The present study was conducted to document the rearing practices of village chicken production in the Northern midlands, agro-ecological zone comprising Kannur and Kozhikode districts of Kerala state, India. Data was generated from 65 and 63 chicken farming families of Kozhikode and Kannur districts respectively. The system of chicken rearing is extensive, with the provision of shelter only during the night. The birds are being managed mostly by women (89.06%). The decision on the sale of birds and eggs is made by women and the proceeds of sales go directly to them. It was found that as many as 43.75% of the chicken farmers in these areas have no other animal husbandry activities. The average flock size is 5.62 birds. Natural incubation using locally available materials as a nest box and sand as the nesting material is the common practice. The average number of eggs set under the broody hen for hatching is 10.41. Chicken coops are placed at an average distance of 5.45m from the house and elevated 0.39 m from the ground. The average floor area of the coops is 0.757 m 2 and the night shelter provided per bird is 830.39 cm 2 . The walls and floor of the coops are made of wood and the roof with tiles or thatch in most of cases. Rice grain is commonly fed as supplementary feed with mostly no specific timing in feeding. Farmers depend on an array of herbs rather than chemotherapeutic agents and vaccines for the treatment and control of diseases. Most of the surplus males (59.38%) are discarded before one year of age, whereas females are less commonly culled (21.87%). The average culling age of males and females was 11.05 and 36.64 months, respectively. It was discovered that as high as 52.15% of the eggs and 59.38% of the cockerels produced are consumed in the

An experiment was conducted at the University Poultry and Duck Farm, Mannuthy, Kerala to study the effect of individual selection on growth and carcass characteristics in Kuttanad ducks. One thousand and eighty-eight day-old Kuttanad ducklings procured from progressive farmers of Kerala formed the base generation (S0). Based on body weight at eighth week, top 150 females and 25 males were selected through individual selection. From the 25 sire families, 979, 969 and 1610 ducklings were produced by artificial insemination in S1, S2 and S3 generation in pedigreed hatches. Body weight was recorded at fortnightly intervals till 12th week of age and at 18th and 40th week of age in each generation. Carcass characteristics were evaluated at 8, 10 and 12 weeks of age in four generations. An improvement of 270.51 g could be recorded at 8 weeks in S3 generation. The period of active weight gain shifted to 4th and 6th week in S3 generation whereas it was 8th week in the previous generations. The results also indicated that a compensatory growth mechanism is present in ducks and they attain 90 per cent of the adult body weight by 12 weeks of age. The carcass characteristics showed that there was improvement in the dressing percentage over generations and S3 generation attained the highest yield at 8 weeks. Hence, selection for body weight at 8 weeks was effective in improving the body weight and they could attain its optimum meat production characteristics at 8 weeks and hence it could be considered as the ideal age for processing.

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