In Ethiopia, chickens are widely distributed in almost every rural family, in some private chicken producers and governmental institutions like universities and agricultural research centers. Currently, because of  the  shortage  of cultivating land, lack of grazing land, rapid population growth and urbanization, unemployment of youth and high protein demand of humans, chicken has become the most   preferred   animal.  Chickens   are   also   used  as sources of meat and egg, cash income mainly for rural poor farmers and their faces as animal feed and organic fertilizer. But in rural areas of Ethiopia, smallholder farmers consider chicken production as a side line activity in addition to their main agricultural farming like cropping and other livestock production; so, the production is mainly for home consumption. Chicken meat is nutritionally rich, providing protein, fats, minerals and vitamins and can be a good source of cheap nutrition for resource poor people, the sick, malnourished and children under the age of five (Tadelle, 1996).

In Ethiopia, the chicken population is estimated to be 59.38 million, 96.9% of which consists of local breed types under individual farm household management with poor housing, feeding and veterinary service and the remaining 2.56 and 0.54% are exotic and cross breed chickens, respectively (CSA 2012). Similarly, recent sample survey is also indicating that total chicken population of the country is estimated to be 59.5 million and out of these, 90.85% are indigenous, 4.39% exotic and 4.76% crossbred chicken breeds (CSA, 2017). Though, there is huge chicken population with diversified chicken ecotypes and some improved breeds like horro, their production potential is limited because of poor husbandry practice and low emphasis given to genetic improvement of the indigenous chicken ecotypes. As a result, the country is enforced to introduce some improved exotic breeds to improve the livelihood of the rural poor farmers and koekoek is one of the introduced chicken breed with the objective to fill this gap.      

Koekoek hens lay brown egg, about 196 eggs per year with an average egg weight of 55.7g under intensive management system (Globbelaar et al., 2010). Similar egg weight and egg production of Rhode Island Red (185±8.82 and 52.5±2.83) and White leghorn chicken breeds (173±9.35 and 52.1±3.00g) are reported respectively by Lemlem and Tesfay (2010). However, egg production of the local chicken ecotypes is 48 eggs per year under extensive production system (CSA, 2017). Similarly, according to Lemlem and Tesfay (2010) report, egg production potential of local chicken is 54.3±8.25 and egg weighs 42.2±2.65 g. However, they can lay up to 100 eggs per year under improved management system (Negussie and Ogle, 1999) but it depends on the chicken ecotypes. According to Wondmeneh et al. (2016) report, improved local horro breed can produce about 171±0.57 and 149±0.88 eggs per year under on-station and on-farm performance evaluation, respectively. They also added that average egg weight for improved horro under on station performance is 52.3±0.3 g. Similarly, egg production performance of unimproved horro chicken is 66.5±2.5  eggs  per  year  under  improved  management system (Wondmeneh et al., 2016). Whereas, the improved exotic hens can produce up to 250 eggs per year with an average egg weight of 60 g (Alganesh et al., 2003). However, egg weight and egg production can be affected by the breed type and husbandry practice including feeding, watering and housing. Koekoek breed has better production performance than the improved and unimproved local chickens. Hence, introducing these exotic chicken breeds to smallholder farmers is crucial to enhance their household income.

The koekoek chicken breed is important in medium input production system or semi-scavenging production system. It is also a popular breed in South Africa and neighboring countries due to egg and meat production as well as their ability to hatch their own offspring (Grobbelaar, 2008) which has similar characteristics with Ethiopian indigenous chickens ecotypes and easily manageable at farmers level. However, their broodiness behavior is observable. Considering the above importance of the breed, it was introduced to eastern and south eastern zones of the Tigray, northern Ethiopia with objectives to evaluate their production performance and adaptability under small holder farmers’ management practice and enhance income of smallholder farmers.

Study area

This on-farm research was conducted in eastern, south eastern and Mekelle zones of the Tigray regional governmental state. Hawzien district from eastern zone, Hintalo-wejirat districts from south eastern zones and Semien district from Mekelle zones were selected and for the on-farm research. Hayellom and Megab villages from Hawzien, Fikrealem and Adiweyane villages from Hintalo-wejirat and Adikenfero village from Semien district were selected (Figure 1). All villages are categorized under the midland agro-ecology. According to EARO (2000) report, midland agroecology is categorized under the altitude of 1500 to 2500 masl. In all zones, mixed crop-livestock farming is the feature of the area and it is the main occupation and household income source. Chicken production is taken as a side line activity and its product is mainly used as home consumption.  

Selection procedures and technology beneficiaries

At the beginning, close discussion took place in the office of agriculture and rural development experts and village administrators. Farmers who were food in-secured, willing to accept a new technology, interested and had good experience in chicken production and management were selected in collaboration with experts, development agents and village administrators of the respective villages. Then after, about 54 farmers were selected from  Hayelom, Megab,   Fkirealem,   adiweyane   and   Adikenfero villages. In the first four villages, 10 farmers were selected from each village and given 20 chicks for each, whereas at Adi-kenfero village, a total of 14 farmers were selected and given 10 chicks for each. Chicks were grown at on-station till 45 days age to decrease chick mortality under farmer’s management practice. Out of the beneficiaries, 87% were female headed households and the remaining 13% were male headed households. This encourages participation of female headed households in the on-farm research and females are the main actor in traditional chicken production system in the region.

Animal management and diet

Farmers fed their chickens using locally available feed resources such as maize, wheat, waste vegetables and some well-experienced farmers start to supplement their chickens using animal byproducts such as bone meal by grinding it into small pieces and some calcium sources of feed such as sand and calcium carbonate. Chickens were vaccinated against common chicken diseases of the area such as new castle disease or locally known as fengel or kudum, fowl pox and treated against salmonella and coccidiosis diseases by the help of veterinarians of the district. Beneficiaries were given training on chicken production system and their management including feeding, housing and animal health care.

Live weight, egg weight and production

Live weight of the chickens was taken at 5, 8 and 12 months of age. Data on body weight were collected every month and included in the data analysis. Egg weight was also taken and measured using sensitive balance. Egg production was collected by enumerators in collaboration with farmers using data collection sheet.

Data collection and analysis

Data were collected by preparing checklists and the beneficiaries were interviewed on the adaptability, disease resistant, feeding habit, broody behavior, color preference and other characteristics of the breed. Measurements such as live weight, egg weights and egg production were measured and analyzed using simple descriptive and inferential statistics with the help of SPSS version 20 software.

Koekoek chicken breed is suitable for the semi-scavenging production system, tropically adapted and farmers preferred breed. It is a good scavenger and has an egg production potential of 180-240 eggs per year depending on the management practice. Average weight for male koekoek chicken is recorded as 1.33, 1.87 and 2.47 kg at five, eight and twelve months of age, respectively, and average weight for female chickens is recorded as 1.2, 1.64 and 1.59 kg of the same age with the male. It has an observable broody behavior which is preferred by the rural farmers as farmers have no artificial incubator. Though this behavior is not recommended especially in commercial production system, it is important for sustainability of the breed under traditional production system. It has attractive color, good egg and meat production, adaptive and farmer preferred breed. Therefore, this breed should be introduced into scavenging and semi-scavenging chicken production system. However, introduction of improved breed to chicken producers cannot only make them productive and  maximize   the   chicken  production  but  also,  good housing, feeding, enough veterinary service provision and capacity building to all stakeholders is critical.

The authors have not declared any conflict of interests.

The authors thank the Operational Research Technology Dissemination Project for its financial support, staff members of Tigray AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, Mekelle Agricultural Research Center and experts of Agriculture and Rural Development Office of the study areas for their moral and material support. The authors’ appreciation also goes to the local farmers for their valuable information and animal management.