Scenario of Backyard Chickens Rearing System with Production Performances in Selected Areas of Chittagong District of Bangladesh

Abstract

The present study was carried out to investigate backyard chickens production systems in three subdistricts- Banskhali, Patia and Anowara, under the district of Chittagong, Bangladesh. About 75 households were selected from these areas. Fifteen villages from three Thana (5 villages from each) and 5 households per village were taken as selected area. Feeding systems and availability of feed for raising chickens and production performance of semi-scavenging chickens were evaluated. Information was collected from the farmers through a questionnaire. The study revealed that the highest number (25) of chickens per farm was found with large farmers, while the lowest (5) was found with landless farmers. Stratified Simple random sampling technique was followed to collect data. The highest number of chickens was available at the farm household during April-June, 2011 (summer) and that was the lowest during July-September, 2011. Highest number (85) of eggs per bird was found during January-March, 2012, while the lowest (45) was during July-September, 2011.

About 55% of the farmers of Patia used mixed feed, but in Banskhali only 40% of farmers fed mixed feed to their chickens & the rest was either paddy or wheat alone or a mixture of both. The hatchability rate was 89% in Patia, 88.5% in Anowara, but in Banskhali it was only 85%. The results were highly significant (p=.0000). The per year egg production in Patia was 68, 72 in Anowara and 75 in Banskhali which were highly significant (P values= 0.0000, 0.0000 and 0.0000 respectively) compared to the standard egg production value per year cited in Bangladesh Poultry Model, DLS, 2000.