Xichou Mountainous Black-Bone Chicken

Xichou Mountainous Black-Bone Chicken

　　Xichou Mountainous Black-Bone Chicken

　　Breed Description

　　Origin and Distribution: This is a dual-purpose breed for meat and medicinal use. It is mainly distributed in the karst mountainous areas characterized by karst landforms in Xichou County, Yunnan Province, where it has evolved over hundreds of years. Analysis conducted by the Testing Center of the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science of Yunnan Province revealed that the chicken’s entire body contains a well-balanced mix of over 10 types of chemical elements essential to humans, 18 kinds of amino acids, and 4 types of vitamins, making it one of the breeds with relatively high comprehensive nutritional value. It is especially rich in vitamins, particularly vitamin K (the anti-hemorrhagic vitamin), which reaches 45.91 mg per 100 grams. This effectively catalyzes the synthesis of prothrombin and thromboplastin in the liver, offering warming and nourishing benefits, and is considered a treasure in traditional Chinese medicine.

　　Physical Characteristics: The chicken has a medium body size, moderate bone structure, well-developed muscles, a symmetrical and compact body frame, with head and tail held high, giving an overall “U” shape. Its wings extend horizontally backward, feathers are tightly packed all over, gait is powerful, movements are agile, and it has strong foraging ability. The head is mostly flat-shaped and of moderate size. It has a single comb, purplish-red in color, upright, smaller at the front and larger at the back, with 6–8 comb teeth. The wattles are purplish-red, and the earlobes are purplish-red tinged with blue-green. The iris is mostly orange-red, followed by dark brown. The beak is black, and the root of the tongue is pitch-black. The shanks are black, mostly featherless, with some having feathers. The chicken has black skin, black bones, black meat, black internal organs, and black fat. Male chickens have reddish-brown feathers, with wing and tail feathers being black and having a metallic sheen, with reddish edges; female chickens mainly have yellow feathers, followed by black-and-yellow mottled feathers, with the central part of the tail feathers being black, and the edges matching the main feather color. The base feathers of both male and female chickens are grayish-yellow.

　　Breed Performance:

　　① Growth Rate and Meat Production Performance Weight: At 120 days old, males weigh 1900–2100 grams, females 1500–1600 grams; at 150 days old, males 2300–2600 grams, females 1700–2100 grams; adult males weigh 2500 grams, females 2000 grams. Feed-to-meat ratio is 3.5:1. Adult males have an average semi-eviscerated slaughter rate of 80%, females 76%; adult males have an average fully eviscerated slaughter rate of 74%, females 65%.

　　② Egg Production Performance and Reproductive Performance Female chickens start laying eggs at an average age of 155 days, laying an average of 120 eggs per year, with an average egg weight of 50 grams. The average eggshell thickness is 0.33 mm, and the average egg shape index is 1.36. Eggshells are white. Males reach sexual maturity at 105 days old. The mating ratio of males to females is 1:10. The average fertilization rate of breeding eggs is 91%, and the average hatching rate of fertilized eggs is 85%. Female chickens brood an average of 10 times per year.