Chickens:
Containment vs. Free Range
By: Tim VW
Description and Rationale
It is believed that the chicken that dwells in with the common person is descended of a “Red jungle fowl” that lives all over the Philippines. These chickens can be found almost anywhere in rural areas and many times can be seen scrounging for food along the road and in the dirt. It is an important part of the Philippines because it is such a common thing. Even some of the poorest find the money to buy and raise a chicken to feed their family.
The chicken has a very large impact on people of the Philippines. They may not realize it however because it is such a common thing to see. Are chickens beneficial to the people of the Philippines? Is it something that has been used wisely to help the poor to give them a cheep way to give them and their children the nutrition that they need? Do the people who keep these chickens realize the importance that these chickens have on them? But is the chicken affecting the poor making them poorer than they already are? Are they worth the money it costs to purchase the chickens to raise? Are these chickens giving them the proper protein that they need for healthy nutrition? Are these chickens picking up diseases and giving passing them on through their meat.
Is there a way to make sure that chickens are getting the food that they need. Is there a way to harness the chicken’s waste putting them to good use? Would chicken dung be good fertilizer to help poor people grow vegetables? Is there a way to help chickens grow faster and healthier? Are the Filipinos who have these chickens utilizing this valuable resource? Is there some cheep way to feed chickens instead of letting them scrounge for food themselves? Would this prove to give you healthier chickens? Is there a cheap way to give these chickens shelter from the natural catastrophes that the Philippines throws at it’s people. What would be the best way to tell the people of the Philippines how to raise their chickens in a new way that would be beneficial to them?
My first priority is to research the way that chickens are housed and taken careful in the villages surrounding Faith Academy. I will then be using those finding to think of new ways to change the thinking of chickens. From there I will see other ways that the waste of the chicken will be utilized. I will also research a way to cheaply feed these chickens accommodating to the people who are less fortunate than us.
I hope to find a way to take care of chickens that can benefit the Filipino in other ways than just the meat of the chicken. I hope to find a way to feed them with other foods such as vegetables.
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Biology
Common Names and Synonyms
Gallus domesticus is most commonly known as the chicken. However, its ancestors came from what was known as the Red Jungle Fowl. It was called this because the male is colored a bright red. The Gallus has been domesticated, giving its name. However there are still other local names for it which include: Manuk (Philippines), Poulet (France), and Pollo (Spain).
Classification
Kingdom: Animailia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves ( Birds)
Order: Galliformes ( Medium size birds)
Family: Phasianidae (Jungle Fowl)
Genus: Gallus ( Pheasants)
Species: G. domesticus ( Domesticated)
Morphology and Physical Description
The fowl is a medium-sized bird. When full grown, it averages about 15 inches long and 12 inches tall. (However, this is an average because the female is much shorter and fatter than the male. The cock (male) has a flap of red skin hanging from its neck right below the beak and the other on top of its head. The cock also has feathers that make a cape on its back. This cape usually consists of orange, gold, and bronze colors. The male also has what seems to be a black tail, but on closer examination is filled with dark greens and purples. The hen (female) usually is colored to blend into the enviroment in order to protect her chicks.
The male chicken is known for the mating calls that it makes. These are both to call female chickens and also to warn other males that there is a male chicken ( rooster) who is ready to fight if need be. The male is given an interesting feature for this purpose. On both of its feet there is one talon that is longer than the other two giving it the ability to cut open a predator or another male chicken wanting his hen or a predator. (What is very interesting about this call is that they have very specific calls for certain things such as ground or air predators.)
Both male and female birds have wings. These wings hardly serve the ability of flight. They are mearly used to get away from ground predators by flying up to a branch in a tree. Besides those very short flights, these birds are unable to fly.
Getting Food
Chickens are herbivores and insectivores. This means that chickens eat a variety of foods. They eat worms and other insects and; they also eat things such as corn, soybeans, grass and seeds. The chickens taste buds cannot distinguish sweet tastes. One thing they don’t like is salt, and can detect it easily.
Reproduction
The chickens mating process is like any other animals. The Rooster must raise its tail feathers uncovering its sex organs. It gets on the Hens back and inserts it organs into hers releasing a liquid which then fertilizes the egg.
The chicken is an animal that lays its egg and then incubates it by means of its own body.This means that the male fertilizes the female and then the female lays the egg and, for 21 days, protects that egg until it is fully developed and hatches. The embryo rapidly developes in the egg.
The chicks will start their lives in the warmth of the summer sun. An egg is laid each day. For twenty-one days before hatching, the chick will develop inside of the egg. On the first day, the heart and blood vessels of the chick develop and start to work. At the end of the first day, the head starts to take shape. By the fourth day, all organs of the future chick are present. On the fifth day, external sex structure developed. By the thirteenth day, the skeleton begins to calcify using the calcium from the eggshell. From the time when the egg is laid until hatching, the chick feeds on the yolk that surrounds him. The yolk penetrate in the chick body by the umbilicus. On the twenty-first day, the chick, now fully developed, starts to break through his thin shell. This action can take anywhere from ten to twenty hours. (Gautier)
Environmental Factors
The chicken has adapted to most enviroments in the world. Almost anywhere in the world, chickens are raised for meat or eggs.
Chickens are a great source of food. But they can carry many diseases that are harmful for those that eat it. E coli and Avian influenza are examples of diseases carried by chickens.
Chickens are also susceptible to many kinds of diseases. A few of these include: Histomoniasis, Fowl Cholera, Fowl Pox, Fowl Typhoid, Gapeworm, Infectious Bronchitis, Necrotic Enteritis and Toxoplasmosis. Many other parasites, fungi, bacteria and viruses plague the chicken community.
Origin and Distribution
The chicken ( G. domesticus) is thought to have come down from the Red Jungle Fowl which is from several South East Asian countries. Even in the Philippines the Red Jungle Fowl is still found in many places. What we know as the chicken is the domesticated Red Jungle Fowl. It has been moved all over the globe and populates many countries.
Importance to People
The importance of chickens is unmeasurable. Millions, possibly even billions of people from all walks of life eat of this food. From the poorest to the richest. All enjoy this wonderful food that can be prepared in so many ways by so many cultures. From curry to fried, from boiled to strips, from hot and spicy to mild and bland. Each culture has adapted to the chicken making it their own delacacy.
In the Philippines many of the chickens are free range. People just let them feed themselves so that they are cheap and do not require any work to harvest the meat.
Chickens meat can give us many needed nutrients for normal day life. They give us much needed protein. The eggs of a chicken are also high in chicken and are an affordable way to get the protein that our body needs.
“Eggs are an important source of protein, essential vitamins and minerals and can make a significant contribution to a healthy diet.” (Eggs and Nutrition)
The manure of a chicken is also used to fertilize plants. But prior to putting it on plants it must be composted. It is much to concentrated and will burn any plant that it comes in contact with. But if it is composted it is an excellent fertilizer because it is high in N-P-K (Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium).
Some interesting facts about chicken Consumption…
1. 32.2 billion pounds of chicken was produced in the U.S. (2002)
2. World Chicken populations: (2000, AMI)
China - 3.6 billion
US - 1.7 billion
Indonesia - 1 billion
3. Per Capita consuption of chickens in the US in 2003 was 81.5 lbs. (Ehler)
Survivability and Endangered Status
The chicken has adapted to almost all climates on earth. All over the world chickens are raised all over the world. Because the chicken is domesticated it is no danger of going extinct. It is very common to see chickens in many counteries.
The chickens really have no competition besides the diseases that they face. Disease is the number one enemy for chickens in the Philippines. One other possible enemy that chickens have in the Philippines is humans themselves. Chickens roam freely which also means that it would not be unlikely to run over a chicken with your vehicle. But with these few factors the chicken has no chance of becoming extinct unless there was a large epidemic that plagued the chicken population.
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Potential Solutions
The Philippines is struggling to grow economically and are lacking a lot. But one thing the Philippines does have is chickens.. This concept has made it to many chicken farms, but not to the ordinary house hold. They do not realize the benefit of spending a little money and reaping the harvest. Chickens here in the Philippines at the average home there are chickens. These chickens are known as free ranging. This means that they wander around the house or village in search of food. Because the family usually does not have enough money to buy feed they let them wander. This way they find there own food and are free to keep and take virtually no time or effort to raise at all. But what I propose is to confine the chickens. That way you can regulate what they eat, not letting them pick up diseases that could prohibit growth. A small containment could consist of a small amount of chicken wire rapped around a small frame. This way the chicken could be a more substantial source of protein that the Filipino people desperately need.
Possibility 1
The reason that the Chickens we see running around all skinny and sickly is because they are using more energy than what they can find. This causes them not to grow because all that they eat is used for the search for food. But what I propose is to confine the chickens. That way you can regulate what they eat, not letting them pick up diseases that could prohibit growth. A small containment could consist of a small amount of chicken wire rapped around a small frame. This way the chicken could be a more substantial source of protein that the Filipino people desperately need.
Advantages
1.By containing chickens they use less energy which is normally used up on finding food. This helps in the growth of chickens. This way you get a faster growing chicken that is much larger. Also because they are not scavenging they have less of a chance of picking up diseases that stunt growth or cause problems with reproduction.
2.Lastly by keeping chickens contained you can choose which ones to mate this way you can pick the biggest healthiest chicken and mate it with another large hen giving you the best chance of having another healthy, large and strong chicken.
Disadvantages
1.The biggest disadvantage for the Filipino people buying into this concept and using it is simply, money. The people who own these chickens are extremely poor people, not able to afford anything. All these things that make it possible to contain chicken cost money. It costs to buy the chicken wire, it costs to buy feed. One cultural problem that the Philippines face is that they do not look to the future. They only look at what benefits them now. They do not do things that will benefit them soon. They look for easy money. So in knowing that this takes money to feed the chickens and only later do they profit it is hard to convince the average Filipino that this will actually work.
2.These free range chickens are in the most remote parts of the Philippines. There is no way that the message could be spread to a fraction of them easily. And some resources such as feed are not available to those that live out in the province. Also even though there is still minimal work involved, things still must be done such as composting the manure to make it suitable for plants and also the feeding of the chickens and the building of the containing method.
Possibility 2
The next way that chickens could help the Filipino people is by using its dung. Chicken manure is a very high source of nitrogen which is very important for vegetables. By keeping the chicken manure you can grow more vegetables which would be an excellent source of minerals and vitimans for kids who suffer from mal-nutrition.
Advantages
1.Chicken manure is a free way of fertilizing plants. A lot of people do not have the money to buy fertilizers to help grow vegetables. This way Filipinos can start their own small gardens which can help feed their children.
2.This is also a good thing for children to work on. It gives them the opportunity to work instead of sitting idol. This gives them the work ethic and basis of living and working for what you get in the world.
3.Chicken manure is very high in nitrogen and is very concentrated, which makes it a very excellent fertilizer for those plants that are very leafy such as vegetables. It is also a way to get rid of the wastes that are excreted from chickens. If composted right the smell of manure is also not present.
Disadvantages
1.It takes a lot of work to get chicken manure. It is easy if the chickens are contained otherwise it is an almost impossible task. Chicken manure is also extremely smelly to start with and is a hassle to work with.
2.Chicken manure is to concentrated which means that when it comes in contact with some plants it kills them. Chicken manure must be composted which means even more work. It must be collected put into a box full of leaves and set there for several days. This also takes work and possibly money to produce the means of composting the manure.
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Bibliography
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