Diary of a poultry farmer: Telling apart the five ‘Kienyeji’ chickens

I have written before about the challenges of meeting customer preferences for poultry products with special attributes.

Today, I’ll add that if a customer questions the value of some of your products, it’s certainly not the time to jump in with the facts. Instead, listen to them and if possible, agree to disagree.

This is what I did a week ago when Millie, a regular buyer of my chicken meat, sought to buy eggs from me.
“How much do you sell a tray of eggs?” she enquired.

“A tray goes for Sh600,” I replied.

And then she added this, “I hope they’re 100 per cent Kienyeji!”

Although I’ve always regarded my Kari Improved Kienyeji chicken breed to fit this category, I decided to prod further. “What do you mean by 100 per cent Kienyeji?”

She explained the three categories of indigenous chickens. “Improved Kienyeji like Kenbrow, exotic mixed with Kienyeji and the pure Kienyeji.”

I told her that I rear the Kari Improved Kienyeji and further stated that some people don’t regard any improved chickens as ‘Kienyeji’.

That meant Millie wasn’t going to buy my eggs. I was, therefore, surprised when she put in an order for five trays.

You see, unlike in the past, farmers who wish to rear poultry for profit now have a choice between hybrid breeds and the indigenous breeds to consider.

To make this easy, I’ve summarised in the table on the left differences between the ‘original’ Kienyeji and the four types of the so-called improved indigenous chickens.

These are Kari improved, Kuroiler, Kenbro and Rainbow Roaster.

The term ‘improved Kienyeji’ generally refers to an indigenous chicken breed obtained from natural cross-breeding between two superior breeds of Kienyeji chickens or a Kienyeji chicken and an exotic breed.

Kari improved is a pure Kienyeji bird bred from a range of indigenous chickens in Kenya with known superior characteristics like growth rate and egg production.

SUPERIOR AND UNIQUE TASTE

The famous Kuroiler originates from Kegg Farms in India and was introduced in Uganda in 2010. It has indigenous traits. Rainbow Rooster is a multi-coloured breed originating from India also. Kenbro is a Kenchic breed.

However, many people are still grappling with what exactly qualifies Kienyeji chicken.

Many readers like to refer to the free-ranged indigenous chickens that scavenge freely in the rural setting as the only ‘original’ Kienyeji chickens and even argue that it tastes different.

One asked me, “Can a bird raised under confined conditions, as opposed to free-range, and fed commercial feeds like layers mash still be considered Kienyeji?”

For the lack of a better answer, I’ve always responded to this question using this analogy: “Does eating a diet of fries, burgers and sausages as opposed to arrowroots make us less African and more Caucasian?”

As a matter of fact, experts say that unless when fed in large quantities, feeds have little effect on taste of chicken meat or egg because the hen puts the feedstuff through an effective refining process. For example, feeding chickens large quantities of fish meal or cod liver oil imparts a ‘fishy’ taste to the flesh.

On the other hand, the colour of the egg yolk depends on feeding hens a diet rich in beta carotene sources of feeds such as green leafy vegetables, alfalfa, yellow maize or sweet potatoes, not the chicken breed.

I also read somewhere that the superior and unique taste of traditionally raised farm chickens compared to the fast-growing commercial breeds is in their slow-growing genes, which confer quality attributes such as taste, culinary delicacy, correct texture and flavour.

In fact, most improved Kienyeji breeds will not be ready for the market until after five months.

As such, if you’re targeting customers interested in the taste of traditionally raised farm chickens with elongated breasts, longer legs, thinner skin, and less fat than commercial breeds, think no further.