- By Hope G. Patricio and Jaime C. Cabarles, Jr.
ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to determine the breeding performance of Darag native chicken breeders raised under full and semi-confined conditions. Darag native chicken are characterized by a yellowish plumage with greenish gray steaks for female and the “labuyo” red for male. The treatments were laid out in a completely randomized design with unequal number of replications. The eggs per clutch, hatching percentage, and feed consumption were analyzed using the t-test while the other data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results showed that there were no significant differences (P>0.05) on the mean number of eggs per clutch and hatching percentage of chickens in full and semi-confined conditions. Birds from the full-confinement treatment had significantly (P<0.01) higher feed consumption and also had the higher fed cost. All other cost remains constant except for total feed consumed for both. Day-old-chicks coming from semi-confined birds had a production cost of P22.48 compared to P35.29 of those from full confined breeders. If the prevailing market price of day-old native chicks is P40.00, the chick from the full-confinement will have a P4.71 while P17.52 for semi-confinement.