Chishui Black-Bone Chicken

Chishui Black-Bone Chicken

The Chishui Black-Bone Chicken is a geographical indication agricultural product.

　　The Chishui Black-Bone Chicken (also known as the Chishui Bamboo Township Black-Bone Chicken) is a distinctive local poultry breed with a rich genetic foundation and relatively stable traits, developed through long-term cultivation and propagation by local people under the unique geographical environment and natural resource conditions of Chishui City, Guizhou Province. According to testing, the Chishui Black-Bone Chicken contains 3.60% glutamic acid, 1.49% alanine, 1.10% valine, 0.68% methionine, 1.93% leucine, and 1.07% isoleucine, all of which are higher than those found in other poultry breeds. It is larger in size, robust in vitality, tender and flavorful in meat, and rich in nutrition. It has significant benefits such as anti-fatigue effects, improved hypoxia tolerance, anti-aging properties, and enhanced immunity. On March 8, 2010, the Chishui Black-Bone Chicken was officially granted geographical indication product protection by the Ministry of Agriculture.

　　   The Chishui Bamboo Township Chicken is one of the province’s renowned local poultry breeds. With its exceptionally rich genetic background and outstanding desirable traits, it has attracted attention from experts and scholars and gained popularity among consumers. It holds strong production potential and development prospects for a variety of related products, and has been included as a key project in Chishui City’s national economic plan and the “11th Five-Year Plan.”

　　    1. Breed Introduction: The Chishui Bamboo Township Chicken has a long history of development. Its name originates from Chishui, known as the “Land of Nan Bamboo,” which features picturesque mountains and rivers, unique landforms, towering peaks, abundant rainfall, lush forests, and rich biodiversity. According to the “Renhuai Direct-Jurisdiction Hall Chronicles · Products Chapter · Volume Fifteen” and the “Chishui County Chronicles · Animal Husbandry Section”: “…the local premium chicken breed is named Bamboo Township Chicken, used for both meat and egg production. It is the main breed raised, characterized by a single comb, flat head, broad chest, deep body, large and plump abdomen, moderately sized feet, loose and evenly distributed feathers, predominantly black in color, with purplish-black earlobes, and mostly black beaks, legs, and claws… Among them, the black-bone chickens have both skin and bones that are black…” Originally, the breed was mainly distributed in towns such as Fuxing, Tiantai, and Wanglong. With vigorous promotion in recent years, balanced development has been achieved across all towns in the city. Some areas outside the city, such as Chongqing, Chengdu, and Guiyang, have also seen development after importing chicks from our city’s original breeding farms.

　　    Key characteristics include: a relatively large body size, single comb, flat head, broad chest, deep body, long and level back and waist, taller legs and feet, and a well-proportioned body structure. Feather colors are predominantly black and black-red, followed by mixed colors, with white being less common. Black-feathered hens are usually pure black, while black-feathered roosters often have red feather strands on their necks, backs, and sickle feathers, with jet-black tail feathers that have a dark greenish sheen. The beak, comb, wattles, earlobes, shanks, and claws are all bluish-black, with black skin and black bones. Some chickens also have black muscles, visceral membranes, and abdominal fat membranes. Newly hatched chicks weigh an average of 35g, adult roosters average 2450g, and adult hens average 2200g. The slaughter rate is as high as 66.5%–70.5%. The first egg-laying age is 170–195 days, with eggs weighing 52–58g. Eggshell colors are light brown or white, with very few being green.

　　    2. Nutritional Composition: According to the report “Investigation of Chishui Black-Bone Chicken Resources and Research on Nutritional Components” (appraisal document No. Qian Ke Jian Zi 014) by the Guizhou Academy of Sciences, the Chishui Bamboo Township Chicken contains 18 types of amino acids, totaling 36,673.38 mg/100g—more than 1.7 times that of ordinary chicken (20,153 mg/100g), including essential amino acids for humans at 14,253.98 mg/100g, over 1.5 times that of ordinary chicken (9,380 mg/100g). It also contains essential trace elements and minerals such as Zn, Mn, Ni, Cu, Cr, and Fe. Animal trials on the medicinal efficacy of the Chishui Black-Bone Chicken showed significant anti-fatigue effects, improved hypoxia tolerance, anti-aging properties, and enhanced immunity.

　　    3. Breeding Model: A mature segmented agroforestry ecological breeding technique is employed. This involves a 2–3 week closed initial rearing period at the original breeding farm for chick development and early-stage vaccination. Healthy chicks are then transferred to breeding farms (or households), where they undergo a 3–5 week adaptive period before transitioning to forest-based ecological free-range farming. This approach helps maintain the inherent quality of the Chishui Bamboo Township Chicken while shortening the breeding cycle. Additionally, a “Four Unifications” breeding approach is implemented: “unified use of feed raw materials and veterinary drugs/feed additives in strict accordance with pollution-free product production standards, unified adoption of forest-based ecological breeding models and relevant management techniques, unified disease prevention, and unified marketing organization.” The entire breeding cycle lasts approximately 15–18 weeks. Mature chickens reach weights of 2.0–3.0 kg, with breeding economic returns of about 10 yuan per bird.

　　    4. Production Status: In recent years of development, leveraging favorable natural geographical conditions and resource advantages, and through the formulation of various preferential policies and integration with multiple projects, the breeding of Chishui Bamboo Township Chicken has seen rapid growth, initially forming a specialized production and industrialized management framework. By 2007, the city’s poultry inventory centered on Bamboo Township Chicken reached 1.715 million birds, with 2.512 million birds marketed. More than 3,700 large-scale poultry farmers with annual output exceeding 100 birds, 67 poultry breeding zones with annual output surpassing 5,000 birds, and 38 breeding base villages with annual output exceeding 50,000 birds were established. Two original breeding farms for Bamboo Township Chicken chicks were built, along with four specialized cooperatives focused on the production and sales of Bamboo Township Chicken.

　　    5. Achievements: In December 2006, the Chishui Bamboo Township Chicken received pollution-free agricultural product origin certification from the provincial Department of Agriculture. In June 2005, the “Promotion and Application of Chishui Bamboo Township Black-Feather Black-Bone Chicken Production Technology” won first prize for scientific and technological achievements from the Chishui Municipal Government. In March 2004, the Guizhou Provincial Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision issued the local standard “Bamboo Township Black-Bone Chicken” (DB52/451–2004). In March 1993, the Guizhou Academy of Sciences completed the “Investigation of Chishui Black-Bone Chicken Resources and Nutritional Content Research.” In 2008, an application for geographical indication product registration with the Ministry of Agriculture was submitted.

　　    6. Application and Promotion Prospects: The research and development of a series of nutritional health food products derived from the Chishui Bamboo Township Chicken—such as black chicken nutritious noodles, black chicken floss, black chicken bone paste noodles, black chicken brain oral liquid, specialty braised black chicken wings, and chicken legs—hold excellent promotional potential. The successfully trial-produced Chishui Black-Bone Chicken Nutritious Noodles meet enterprise standards, with quality surpassing national standards. As these products enter and expand into domestic and international markets, they will yield significant economic and social benefits, contributing to the development of health foods in Guizhou Province.

　　Geographical Scope

　　The Chishui Black-Bone Chicken is distributed across seventeen towns (sub-district offices) within Chishui City’s administrative region, including: Tiantai Town, Fuxing Town, Datong Town, Wanglong Town, Hushi Town, Yuanhou Town, Guandu Town, Changqi Town, Changsha Town, Baoyuan Township, Bing’an Township, Lianghekou Township, Shibao Township, Baiyun Township, Shizhong Sub-district Office, Jinhua Sub-district Office, and Wenhua Sub-district Office. Chishui City is located on the transitional slope between the Guizhou Plateau and the Sichuan Basin, adjacent to Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality. It lies between longitude 105°36′26″–106°14′56″ and latitude 28°15′02″–28°45′58″. To the southeast it connects with Xishui, and to the southwest, north, and northwest it borders the Sichuan counties of Xuyong, Gulin, and Hejiang, covering a total area of 1,801.2 square kilometers. Elevations range from 221 m to 1,703.1 m, with a total elevation difference of 1,509.1 m. Chishui City is one of China’s ten most famous “Bamboo Towns,” with bamboo forest coverage of 1.14 million mu, orchard area of 90,000 mu, and total forest area of 2 million mu, achieving a forest coverage rate of 71.36%. In 2009, the flock size reached 4.027 million birds, with an annual output of 6,510 tons.