Abstract

The study was conducted in two identified taluks in Thrissur district, to assess the management practices of backyard poultry production systems. In housing poultry, intensive and semi-intensive system was followed by majority of respondents, in Chalakudy and Mukundapuram taluks with flock size of less than five birds. The poultry owners raised indigenous breeds of poultry birds including Kadaknath, Naked Neck, Aseel, Tellicherry and cross breeds such as Gramasree and Gramalekshmi. The majority of respondents in Mukundapuram (64 per cent) and Chalakudy taluks (36 per cent) reared flock size of less than five birds respectively. Medium flock size of 6–10 birds were maintained in both taluks (28 per cent). Mukundapuram (36 per cent) progressed in rearing large flock size (>10 birds) but Chalakudy (8 per cent) maintained only less number of flock size. Bird shelters with wooden floors were 52 and 64 per cent, poultry houses with wire mesh floors were 44 and 32 per cent, whereas chicken coops with a concrete floor were only four per cent in the Chalakudy and Mukundapuram taluks, respectively. In feeding, majority of respondents provided homemade feed, left over feed, bran, broken grains along with scavenging with a few commercial feedings. The farmers chose the feed ingredients based on past performance, local accessibility and price and fed in the morning and evening without any supplements in feed.

Keywords : Backyard poultry, management practices, housing, feeding and healthcare