Village chicken production and marketing systems in Ethiopia

The result of these studies revealed that the dominant chicken production system of the study districts was traditional type of production, using a majority of local chickens, managed mainly on scavenging with seasonal feed supplementation. The average flock size/household was ranged 1-57 birds for Bure, 1-39 birds for Fogera and 3-26 birds for Dale. The hen to cock ratio was 3.7:1 for Bure, 1:3.2 for Fogera and 1:2.2 for Dale. The average number of eggs laid/clutch by local hens was 16, 13.2 and 14.5 for Bure, Fogera and Dale districts. The number of total clutch periods/hen/year was 4 and 3.7 for Bure and Dale districts. Accordingly, the annual egg production performance of local hens is 60, 53 and 54 eggs/hen for Bure, Fogera and Dale districts. The average hatchability performance of local broody hens in Bure district was 82.6%. High hatchability performance of local hens and high mortality of young chicks were the two contradictory features for the existing village chicken production system of the study districts. Seasonal outbreaks of diseases (84.3%) and predation (11.4%) were the major causes for loss of chicks in the study areas.