewormers available in the market. For your chicks, use dewormers which are mixed in water. For older chicken, use the tablets or capsules.

-Your Manok Pinoy pullet will start laying eggs at about 5 to 6 months. The first indication would be when her face becomes red and she allows the cockerel to get on top of her for mating. Prepare a basket with litter, ideally rice straws or dried grass, to serve as her nest and leave her first egg in the nest so she would not wander around looking for it when she lays egg again. If you have an incubator, it is best to hatch your eggs in your incubators so that your chick production would be by batch. However, if you would like your hens to sit on the eggs, that’s your choice. The only disadvantage is she will not lay eggs for about two months. If you choose to hatch by incubator, make sure that your hen does not become broody. If she does, you could give her a bath to cool down her body temperature, pen her for about two days and set her loose again in the yard. In about two more days, she will be ready to mate again.

Caring and Rearing Chicks:

Your chicks are your earnings from your backyard chicken raising venture. But if you do not know how to take care of them, you will lose them.

-Right after they hatch, give them water with a little sugar and teach them to nibble on their food by scattering fine chick starter around them. If they are reared by the hens, make sure the hen is penned so she does not bring the chicks out of the brooder. If you are using a brooder be sure you have a heater to give them comfort especially at night. You will know if the heat is not enough when they drop their wings. Remember, chicks are very vulnerable to diseases. You have to feed them on time. Never allow them to go hungry and always make sure they have water. It is best to keep them in the brooder for a month because that is also the period the hen usually cares for her chicks.

-After a week, give them the first immunization for NCD and follow this up with Lasota on the 21st day. Your Fowl Pox vaccination should be given on the 14th or 15th day. After a month, you could already set them loose in the free range but make sure that they have an enclosed area to stay during the cold night. It is best to put rice hulls in their sleeping area to keep them warm. Before they are brought to the free-range, give them the first deworming administered through their drinking water.

-For commercial feeding, give them chick booster and then growing mass. If you choose to raise them with natural feeds, just follow the feed formulation instructions in the earlier part of this brochure.

Always be mindful of the physical appearance of your Manok Pinoy and other backyard chicken for that matter.

Here are some things to watch out for:

-A pale face could indicate worms, lack of food or lack of water. Catch the chicken and feel the body. If the body is hot, something is wrong. If the body is thin, it could be because of intestinal worms or lack of feeds and water;

-A runny and smelly nose is an indication of CRD or chronic respiratory disease. This is highly contagious. Isolate the sick chicken or better still, dispose of it.

-A green dropping (tae) and pale face are indicators of Avian Malaria. Add Pyristat in the water for five days.

-Green droppings could also be an indication of Fowl Cholera which is deadly. You must immediately apply T-Pox 48 in the water for 5 days.

-Bloodied droppings are indications of Coccidiosis. T-Pox 48 could also be effective.

The best antidote to diseases in your backyard poultry are simple hygiene and clean surroundings.

Make sure that your water containers are always cleaned everytime you change your water and the feeding troughs are not left dirty with molds.

Breeding your Manok Pinoy:

Your Manok Pinoys have leg bands of different colors. You are advised to breed them according to leg colors, meaning if the leg band of the pullet is green, breed her to the stag which also has a green leg band.

They could be bred for the next five years or until such time you notice a reduction in your hens’ egg production. That would be the time to cull them.

To avoid inbreeding, you could crossbreed the offsprings of the two yards as in the cockerel from the breeding materials with green legbands could be mated to the pullets from the red legbands, vice versa.

Make sure to mark your chicks by piercing their webs or snipping their nose cover right or left so that you will avoid the risk of mating brother to sister.

Remember, if you take care of your Manok Pinoy breeding materials, you will have a lot of chicken running around your backyard in a year’s time.

However, if you neglect them, they will not lay eggs or worse they will die.

If you have questions, please feel free to text or call me at 09167972871.

Manny Piñol

Owner and Breeder

Manok Pinoy and Braveheart Farms

Barangay Paco, Kidapawan City 9400

North Cotabato

braveheartefp@gmail.com