Nghe An breeders increase rooster flocks to sell for Tet
Grasping the need for roosters for offerings at the end of the year, many chicken farms in the province have boldly invested in increasing their flocks of roosters to sell for Tet.
.jpg)
As a small-scale breeder, with a scale of only about 200-300 chickens/batch, mainly sold to villagers and communes, every year, Ms. Nguyen Thi Cuc (Phong Thinh commune, Thanh Chuong district) divides the flock into 2 batches. The first batch of the year is mainly for sale, so she prioritizes sugarcane chickens, native chickens, and free-range chickens, in which the proportion of hens is higher than that of roosters; the last batch of chickens of the year (around the 7th lunar month) has the proportion of roosters dominating 80%.
Ms. Cuc said: "At the end of the year, chickens are mainly sold for offerings and ceremonies, so people mainly order roosters. Therefore, of the 250 chickens in this flock, the proportion of hens is only about 20%, the rest are roosters."
Since mid-August, Mr. Le Hoang, owner of a chicken farm in Cao Son commune (Anh Son), has prepared the barn, disinfected it, and sterilized it of pathogens. Then, he selected 3,000 breeding roosters to raise in a semi-wild model, free-range in the garden.
Unlike meat chickens, the roosters used for offerings are the sugarcane or Lien Minh breeds, characterized by beautiful feathers, yellow legs, large red combs... suitable for the traditional criteria for choosing chickens for offerings of the people.
Mr. Hoang said that raising roosters for worship is more difficult than raising normal chickens because all the breeding stock must be roosters, so there is often fighting between roosters, damaging their feathers and combs. Therefore, the coop area must be arranged properly, with food and water always available to limit roosters from fighting each other. In return, with the same raising time, roosters weigh more than hens, and the selling price is also higher.
“At the end of the year, the demand for roosters is high, they are easy to sell and have high prices, so in this batch, the proportion of roosters is dominant, 90-100%. This batch of chickens takes longer to raise than regular meat chickens, about 4-5 months. A flock of 3,000 chickens costs about 400 million VND in investment. At the end of the year, the price of chickens for offerings fluctuates between 90,000-100,000 VND/kg, after deducting costs, the profit is about 100-120 million VND,” said Mr. Hoang.
According to Vietnamese beliefs, roosters play an extremely important role in religious life. In most religious ceremonies, there are roosters as an item, especially on holidays and festivals at the end of the year: Full moon in October, Ong Cong Ong Tao festival, New Year's Eve, Lunar New Year and then Khai ha festival, Full moon in January...
The demand increases, the price of chicken also increases during these times, therefore, in recent years, many farms and ranches in the province have boldly changed their model, from raising regular meat chickens to raising roosters at the end of the year to supply the market.
“Broiler farms are often structured according to market demand at different times of the year. At the beginning of the year, in the total flock, the proportion of hens is about 60%, roosters 40%, at the end of the year, roosters are 80-90%, hens 10-20%. In particular, we focus on beautiful chicken breeds to serve the Full Moon and New Year markets at the end of the year, which are easy to consume and have high selling prices. Therefore, our chicken breeding agency also supplies chickens according to the needs of farming households, importing beautiful roosters with good meat quality and moderate weight to supply to the people,” said Mr. Tran Van Dam - owner of a chicken breeding agency in Do Luong district.
According to the experience of the farming households, the young roosters for worship are usually the sugarcane chicken or Lien Minh chicken breed with the advantages of beautiful feathers, yellow legs, high, large and dark red combs. To have firm chickens with delicious meat, in addition to using industrial feed, it is necessary to supplement other foods such as vegetables, bran, rice, corn, etc. To have red combs, spurs, smooth feathers, and beautiful appearance, many households also supplement some herbs available in the garden such as: basil, lemongrass, ginger, perilla, and gotu kola.