Breed selection

The choice of breed or strain must take into account the capacity of the birds to adapt to local conditions, their vitality, and their resistance to disease. In addition, breeds or strains should be selected to avoid specific diseases or health problems, which may be associated with some strains developed for intensive production. 

In an integrated production system the choice or selection of breed may not be a decision which the farmer has to take inasmuch as the processor or the retailer may have already made that choice. The independent farmer however is in a different position so an understanding of the choices is important, and likewise the integrated farmer is better informed if the reasons for selection are understood. 

If the live-weight for the market into which the birds are to be supplied is significantly higher it may be possible to rear only the females of these breeds to the required age of 81 days, but it needs to be remembered that the unit price of such a product may be outside the economic expectations of the average consumer. This is less of an issue if the meat is to be sold as portions when the unit cost can be broken down into smaller parts, but here again the relative value of the white meat against dark meat has to be considered. 

If it is not possible to use the readily available commercial breeds the farmer may be able to look for the speciality breeds supplied by companies such as Hubbard/ISA who have developed several breeds of chicken especially for the specialised market. Examples of strains from Hubbard/ISA are the Redbro, which is already used in the free-range and traditional free-range markets in the UK, and the Red JA. With these breeds live-weight expectations are lower. The published figures in the Hubbard/ISA manual refer to an as hatched population of Redbro achieving 2.209 kg at 56 days of age compared with a bird bred by Cobb or Ross weighing in the region of 3.3 kg at the same age. 

No breedstock company projects the live-weight of its birds to 81 days of age, which is required by the organic standards. If we project a live-weight gain of between 50 and 75 g per day, and for the sake of the calculation we use 58 gper day, we arrive at an 81-day 

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Long-term (beyond Non-chemical Breeding/selection Organic varieties... 

Alternative systems pay the farmers at the end of the crop on a live-weight basis, usually pence per kilo over a weighbridge, and debit from this payment the cost of the feed and chicks. As with the previous system, it does away with the need for working capital, which can be considerable, bearing in mind the cost of the feed, the poor food conversions and the age of kill. For example, to rear 1000 chickens on food at 300 per tonne, food conversion at 3 1 and a live-weight of 3 kg results in a food bill alone of 2700. On top of this is the cost of the chicks which will very much depend on the breed selected but will certainly be a further 500- 600. 

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