Skip to main content

AVUKE OKUKO(CHICKEN)

 Nigeria is a country in Africa and well known for her rich cultural and traditional heritage and most of the animals we keep or eat are among these heritage.

In this post, Ozuluonye Emmanuel, puts together this write up about Avuke okuko based on his personal research in Obollo-Eke community of Enugu state

Ichacha cock

Ichacha or Avuke is an undocumented popular breed of indigenous chicken in Nigeria particularly among the Igbos in the southeastern part of the country
Amongst all local chicken breeds, it commands a higher price than every other breeds chiefly because in the Igbo traditional religion, it's mostly used to offer sacrifices to the deities. 
Local chicken markets in Igbo land are always in a short supply of this special breed of indigenous chicken.

Ichacha hen brooding her chicks

Characteristics of  Ichacha
• They have very short and limited feather at the wing and tail region.
• It has less feathers covering the entire body.
• Its color can be black, brown, red, white or a mixture of colours or black and white spotted.
• It  is a medium breed of indigenous chicken in Nigeria weighing between 0.85kg-2kg at maturity
• Its egg production ranges between 40-45 eggs in a year
• Its capable of hatching her fertile eggs and brooding her young ones.
• It can be reared in the extensive, semi-intensive or intensive system.

Ichacha hen
Ichacha or Avuke okuko as called by the Igbo tribes in Nigeria has a special seat among the traditional religion worshippers and can be bought at any price. It's a well known fact that Nigerian Indigenous chickens are not suitable for commercial purpose as they produce less within the year but with the high market demand of this special breed, young farmers are called upon to venture into this aspect of poultry farming as there are less competition in it.


Follow us by clicking on the 3 parallel lines at the top right corner of this page on your device

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Camborough pig breed

  Camborough   pigs are a product of a cross-breeding system known as criss-crossing- an alternated use of boars of two or more breeds on the female stock produced in a herd. This distributes good characteristics from many different breed lines involved and these are related to meat fat distribution (carcass quality), disease resistance, larger litter size and others. The animal is usually white in colour but, in rare cases, may show characteristics of particular breeds involved in the criss-crossing. Emmanuel observing our inpigs The Camborough is bred to maximize the kilograms of weaned pigs per year with excellent feed efficiency. In addition, the Camborough can be bred typically three weeks earlier than other genetics, resulting in a higher total number of piglets per sow per lifetime and lower production costs. Every pig farmer wants pigs that have rapid growth, lean carcass quality and good feed conversion ratio. Return on Investment (ROI) in pig farming is usually influ...

COMMON PROBLEMS, POSSIBLE CAUSES AND ACTIONS TO BE TAKING IN POULTRY PRODUCTION

  A.  POOR EARLY GROWTH AND LACK OF UNIFORMITY Weak pullets CAUSES 1 - Nutrition 2 - Environmental conditions 3 - Appetite 4 - Disease ACTIONS 1 - Check starter ration (availability, nutritional and physical quality), Check water supply (availability and quality) 2 - Check temperature and humidity profiles, Check day-length, Check air quality (C02, dust, minimum ventilation rate) 3 - Check poor stimulation of appetite (low proportion of birds with full crops) 4 - Post-mortem on dead chicks, take veterinary advice Healthy broilers at 5weeks B.  POOR LATE GROWTH AND UNIFORMITY Un-uniform growth in 5wks broilers   CAUSES 1 - Low nutrient intake 2 - Infectious disease 3 - Environmental conditions ACTIONS 1 - Check feed nutritional and physical quality and formulation, Check feed intake and accessibility, Excessive early restriction, Lighting program too restrictive 2 - Establish cause (post mortem), take veterinary advice 3 - Check ventilation rates, Check stocking densi...