Composition of farmyard chicken, production practices and season effect on the reproductive parameters of local hens in the regions of Eastern Chad

Abstract This study was about the composition of the farmyard chicken, to evaluate the production practices and the reproduction performance of the hens of the Eastern Chad .The transversal retrospective survey covered 113 villages chosen at random in 12 Departments of three (3) regions (Wadi Fira, Ouaddai and Salamat). It was about 732 chicken farms with a total number of 18197 chickens. The average number per chicken farm was 25±17 chickens. The females were 62% of the total number and the males 38%. The sex ratio was 4.7 in favor of the females. The henhouses with a roof were the majority (95%) among the ones with no roof (5%). Many producers (91%) distributed the cereal ban in some troughs for the chicks and 98% of the grains were thrown straight on the floor for the young chickens and the adult ones. The average total number of the hens clutch per year was 3.6±0.7 and the average total number of eggs per hen clutch was 11.7±1.7. The yearly average production was 41±9 eggs; the average hatching rate was 86.6% and the average survival rate when chicks were two months was 60%. According to the seasons, the low reproduction performances were noted during the dry hot season (P<0.05). The loss was important after the weaning. Some practices aiming to reduce that loss would permit the numerical increase of the numbers. The characterization of the initial state of the hens production allows to evaluate the impact of the improvement and innovation practices which were introduced in the concerned regions.