REARING AND RAISING FREE-RANGE CHICKEN

Let’s Talk Farming

(2nd of a Series)

By Manny Pinol

www.mannypinol.com

Cold nights could be fatal to chicks which are placed on the ground starting Day 1 and not in brooders equipped with light bulbs to give them heat.

Without the heat to keep them warm through the cold night, the chicks will drop their wings the following morning, lose their appetite and ultimately die.

There is also the danger that because of the cold night, the chicks will gather in one corner of the enclosure at night and in the process of keeping themselves warm, press or step on each other resulting in their death.

My cousin, Marvin Magbanua who is one of the best chicks raisers I know of, has devised ways of providing heat at night to incubator-hatched chicks.

First, if there is a brooding hen in the farm, the incubator hatched chicks could be “adopted” by the hen as her own chicks. Brooding hen means “naglilimlim na inahin” in Tagalog or “munga nga naghilumhom” in my Ilonggo dialect.

The technique here is to place the chicks in her brooding nest at night otherwise she will know that the chicks are not hers and she would kill them.

Up to 30 chicks could be “adopted” by the foster hen using this technique.

If there is no brooding hen available in the farm, the other option is to make sure that the chicks are gathered after feeding in the afternoon, or when it rains hard, and placed in a box with appropriate ventilation.

The individual body heat of the chicks will keep them warm through the night. It will be noticed that the following morning when they are taken out of the box, they will display their vigor by flapping their young wings.

Chicks reared early on in brooders with electric bulbs to keep them warm may be more safeguarded from health risks faced by the chicks placed on the ground on Day 1 but they will also have problems the moment they are taken out of the brooder and let loose in the field.

They also tend to develop large knees and deformed toes largely because they lack the mobility inside the brooder.

Chicks placed on the ground starting Day 1 are more agile with well-formed legs which are stretched well when they walk giving them the elegant gait.

They also do not need adjustments the moment they are brought to the open range where they will gain more weight and develop firm muscle strands which differentiate free-range chicken from the broilers which are kept in an enclosure for 45 days.

But this requires focus and hard work on the part of the chicken raiser. In the Braveheart Farms, it is I alone who decides on the mating and matching of the breeding stocks but it is my cousin, Marvin, who diligently supervises the caring and the health of the chicken in the farm.

Another cousin, Neri Pinol Sodusta, also helps out by addressing the health problems of the flock.

Raising of chicken is a 24/7 work and unless the chicken raiser is serious about his task of rearing and raising free-range chicken, it will just be an exercise in futility and a waste of time and money.

(Next installment will discuss feeding, watering and keeping the chicks healthy, the natural way.)