Organically Feed Chickens ,Anyone? By Quirico M. Gorpido,Jr.

Maasin City, Southern Leyte-Majority of us nowadays are being feed with inorganicallyfeed chickens locally known as bantres that raisers put in cages and feed with chemically-laden processed feeds. Some of them according to information gathered were injected with growth hormones in order to gain more weight in just less than 2 months. However, medical articles published in several health magazines always reminded us and advised us to prefer eating natural foods than processed foods. To prefer eating organicallyfeed chickens than chickens feed with processed packed feeds Yet we wonder why both fastfood firms and their chicken suppliers continue feeding us with chickens that feed with processed feeds. Is it difficult for them to change the feeds of their chickens for public consumption to organic feeds? Feeds that are derived from nature or natural plants that is endemically plentiful in our country? Both fastfood owners and the chicken suppliers who have the needed funds to purchase a huge lot for conversion into farms, where they could plant vegetables, fruit trees, rootcrops, legumes and other edible plants can readily shift to natural organic feeds for their chickens, minus the injection of growth hormones. My suggestion on the change of processed feeds to organic feeds can also readily be done among chicken suppliers if they have much concern for the welfare and health of their hundreds and thousands of customers/buyers. By doing this in good faith, we are certain that some chicken-eating people who prefer to eat chickens feed with organic feeds, minus the injection of growth hormones, will start entering fastfood restaurants and patronizing their businesses. Proof that my idea is doably applicable. Here is a businessman from one of the Pacific towns in Southern Leyte province who do what other food chain operators and chicken suppliers must also do for the good welfare of their customers. Purchased lot of about 2 hectares in brgy. Cat-iwing, Hinundayan, was named by Mario Bagalay as Natures Farm. Fenced with barb wires, it was divided into three components. One half hectare is devoted for raising chickens. The two other components were planted to 1,500 Robusta coffee seedlings in 2009 and 1,000 rubber trees in 2010 on the other side of the lot. I have raised 1,500 imported chickens from France, Mario Bagalay says during an interview, But the eggs were hatched in Manila. The one-day old chicks were shipped to me via the Tacloban airport.

The chicks named Superior F1 are of three types, he says, the meat type(for cooking), the inasal type(for roosting) and the layer type(for laying eggs).He says he only bought the 2 types, minus the layer, that can come later on as his business progresses. Mario states in details the kind of feeds he uses for the chicks. The first 14 days he feeds them with starter. From 14 to 21 days old he uses chick booster. Twenty one days old and up he starts feeding them with organic feeds. The natural foods that he uses as feeds are corn, rice, cassava, camote, banana (carnava type) and grated coconut meat. He says he cooks all of these natural foods for easy digestion and avoidance of potential parasites if given raw to the chickens. After all are cooked and mixed wells, it will be allowed to cool down before feeding it to the chickens, he says. He is not buying the natural feeds that are also mains food, but planted it in his farm. In case some of the chickens would be suffering from diarrhea, he would give them juice extract from cooked guava leaves and nothing else. For cold treatment, he says, he will be using carabo leaves, bamboo leaves and tangad leaves. He will cook it for several minutes to extract its juice. It will be served to the cold victims after cooling it. How many teaspoonfuls a day for each sick chicken, he did not divulge. Mario says he usually feed his chickens from two to three times daily, maintaining the same kind of organic feeds throughout the year, adding nothing from their diet. In his farm he also installs some heaters that are essential to provide heat to his fowls, particularly during cold days and cold nights. Some 10 light bulbs of higher watts are likewise being installed for lighting the chickens in his brooder house. Without lights, the chickens will be very noisy, he says. Heaters are also important to neutralize the surrounding coldness, particularly at night. If theres an abrupt power outage, there is a ready standby petrocylene to provide substitute light until electricity will be restored. While most chicken raisers who feed their livestock with inorganic processed feeds and injecting them with growth hormones to gain more weight and added profit, Mario Bagalay whose facial feature remain unchanged as when he was one of the contractors to DENRs reforestation project during the Cory Aquino Administration and I as a DENR-PENRO worker, reveals that he gives his chickens maintenance vitamins/deworming from natural plants. These are composed of pepper (sili), garlic, union bulbs, ginger (luy-a) and molasses. He says he chops it into small pieces and allows it to ferment for 7 days. The fermented juice is then given to his chickens on a daily basis. Like the native chickens, Marios chickens are also free to roam around inside the almost 2-hectare lot. His chickens achieved similar

meat texture and taste akin to that of the native chickens that are naturally feed on organic plants around the vicinity. He reminds yours truly and the businessmen as well that although he avoid the unnatural way of adding more weight to his chickens by the use of growth hormones injection, what is most important for him is to provide chicken eaters in the province with organically feed fowls that are devoid of chemical or drug injections. Instead, he makes use of what are naturally available foods in the environment, which is what our bodies really need for good health. Never mind the additional funds to get additional profit needed to buy those drugs for chickens and growth hormones for its unnatural growth. Bagalay further discloses that meat type chickens take 60 days or 2 months to have a one kilo weight. The inasal type will take 80 days or 2 months and 20 days to reach a weight of 1.5 kilos. This is in contrast to bantres chickens that are feed with inorganic feeds and injected with growth hormones to gain more weight than it should naturally be, if feed only with organic feeds. But Mario has a noble reason: he just allows his chickens to achieve its natural growth as dictated by Mother Nature. Our interviewee has now started selling his chickens individually in Hinunangan, Hinundayan, Anahawan, in a restaurant in Bato, Leyte and here at Kinamot Sa Abgao Restaurant (tel. no. (053)381-3878). The health-conscious businessman has also started harvesting his Robusta coffee that bears fruits after one year and 6 months period. Upon bearing fruits, he says, a farmer or planter can start harvesting the matured fruits almost daily by selection His Robusta coffee seedlings were part of Congressman Roger Mercados livelihood project several years back distributed to farmers in different municipalities of the province including Maasin city to provide support and additional income for the farmers respective families. Harvested matured Robusta coffee seeds from the planters that were sun-dried shall be brought by bulks to Robusta coffee manufacturing in Davao City by Nestle, Philippines, Inc. This is one of the stipulations stated in the Memorandum of Agreement between Nestle, Philippines, the farmers and Congressman Mercado. He says his 1,000 rubber trees planted in 2010 can produce latex extract after a minimum of 6 years. Asked if rubber trees could thrive in Southern Leyte, he says he thinks so as can be seen from the kind of growth his newly-planted rubber trees seedlings in Hinundayan has achieved. As for his organically feed chickens, his easy to apply method is practically adaptable by other businessmen in the province who want to venture in chicken raising, and strictly feeding them with organic foods, organic medicines and organic vitamins/deworming.

We are optimistically hopeful that other business-minded men or investors will follow suit Bagalays novel idea so that our fastfood restaurants here and in the neighboring provinces of region 8(Leyte and Samar) will be shifting soon to buy and to patronize organically feed chickens for the health benefits and wellness of their countless customers. For more information about Mario Bagalays organically feed Superior F1 pasteurized chickens call mobile phone numbers 0927-493-6516; 0927-572-3799. Email address: mariobagalay@yahoo.com.(Quirico M. Gorpido,Jr.)