Poultry farmers in the East Africa environs who choose to forego grade chicken have a choice between pure and improved kienyeji breeds.
Pure and improved kienyeji poultry breeds are popular around East Africa. While the pure kienyeji is more or less indigenous to the region, improved kienyeji breeds are also purposely bred for the region.
In this article, we will attempt to figure out which is the best between pure and improved kienyeji breeds. In a previous article, we’ve compared 5 improved kienyeji breeds.
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Characteristics of pure and improved kienyeji breeds
Pure kienyeji
Not much is known about pure kienyeji breed; whence it came to East Africa and when. At least, we at Kukufarm do not know. If you do, please share that info with us in the comments section below.
Furthermore, we know even less about the productivity of pure kienyeji chicken. In our experience, no 2 articles or even farmers give the same info about the productivity of pure kienyeji. Needless to say, there is a lot of guesswork going around.
For instance, there are no benchmarks about their egg production cycle. Particularly, their egg production rate and peak egg production. From our research, pure kienyeji chicken can have a 48% egg production rate.
What we known about pure kienyeji and what makes them ideal for farmers in East Africa is their :
- High resistance to disease
- Resilience to survive solely on foraging
- Unique flavour which makes their produce a local delicacy
- Produce quality superiority, especially if raised in extensive poultry systems
Improved kienyeji
As we done already seen, improved kienyeji are an interbred of kienyeji chicken and other poultry breeds. The 5 improved kienyeji breeds have originally been developed in India, Kenya and France.
Better productivity characteristics
Basically, improved kienyeji breeds were developed as breeds that would have the upsides of pure kienyeji breeds. Importantly still, improved kienyeji were purposely developed to have better productivity. However, we do not know what poultry breeds or strains were interbred with the pure Kienyeji to derive improved kienyeji. Nonetheless, improved kienyeji were developed to have
- Faster growth
- Higher weight at maturity
- Earlier start of egg production
- Better egg production rate
Comparison of pure and improved kienyeji
Now comes the interesting part where we do a comparison between pure and improved kienyeji breeds. As we’ve already noted, there are no published performance benchmarks of these breeds.
However, if you farming any of the kienyeji breeds, take matters into your own hands; start measuring the performance of your flocks. We’ve built Kukufarm poultry management app for this very purpose.
Nonetheless, we’ve aggregated information from different sources for the purpose of this article. The following is a comparison of pure vs. improved kienyeji on at 5 key performance indicators.
Moreover, note that this comparison assumes optimal poultry farming conditions for all breeds.
Feeding
Generally, improved kienyeji chicken have a higher feeding rate than their pure kienyeji counterparts. Since they mature faster and have higher weight gain, it is only natural to expect them to have a higher feeding rate across the board.
For our small kienyeji flock we use both grade layers and kienyeji mash feeds at a 1:1 ratio for better health and improved egg production rate.
For best outcomes, all kienyeji breeds require sufficient and nutritious feeding. Firstly for to achieve a healthy flock and secondly, to achieve known productivity performance benchmarks.
Disease resistance and hardiness
Another key difference between pure and improved kienyeji breeds is disease resistance. In general, pure kienyeji are more disease resistant and hardier than improved kienyeji.
However, for best out comes we recommend proper feeding and flock management for all breeds. Improper flock management, poor or insufficient feeding will result to diseased chicken even in pure kienyeji. Important still, in order to achieve maturity and productivity benchmarks, proper feeding has to be done from day 1.
Insufficient and poor feeding will result to stunted growth, poor health and poor yields across all kienyeji breeds.
Brooding
With flock management conditions being optimal, pure kienyeji chicken are very good brooders. On the contrary, of the 5 improved kienyeji breeds, only 2 brood: Sasso and Kari.
Maturity and weight
Improved kienyeji chicken generally achieve maturity earlier than pure kienyeji. Furthermore, improved kienyeji far outweigh their pure counterparts. For instance while an improved kienyeji rooster can weigh 3.5kgs or even more at maturity, a pure kienyeji may only weigh 2kgs.
Egg production
From a 30 day study, we’ve shown that pure kienyeji chicken can have a 48% rate. This translates to 150 – 180 per year. Furthermore, we think this number can be higher if proper flock management such as better feeds and poultry system can be applied. Effectively, kienyeji chicken have the following egg production rate benchmarks:
- Pure kienyeji: 150 – 180*
- Pure kienyeji Kuroiler: 150 – 200
- Kenbro: 240 – 300
- Sasso: 200 – 250
- Kari: 180 – 240
- Rainbow: 240 – 300
*Based on Kukufarm’s research data
The main difference between pure and improved kienyeji in regard to egg production is the start. Since improved kienyeji mature earlier, they are apt to start egg production earlier – week 20 – 30 – than pure kienyeji; week 24 – 32.
As of this writing we do not good data on when all these breeds stop laying eggs.
Lifespan
Lastly but not least is the comparison of life expectancy. It is not a particularly important indicator especially if you are a commercial farmers since you will be looking to sell your chicken as soon as they come of age.
However, some poultry breeds are known to become very good at brooding as they age. It is our assumption that this may apply to pure kienyeji chicken. As a result it would be good to know their life expectancy and how long they maintain their excellent egg-sitting characteristics.
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