Kuroiler – Source of protein for the family

Krishna Kayal (28 years) lives with her husband Joydeep (36 years) and sons Vivek (7 years) and Bikram (2 ½ years). She belongs to a Hindu nuclear family that separated from the joint family four years ago. Krishna’s father-in-law presented them with a house that they live in as their share of inheritance. The house is made of cement and bricks and is on the main road. There is no open area around it. The family does not own land, kitchen garden or fish pond.

Joydeep Kayal is electrician by profession and runs his business from the shop which is part of the house facing the road. The capital for investment in the electrical shop came through the loan taken after pledging Krishna’s gold bangles and earrings which were part of her dowry. He earns about Rs 2000/- a month. The family faces food shortages during monsoons when his work as electrician comes to a standstill. Krishna Kayal suffers from low blood pressure and is anaemic. She does not contribute to household income independently but assists her husband in his work, especially when he goes on calls; she is the one who makes the sales at the shop.

Krishna has experience in poultry keeping since childhood as her parents and in-laws both had  Desi birds. She switched over to Kuroiler keeping four years ago when the family moved into their new abode. Joydeep decided to go for Kuroiler after seeing them reared by the neighbours. They found the meat and eggs tastier than  Desi and found it to be bigger than Desi. Moreover  Desi chicks are difficult to source while Kuroiler are available in the open market as well as with pheriwalas. Krishna’s management practices includes separate pen (enclosure) for the Kuroiler, de-worming and vaccination from time to time. She takes care of the birds at home while her husband gets them vaccinated and treated at the Veterinary Centre at a nominal entry / registration fee. They also give homeopathic medicines to the birds.

The Kuroiler are being reared for home consumption. Krishna’s reason for rearing Kuroiler is to obtain eggs for her sons. She prefers eggs produced at home since she knows what her birds have been fed and eggs are clean. Her Kuroiler are let out to scavenge for 2-3 hours and given wheat grains as supplementary feed. Since her house is by the roadside with other houses in a row, there is not much open area for birds to scavenge on. Presently she has 4 hens who give 3 eggs a day between them. Of these two are consumed by her sons every day while she and her husband eat egg curry once or twice a week. Once the egg-laying cycle is completed, the hens would be consumed at home. Presently a small quantity of broiler meat is bought from the market whenever the family  Desires to eat chicken. Krishna is very happy with her Kuroiler egg laying capabilities. Last year she suffered 60% loss of flock to Ranikhet Disease (RKD) and that has stopped her from increasing her flock size. She feels the price of wheat is going up and it is not cost effective to rear Kuroiler for people like her who have no land holdings for birds to scavenge.

Krishna wants to supplement her household income but does not know how. Her dream of becoming a teacher could not be fulfilled due to an early marriage. She does not see Kuroiler as a business for there is no place for birds to scavenge. She fears for her husband’s life as he is exposed to the threat of electrocution (occupational hazard). She does not aspire for wealth but wants the family to be fed and sons to be educated. She would like them to be either doctor or engineer when they grow up. For her, peace of mind is more important than accumulation of wealth. If possible she would like to visit religious places.

In this household all critical decisions are taken by the man while minor decisions are left to the woman. She does not possess entrepreneur skills to turn Kuroiler as a source of supplementary income. The positive aspect is increase in protein intake of her sons as they consume eggs daily. Protein intake at this age enables growth of cognitive abilities which will be manifested in later years. Even adults get to eat them every alternate day. This is important as they do not have a fish pond and eggs contribute to their protein intake in a major way.

Contributed by - Coordination Team

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