Present status of rearing backyard poultry in selected areas of Mymensingh district

Abstract

This study was conducted in Boyra and Sutiakhali villages under Sadar upazila of Mymensingh district to know the present status of backyard poultry production system. The survey data were collected from 40 randomly selected farmers having 20 from each village by interviewing them. The data were then analyzed statistically. All the selected farmers reared deshi chicken and about 54% of them reared deshi duck only. It was also found that highest proportion (75%) of farmers reared both chicken and duck together, followed by 17.5% reared only chicken and 7.5% reared chicken, duck and pigeon at a time. The average population per household of chicken, duck and pigeon were 10.4, 9.95 and 4.0, respectively, in both villages. All farmers reared poultry in semi-scavenging system. About 55% farmers kept poultry in their dwelling house. Farmers were used boiled rice, rice polish, paddy and broken rice to fed the birds. About 62% farmers were used rice and rice polish to make diet for chicken and ducks. Farmers provided around 49g and 108g supplemental diet to each chicken and duck per day, respectively and about 65% farmers provided this diet twice a day. Majority of farmers did not use feeder and waterer (about 75% and 87.5% respectively). Age at sexual maturity of Chicken and duck were around 189 days and 195 days, respectively. Adult weight of chicken and duck were 1192.5g and 1690g, respectively. The weights of chicken and duck eggs were 39.02 and 62.5g, respectively. The hatchability of chicken and duck eggs ranged between 69-80% and 76-90% with an average of 75.97 and 83%, respectively. Majority of the farmers mentioned that the most prevalent diseases of chicken and duck were New castle and cholera (about 51% and 49%, respectively). A large number of farmers (86%) did not vaccinate their poultry. Mortality of chicken and duck were calculated about 28% and 20%, respectively. Farmers collected chicks and ducklings from market and neighbor but most of the farmers (50% for chicks and 43% for ducks) incubate eggs under the broody hen. It was concluded that backyard poultry farmers are low producers and chicken and duck were found to be the most common poultry species reared by the farmers.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjas.v43i1.19382 Bang. J. Anim. Sci. 2014. 43 (1): 30-37

Comparative Performances of Improved Poultry Breeds under Intensive Condition in Murshidabad District of West Bengal, India

“…Haringhata Black was the fastest (173 days) to reach sexual maturity among four breeds and that was found to be similar to that of local non-descript hens of Bangladesh as reported by Alam et al, (2014). The differences in attaining sexual maturity might be due to the genetic differences among the four groups of birds.…”

“…Hens from Haringhata Black breed showed slowest growth that is common in indigenous lines. Hassen et al, (2006) and Alam et al, (2014) reported similar slow growth pattern of adult non-descript local hens in Ethiopia and Bangladesh respectively. Thakur et al, (2006) suggested that famous Kadaknath breed reared under tribal villages in central India exhibited similar growth pattern like Haringhata Black breed.…”

Biosecurity Strategies for Backyard Poultry: A Controlled Way for Safe Food Production

“…In another study in Ethiopia, a lower average flock size (4.1) was detected (Sambo et al, 2015). In other countries, such as in Bangladesh and Belgium, the mean flock size of small holdings of poultry was observed to be less than 11 (Alam et al, 2014;Van Steenwinkel et al, 2011). In a study in some districts of West Bengal (India), such as Jalpaiguri, Dinajpur, West Medinipur, Howrah, and South 24 Parganas, the average flock size was observed as 20-25 (Samanta et al, 2014b).…”

“…In Bangladesh, most of the farmers (55%) keep the birds within their houses, and others keep them in a coop in the front yard. The coop is made of soil or wood and it has a tin shade (Alam et al, 2014;Sultana et al, 2012a). The majority of the farmers prefer to keep the birds on a wooden perch constructed inside their own houses in Ethiopia (Yemane et al, 2013).…”

Raising Backyard Poultry in Rural Bangladesh: Financial and Nutritional Benefits, but Persistent Risky Practices

“…The remarkably low cost of backyard poultry raising drives this high return on investment. Half of the households did not have poultry shed and the other half spent very small amount as backyard poultry sheds in Bangladesh are usually made of locally available materials, such as clay, mud brick, bamboo, broken tin, straw or wood (Sumy et al., ; Alam et al., ). Investment for feed was also minimal, since poultry scavenged freely for feed.…”