Major Constraints and Health Management of Village Poultry Production in Ethiopia: Review School of Veterinary Medicine, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia

Village chicken production in Ethiopia is generally characterized by little inputs for housing, feeding (scavenging is the only source of diet) and health care with high level of mortality.In most area of the country chicken owners do not properly examine their chicken and they do not vaccinate their chicken.Critical constraints for village poultry production in Ethiopia were identified as: diseases and predators, lack of proper health care, feed source and poor marketing information.Among diseases, Newcastle Disease (NCD) (locally called "fengil") was identified as a major and economically important health constraint that hinders the expansion of village chicken production in the country.Replacement of indigenous chickens by exotic chicken breeds is also a major threat in eroding and dilution of the indigenous genetic resources.Although local consumers generally prefer egg and meat from indigenous breed rather than that of hybrid and exotic breed, the price of chicken products varied between months of the year and was determined by a number of driving factors in the country.Some of these determinant factors affecting prices of chicken products in the country identified as: demand and supply of chicken products, market day types (holyday versus ordinary market days) and fasting seasons.Demand and supply of chicken products were highly related with religious festivals, mainly Christian festivals.