Assessment of Chicken Production under Farmers Management Condition in East Gojam Zone, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia

The survey was conducted in Eastern Gojjam Zone of Amhara regional state, North Ethiopia from January to June, 2013 to generate base line information on chicken production under farmer’s management condition. Of total, 83% of respondents practiced free ranging type chicken production system with conditional feed supplementation and frequent water supply. Despite the largest concern was given for female households, males also involved in chicken management activities aiming for household consumption and income generation. The mean flock size per household was found to be 13 and 5 for local and crossbred chickens, respectively. Almost all farmers in the tested districts provided night shelter for their chickens, and majority (91%) of them have experience of culling undesired chicken from the flock. From this study, the mean number of eggs laid was 18 eggs per/hen/clutch. Most chicken keepers in the study area had experience of selecting and incubating eggs for hatching using broody hens as a sole means of natural incubation. The average number of eggs set for incubation was 13 per broody hen, from which relatively fair number (83%) of chicks were hatched and 67% were grown well. Seasonal disease outbreak (100%) followed by predators (89%) was considered the largest threat to chicken production. Moreover, traditional management (83%), limitation of improved breed availability and lack of extension and chicken health services (86.7%) were the major constraints of chicken production in the study area. Therefore, holistic extension services such as applying breed and management improvement methods, besides to supplying chicken health service strategies are highly recommended in the study area for further improvement of chicken production under farmer’s management condition