NAMAKKAL: Hatcheries in the Namakkal Poultry Zone have started producing the layer chicks once again following the rising demand.

The industry, hit hardly by the Bird Flu scare, had stopped procuring the chicks since January this year. Alarmed at the steep fall in the consumption of eggs and broiler chicken and export hiccups, the industry people had to pull all tricks to "pamper" the market by hosting "eggs and chicken melas" in various towns.

Limping back to normalcy now, the industry has also started looking up. "With liberal subsidies and financial support and effective counter measures to tackle the Bird Flu situation, the Centre has helped us to overcome the trauma as quickly as possible," says a leading farmer here. But still the industry has incurred losses that ran to crore of rupees

As the market conditions looking buoyant, the farmers who remain reluctant to add new chicks to the existing stock till last week, have started procuring the fresh ones.

Leading hatcheries, which have the "Parents' stocks", have started churning out layer chicks. Namakkal has nearly 3.25 crore commercial birds.

The hatcheries, which possess the Parents' stocks, have started producing the chicks for commercial sale. Dr. P. Selvaraj, the Managing Director, Selvam Broilers (P) Ltd says that all the available commercial birds are strain cross of the "white leghorn" for layers and "breed cross" for broiler birds.

He says Venkateswara Hatcheries is having the "pure lines" for both layers and broiler birds. It produces Great Grand Parents, Great Parents and Parents and from whom the commercial chicks are being produced. To produce Great Grandparents, it requires 16 lines and to produce Grandparents it requires 8 lines. It requires 4 lines for Parents and 2 lines, i.e., a female and a male for producing commercial chicks all through "hatching of eggs".

Each "line" denotes the birds' breed with its specific characters like egg production, body weight, diseases resistance, colour, egg weight, feed conversion ratio, etc.

Dr. Selvaraj, also the Chairman of the Namakkal Egg Co-ordination Committee (NECC) points out that layer farms will maintain only female chicks for egg production.

"Here eggs can be produced without males. But for fertile eggs, one needs male chicks," he adds.

He says the industry has turned around now after surviving the Bird flu crisis.

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