Youxi Ma Chicken

Youxi Ma Chicken

　　【Breed Type and Origin】

　　It is an egg-meat dual-purpose breed. It is mainly distributed in Youxi, Nanping, Sha County, and Minqing in Fujian Province.

　　1 Main Characteristics Tender meat, delicious flavor, strong adaptability, stable genetic traits, and other features. The head is of moderate size. 70% have a single comb, 30% have a lychee comb, with the comb, wattles, and earlobes being bright red, and the upper beak black. The shanks and toes are black. The body is long, with a shape resembling a “boat.” Roosters have dark mottled feathers, while hens are primarily mottled. The skin is white, with occasional black-skinned or black-boned individuals. The shanks are bluish-gray, with four toes and no shank feathers. Newborn chicks have chestnut-colored down feathers, with four black down feather stripes on each side.

　　2 Conservation Methods Both conservation farms and gene banks are used. The Chongren Ma Chicken Conservation Farm carries out in-situ conservation, and the National Local Chicken Breed Gene Bank (Jiangsu) introduced the breed in 1998 for ex-situ conservation.

　　【Production Performance】

　　1 Adult Weight and Meat Production At 30 weeks old, roosters weigh 2650–2950 grams, and hens 1600–1900 grams. At 135 days old, the average semi-eviscerated rate is 83.21% for roosters and 80.34% for hens; the full eviscerated rate is 74.1% for roosters and 71.3% for hens.

　　2 Reproductive Performance The average age at first egg is 147 days. They lay 100–120 eggs. Most eggshells are beige, with a few lighter in color. The average egg weight is 40 grams. Sexual maturity occurs at 135–160 days, with a rooster-to-hen breeding ratio of 1:10–15. The average fertility rate of breeding eggs is 90%, and the average hatchability of fertile eggs is 85%.

　　【Development and Utilization】

　　The Youxi Ma Chicken is favored by consumers for its tender meat, delicious flavor, strong adaptability, and stable genetic traits. Its market price is double that of ordinary broiler chickens. Currently, the Youxi Black-Legged Ma Chicken No. 3 and the Youxi Mottled Feather Silkie Chicken have been successfully developed. These maintain the appearance and advantages of the Youxi Ma Chicken—tender meat, delicious flavor, and strong adaptability—while overcoming drawbacks such as slow growth, low egg production, and poor feed conversion.

　　Source: National Local Chicken Breed Gene Bank (Jiangsu)