Benefit-cost analysis of Rhode Island Red chicken rearing in backyard on the basis of egg production performance

Aim: The aim of the present study was to analyze of the egg production features of backyard chicken rearing with an evaluation of production cost of an egg and there by benefit-cost analysis. Materials and Methods: Study was conducted on 60000 chicken covering five different agroclimatic zones in the state West Bengal, India. Initially each farmer was provided day-old Rhode Island Red chicks, commercial ration upto pre-laying stage having CP of 17.23% and 12.32% in chick and grower mash respectively along with common management support system for backyard poultry rearing viz, separate poultry night shelter and brooding facilities, deworming and vaccination and regular health check up system, later farmers were allowed to use the supplemented feed made by the locally available resources having various crude protein content. Results: It was observed that there was no significant variation in respect of total egg production under various supplemented crude protein containing feed, whereas significantly higher egg production feature is observed in Coastal and Old Alluvial zones. Conclusion: The study concluded that more profit was occurred to those farmers who provided the supplemented feed with less crude protein content along with scavenging. This scope is more in new alluvial zone. It was also observed that profit started from 11 month onwards in each agro-climatic zone as well as in each category of supplemented feed,