Ho chicken breed: Morpho-biometric characteristics and Economic efficiency of production

In order to evaluate the economic efficiency and production status of Ho chicken, this survey was carried out on 34 households raising Ho chickens in Thuan Thanh district, Bac Ninh province, from December 2012 to April 2013. Morpho-biometric characteristics were measured on 181 individuals (46 cocks and 135 hens) according to FAO standards. The results show that Ho chicken herd size is very limited, with 30.78 chickens per household. Average age at the first laying is rather late (7.42 months) with 11.97 eggs in a laying cycle and 76.32% of hatchability rate. These numbers are low because Ho chickens are heavy and clumsy, and therefore could easily step on and break their eggs. The body weight of a cock is 3.79 kg at 9 months while the hen weight is 2.63kg at 12 months. The body length, neck length, back length, thigh length of cock are significantly higher than those of hens (P<0.05). Production of these chickens does not require much initial investment costs. In these costs, buy breed and chicken housing are the most important in the fixed costs. The average annual expense to operate Ho chicken production reaches 12.16 million VND (565.58 USD) while the average annual revenue is 30.85 million VND (1443 USD).