WANTING to grow the much-in-demand native chicken, but literally ‘chickened’ on the expensive price of feeds?
Worry no more as the Bohol Upland Farmers Federation of Cooperatives Incorporated (BUFFCI) is getting to that.
Now dangling a contract growing system of fattening native chicken, the group has been known to assure between P40 to P70 per had for every chicken fattened in two months, using their own manufactured native chicken feeds, said Provincial Veterinarian Dr Stella Marie Lapiz.
The group promises a month old hardened chicken to grow between 800 grams to 1.3 kilos in two months time, some could even reach 1.6 kilos, shared a native chicken contract growing adopter in an interview.
His secret, supplement the feeds with indigofera or madre de agua and some left-over vegetable peels.
Composed of nearly 20 farmers cooperatives and into native chicken growing, BUFFCI, now assisted by the government through the Provincial Veterinarians Office has secured an equipment that can grind for them native feeds suited for the organically grown native chicken they are producing.
Housed at their nursery in Cambacay Batuan, is a facility that can mix corn grits with pollard, copra meal, bananas, crops and other protein requirements for a native chicken to be truly called organically grown.
The mixture is also added shredded legumes like madre de agua, indigofera or azolla, which also heaps up on the nutrients needed for the fast growth of the organically grown chicken.
Adding proteins and legumes in the chicken feed is very crucial, says
According to Dr. Stella Marie Lapiz, Provincial veterinarian, the organically produced feeds costs between P18 to P20 a kilo compared to the P33 to P36 for commercially produced feeds in the market.
Besides, BUFFCI is also into a native chicken nursery in its facility in Cambacay, where a select strain of the Boholano native chicken is bred after natural selection, shares Dr. Meydallyn Paman, who oversees the ongoing experiments performed at the BUFFCI farm and nursery.
Set with strict biosecurity measures, the facility collects from member organizations the needed supplies for milling the feeds: corn kernels, rice bran, pollard, copra meal, madre de agua or indigofera, azolla, kitchen refuse especially vegetable peelings and there are mixed with effective microorganism activated solution (EMAS) and molasses to be fermented for two weeks before being fed to the chicken.
A month-old bred and hardened chicken is then let out of the nursery to native chicken growers for fattening, and BUFFCI is giving the feed requirement for the 2 months of chicken fattening, adds Geronedes Bugahod, who with wife Nenita, takes care of the facility that has over a thousand breeders.
The facility also lets out technical assistance in building ones chicken house to make sure this allows for the correct space needed by the chicken to fully grow and exercise for that unique meat most people seek.
For those interested to get into native chicken contract growing, visit the Office of the Provincial Veterinarian for more details. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)
