Gawad Kalinga Enchanted Farm free-range meat-type flock

My second visit to check on Gawad Kalinga's free-range flock turned out to be a pleasant one. There are still no mortalities (all 102 of them) and the rice hull litter i requested to be placed inside the brooder was dry and doing its job to keep the chicks warm and absorb moisture from their droppings. One thing i noticed though was the chicks were a bit not uniformed in size, i immediately checked the feeders and found out the number of feeders were insufficient for the size of the flock. Also checked their crops or "butse" and expectedly found out that some have feeds while others have none. Insufficient feeder space will lead to chicks scrambling for food and competing for feeder space. Eventually, uneven feed distribution among the flock will lead to some chicks not able to feed causing runting and obvious disparity in size. If feeding space is not corrected, size difference will further be more pronounced as bigger chicks will continue to "outbox" smaller chicks leading them to grow larger while the smaller chicks who gets deprived of feed, will continue to have a stunted growth. 

litter and chicks both dry and doing good!

I will be visiting the farm again next week and hopefully feeder space has already been corrected and addressed. Gawad Kalinga is also constructing new ranging buildings and ranging areas for their additional flocks and I will be looking forward to continue to assist them and provide technical information about raising their free-range chickens! Will just keep you posted for updates on their flock :)

two-week old chicks curious about their outside environment. They will be  feeling  the outdoors in a weeks time!

very alert and healthy chicks :)

curious about the camera that's why they are straining their necks for a better view

one of the additional ranging houses built by the farm

existing ranging house for their current native chicken flocks

Guest speaker at Sir Nelson Lubao's radio program SikaPinoy!

Yesterday, I was guest speaker of DZMM's SikaPinoy hosted by Mr. Nelson Lubao. It is an entrepreneural show that gives ideas to Filipinos who wants to engage in small to medium-sized businesses. The radio program was aired from 8-9AM every Sunday and was also broadcasted live in DZMM's teleradyo. I got a taste of what it is to be like to be "celebrity" when a make up artist came to me and applied powdery stuff on my face before the show. It was just too rare of an opportunity to pass up for a photo so i asked my companion to take a photo of me while make up was applied on my face :) I was a bit uneasy at first since it was my first time to do an interview one-on-one. But Sir Nelson immediately put me at ease and I was off and away discussing free-range chickens with him and all of the listeners. This part of our company's responsibility to raise awareness among Filipinos about the presence, advantages, and benefits of free-range chicken.

I was very happy to know that a lot of our countrymen were interested in free-range chicken production as i was peppered with text messages after i announced my mobile number on air. Inquiries came in as far as tawi-tawi in the south and Ilocos Norte in the north. We will hopefully do more of these kind of interviews to educate and raise awareness among us, Filipinos about the basics of free-range chicken production.

Bounty Fresh Food Inc. is a proud partner of Gawad Kalinga!

Last Sunday, October 2, 2011, Gawad Kalinga together with Bounty Fresh Food Inc, other corporations, LGU's, governement officials, visitors, and volunteers officially launched the Gawad Kalinga Enchanted Farm at Brgy Encanto Angat, Bulacan. The day was truly blessed as fair weather prevailed despite typhoon Quiel showering the area the day before the event. Headed by our president, Mr. Tennyson Chen, we will be working with Gawad Kalinga on several projects like production of free-range chicken meat and eggs and production of honey as well. We will be providing them the initial stocks and provide technical assistance for the production of meat, eggs, and honey.

This is part of Bounty Fresh's commitment to give back something to the community following it's success in the industry. Bounty Fresh donated a flock of free-range chickens to be grown by the staff of Gawad Kalinga for whatever purpose it may serve them. I will personally visit the farm to check on the growth of the chicks. Bounty Fresh will be looking forward to a long and productive partnership with Gawad Kalinga in helping eradicate poverty in the Philippines!

Agrilink 2011 free-range chicken seminar

Good day everyone. I am very happy to announce that we will have another seminar for free-range chicken production this coming October 7, 2011 from 3:30-5:30 in the afternoon at the World Trade Center. Basics of free-range chicken production will be discussed as well as other topics related to free-range chicken.

a piece of advice...

When raising free-range chickens, please keep in mind that these chickens really do forage for food. If you have any plants or areas you wish the chickens would leave alone, protect these plants/areas by putting barriers that prevent the chicken from getting near the plants or area. Bounty Fresh Free-range chickens innately/naturally wants to forage and will do so instinctively without any regard as long as they have access to the plant or area. So if you don't want to incur the wrath of your mom because your chickens ate her plants or the chickens ruined a patch of ground because  they were dust bathing, better keep them away from it :) now, i have some explaining to do to my landlady why some of her sweet tamarind seedlings are devoid of leaves...uh oh...

poultry show 2011

The three days at The Poultry Show and Gamefowl Congress was energy-sapping but at the same time worth every calorie exhausted. Exhibits always excite me because that is the time that you have a chance to showcase your product or services to people and convince them that you are offering a very good product. This year's poultry show was no different from other exhibits i attended. Lots of people asking you left and right about free-range chickens that you can never avoid missing out answering some of the questions asked. This year, our booth were comprised by the Bounty Fresh Group namely Inoza, Bounty Farms (our commercial white layers), Bounty Fresh contract growing department, and Bounty Fresh Free-range Chicken. The same with last year, we installed a fenced area showing off older free-range chickens and a brooder cage containing our free-range day-old chicks. AND the same with last year and other exhibits, i almost always encounter one of the biggest stumbling block for free-range chicken production here in our country: misinformation/wrong information about the free-range chickens. People would always say Kabir or SASSO...i have been tempted too many times to just give in and call our product the same as what was mentioned but the free-range industry does not need anymore of that. It will be a long and hard process to change what most people know about free-range meat type chickens (please refer to my previous blog What really is SASSO? Kabir? Breaking the wrong information) but with perseverance and determination, we might just achieve the situation where people are well-informed. Remember, knowledge is power. with the right information, you can make a  better and sound judgement and have a higher chance of making the right decision. Rest assured, Bounty Fresh Free-range Chicken will be a constant presence at exhibits to tirelessly provide the right information for the betterment of the free-range chicken industry here in our country. And with an open mind and right attitude, customers, suppliers, dealers, and everyone involved in the industry can put it on the right track faster.

Thank you everyone!

I would like to thank everyone who came and visited our booth during the Philippine Poultry Show and Gamefowl Congress last September 6-8, 2011 and to all that attended our seminar with Dr. Erwin Cruz last September 9. We will be looking forward seeing you again at the Agrilink 2011 from October 6-8, 2011! :)