Village Chicken Production and Management Practices in Barishal, Bangladesh

Village chickens are an important source of income and protein for village people in Bangladesh, like in many other developing countries. Since the productivity of the chickens is low, their production might be improved through better management practices. In this regard, village chicken production and management practices were investigated to know the present status and its limitations. We selected 150 farmers from 3 Upazilas (Babuganj, Bakerganj, and Barishal Sadar) in the Barishal district and collected information in a structured questionnaire and through observations. The results show that the village chicken production system was extensive with a low amount of supplemental feed. 87.34% of farmers provided supplement feed to their chickens once or twice a day, while the rest of the farmers did not provide any supplement feed. All of the farmers had a poultry shelter to keep their chickens at night, but we found the shelters to be almost dirty. They were reluctant to clean the shelter, as only 14.67% of farmers cleaned the shelters once a month, while the others did not. Chickens of multiple age groups were kept in the same shelter without maintaining biosecurity. As a preventive measure, 58.67% of farmers vaccinated their chickens, primarily for Newcastle disease. They did not maintain a vaccination schedule. Only 15.33% and 4% of farmers practiced deworming and external parasite control, respectively. For the mating of chickens, the farmers did not select males and females. Though the village chickens seem to be reared and consumed by chicken owners, only 32.87% of chicken products were consumed by chicken owners, and the rest were sold at village markets. Under these circumstances, it can be stated that the low productivity of village chickens could be due to lack of adequate nutrition, unhealthy housing, disease outbreaks, unplanned mating, and improper management practices. The practices of dietary supplements, providing healthy housing, ensuring a vaccination schedule, mating with good partners, and good management practices could improve the productivity of village chickens in Bangladesh.