Indigenous Chicken Production Manual

Abstract

Indigenous chicken farming has been described variously as backyard poultry rearing, rural poultry production or scavenging. For our purpose, any flock of chicken that are kept under free-range management and on which no selection of breeds or improvement by crossbreeding has been done is considered as a flock of indigenous chicken. Indigenous chicken lay between 8 and 15 eggs per clutch depending on availability of feed. They are broody and hatch about 80% of the eggs they sit on. They attain 2-3 clutches in a year.