Raising Kampung Chickens: Signs of a Healthy Flock
Raising Kampung Chickens
There's no denying that the way you raise kampung chickens (Indonesia's native free-range chickens) has a big impact on the quality of the birds you end up with. Raising kampung chickens well means covering a range of bases: feed quality, sanitation, housing, disease prevention and more.
Raising kampung chickens isn't exactly easy, but it isn't hard either. Some farmers even say that raising kampung chickens is fairly easy, because the birds tend to have strong immune systems and don't get sick easily. As with any other poultry, though, disease is something to watch out for and prevent as much as possible. So how do you know your kampung chicken farm is producing healthy birds? A healthy kampung chicken shows it in its physical traits. Here are some signs of a healthy kampung chicken you can see with the naked eye:
Comb
Raising kampung chickens the right way produces good-quality birds. A healthy kampung chicken has a bright red comb that stands upright rather than drooping or looking pale. Besides the comb, the wattles under a healthy bird's head are usually brightly colored, with no greenish or bluish patches.
Head
Besides the comb, you can tell a kampung chicken farm is producing healthy birds by the condition of their heads. A healthy kampung chicken always holds its head and neck fully upright. That means the bird isn't constantly tucking its head and neck under its wing or twitching as if it were having a seizure.
Also read Chicken Farming Business: A Profitable Opportunity
Eyes
A healthy kampung chicken's eyes look round, full and clear, with no lumps or scabs around them. Healthy eyes also won't look white or red, and when you hold the bird's neck (gently, not too firmly), its eyes won't close.
Feathers
A healthy kampung chicken farm produces birds with thick, neat feathers and no bald patches here and there. Feathers alone are not a reliable sign of health, though, because a bird can be perfectly healthy and still have poor-looking feathers due to low-quality feed.
Besides the examples above, you can judge the health of your kampung chickens by how they behave in the coop with the rest of the flock. Healthy kampung chickens are active and vocal, and they jostle with the other birds at feeding time as if each wanted the biggest share. Healthy kampung chickens also like to gather and move around with the other birds (they don't keep to themselves) and show curious behavior such as pecking at the coop. Feeding time tells you a lot as well. An unwell kampung chicken usually doesn't eat greedily like the others; instead it just scratches at the food under its feet, seems picky, and prefers to look for smaller, finer grains rather than the larger feed.
