Poultry Farming: Top Chicken Breeds in India for Egg and Meat

India has made significant progress in broiler production in the past few years. It has high quality chicks, latest equipment, vaccines and medicines. With a yearly production of 41.06 billion eggs & 1000 million broilers, India is the 4^th largest producer of eggs and 5^th largest producer of poultry broiler in the world. Broiler farming has been given significant importance in the national policy and it has a good scope for further development in the future.

Before starting poultry farming you must also know the difference between Layer and Broiler Chicken.

Benefits of Chicken/poultry farming

• The initial investment required is a quite low as compared to layer farming.

• Rearing period is six to seven weeks.

• Broilers have high feed conversion efficiency that is less amount of feed is needed for unit body weight gain compared to other livestock.

• Quick return from investment.

• Demand for poultry meat is more in comparison to Goat or sheep meat.

Classification of Poultry Breeds

Americal Class

• New Hampshire

• White Plymouth Rock

• Rhode Island Red

• Wyandote II

Mediterranean Class

They are light bodied & well developed for high egg production.

• Leghorn

• Minorca

• Ancona

English Class

They are generally utility breeds known for their excellent flushing properties.

• Australorp

• Sussex

• Orphington

Asiatic Class

They are large bodied with heavy bones feathered shanks & poor layers.

Indian breeds

• Asil (For fighting purpose)

• Kadacknath (Resh is black in colour)

Breeds of Chicken

Chickens are mainly grown for eggs & meat. Similarly, they are classified as egg-type chicken & meat-types chickens. Breeds of meat type chickens mainly include broilers, roasters, fryers & other meat type chickens. Broilers are genetically selected for quicker growth and raised for meat rather than eggs.

Native breeds of egg type chicken in India

(Source: Central Avian Research Institute)

Indigenous Chicken Breeds

The common control hen or the desi, is the best mother for hatching. Some of the Indian flows look like the Leghorn in size as well as shape, but have poor laying qualities. These birds lay family well & are more common in the eastern parts of India.

Aseel

Asil is well-known for its pugnacity, majestic gait, high stamina and persistent fighting qualities. The best specimens of the breed, though rare are found in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. Most popular varieties include peela (golden red), Nurie 89(white), kagar (black), yarkin (black and red), chitta (black and white silver), Reza (light red) and Teekar (brown)

Although poor in output, the birds of this breed are noted for their meat qualities.

Kadaknath

The real name of the breed seems to be Kalamasi that means a fowl with black flesh. But, it is popularly known as Kadaknath. The eggs are light brown in colour. A medium layer, lays around 80 eggs/year. The bird is resistant to diseases in its natural habitat in free range however is more prone to Mareks disease under intensive rearing conditions. 

(Source: Dr. Acharya, Handbook of Animal Husbandry)

If you are planning to do poultry farming then you can easily get loans from various banks including the State Bank of India. In addition, the government of different states also provide financial help in the form of subsidies to the poultry farmers.