How to Outsmart A Rooster (Breeding Poultry in Rural Africa)

 

Chickens at the home of a client that were vaccinated with KUKUSTAR.

Much like human beings, inbreeding can be a concern in poultry farming, especially with rural poultry farmers who only have a small number of birds to start with. For this reason, introducing new bloodlines from new roosters to the breeding process is important because although it is not as taboo as human inbreeding, the problems are still the same with poultry.

There are mixed feelings towards inbreeding in animals because although it may have negative effects if done in an uncontrolled environment, there are also positive ones when it is done systematically. Inbreeding or in this case poultry line breeding, which is the selective breeding of birds for a desired feature or characteristic by mating them within a closely related line, allows a controlled environment in which you can produce the best birds without any undesirable genes. By introducing new bloodlines to this group of birds, you would make them vulnerable to potentially harmful genes.

This type of breeding may work with big poultry breeders who have the ability to monitor this method of breeding. However, in rural Africa, such technology, information, and education is not available to poultry farmers so it would be too risky a practice. Therefore, outcrossing (where the two parents are unrelated) becomes a necessary precaution for these farmers after three to four generations of breeding these birds.

For this reason, these rural poultry farmers need to either sell off their roosters and buy new ones, or trade their roosters with neighboring farmers every one and a half years to help prevent their birds from having any problems. The more common practice has become trading their birds. Now as simple as this may sound in theory, it is far from simple when it comes to executing it. This is unless you are trading these birds with households that are several kilometers away.

Roosters (or chickens in general) are smarter than we give them credit for and believe it or not, actually have a pretty good memory and sense of direction when it comes to their homestead and coop, especially when trained. So, when trading a rooster with your neighbor, there are certain things that need to happen. The first is that the neighbor cannot live next door. The obvious reason is that when the rooster sees or hears any bird from its previous flock, it will return to this flock and its original home at the end of the day. The second thing is that the bird is taken at night so that it goes straight into roosting and does not have the freedom to wonder back by following the farmer back to his or her homestead. It also has poor vision at night. The third act is that the bird be blindfolded (although they have poor night vision this is an extra precaution) because chickens have a good hearing sense when it comes to motion and detail so it is able to trace its path back home.

In short, breeding poultry even in rural Africa is a systematic process that requires communication, organization, observation and planning even without higher levels of education (post-primary school) and complex technology. Word-of-mouth education and information, as well as a passion for farming and a keen observation of your flock, can make a top-notch poultry farmer despite having limited resources. 

Chickens feeding during the day.