Country chicken (Nattu kodi) farming

Country chicken farming, known in Telugu and Tamil as Nattu kodi rearing, is the free-range or semi-intensive husbandry of indigenous and hardy dual-purpose chicken breeds. It is the traditional poultry system of rural India and has become a commercial niche segment supplying premium meat and eggs to urban consumers.

Principle

Birds are kept either as scavengers around the homestead or in low-density runs with access to ground and shade. Diets are built largely from kitchen waste, broken grain, household leftovers, green forage and crop residues, supplemented as needed with grain or compound feed. Slower growth and lower stocking density yield darker, firmer-textured meat and tighter, dark-yolked eggs that command a 3-5x premium over commercial broiler (Broiler Chicken) prices.

Implementation

Breed choice is the central decision. Indigenous breeds such as Aseel and Kadaknath are kept for traditional markets. Improved dual-purpose germplasm developed by ICAR-Directorate of Poultry Research, Hyderabad — Vanaraja, Gramapriya and Srinidhi — is distributed through Krishi Vigyan Kendras and self-help groups under the Rural Backyard Poultry Development programme. Bangladesh-origin Sonali (Sonali Breed) is increasingly used as a fast-growing semi-intensive crossbreed. Birds reach 1-1.5 kg in five to six months and lay 100-160 eggs per year — far behind a commercial layer (Layer Chicken Bv 380) but on substantially less input.

Semi-intensive units add a low-cost night shelter, basic brooding for day-old chicks (Brooding Chicks) and a small concentrate ration during the first few weeks, then release birds to the run. Litter or earthen floors are common; deep-litter management (Deep Litter System) is used in larger night sheds.

Adoption context

Country chicken farming sits across two markets: a traditional homestead segment producing meat and eggs for household consumption with little cash flow, and a peri-urban segment built around restaurants and direct-to-consumer brands paying premium prices for slower-grown birds. Self-mixed feed (Self Mixed Poultry Feed) is common in the semi-intensive segment to keep costs manageable on a six-month grow-out.

Limitations

Predation, exposure and Newcastle-disease outbreaks are the main loss drivers in free-range systems. Productivity per bird is low and individual record-keeping is impractical, which limits scalability beyond a few hundred birds without converting effectively to a semi-intensive open-sided shed model (Open Poultry Shed).

References

Layer Strains and Suppliers. vikaspedia agriculture portal.