Towards the end of the year last year, I decided to try raising some free-range chickens in our backyard here in Paranaque. I've read that free-range chicken taste like Pinoy native chickens but are softer and meatier. Instead of herding them in tight coops, these chickens are raised in the open, preferrably with grass and lots of sunshine. They are raised without antibiotics and fed with organic feeds. This accounts for the taste and the quality of the meat, as compared to standard broilers that doesn't taste that much. Setting up a fairly sized enclosure in my backyard, with some covered areas in case of rains, I decided to try my luck in raising such awesome creatures.


(brooding free-range chicks)

I started with 50 chicks and placed them in a bamboo enclosure with lamps for brooding purposes. This was good for 21 days, feeding them with prescribed chicks boosters and probiotics in their drinks. At least four chicks died, probably from stress or they were not properly vaccinated. Anyway, the rest of them were finally released to their holding pens where they got their first taste of sunshine and grass. I continued feeding them with broiler starters on top of their grass diet. Later, when I began feeding them broiler finishers, I added coco feed to their diet and corn grits, supposedly to make them more plumpier. Once in a while we would chance upon ants nests in our mango trees in the backyard and would feed them to the chickens. A feeding frenzy would them ensue as they really love to eat ants and other insects. To add more protein to their diet, I sometimes feed them with small fish like anchovies (dilis) or small shrimp. They really love them!


(ready for harvest)

We harvested the chickens at 75 days, just in time for my two kids' birthday and the Christmas season. Each chicken was around 1.8 to 2.5 kg. We had so much chicken meat during those periods that we thought we'd be sprouting wings. But it was an enjoyable experience and most of our guests were quite surprised and amazed at how these chickens look like and how they taste.


(my children, Kenji and Iya. Birthdays on Nov 6 and Nov 16
so we decided to celebrate both in a combined birthday party)

 
(The birthday party and the backyard cookfest. We slaughtered and dressed half the chickens in our backyard. The rest were reserved for Christmas and New Year.) 


(free-range chicken chili wings)


(roasted free-range chicken)

I retained one cock and two hens to see if they would breed. I've read that these are first generation chickens, meaning they are siblings, cousins, etc so they won't breed well or will have sickly chicks, etc. Well, it's worth a try. But I was truly amazed at how these critters grow. The rooster was probably 4 to 4.5 kilos now and is much bigger than a gamecock. The gamecock in the picture is a derby winner and the biggest in my stock, so these free-range chickens are really big. Even the hen is bigger than the gamecock!


(a fully-grown free-range rooster compared to a gamecock)


(The hen compared to the gamecock. See how the poor guy was intimidated?)

The next step is to get another batch of free-range chickens. This time I'll make sure that I will get genuine Solraya Sunshine Chickens as they are bred directly from authentic Sasso Chickens from France. The ones I got were not from Solraya, but still, the results I got was overwhelming. 


Peter Allan Mariano
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