A study was undertaken to characterize indigenous chickens in Uganda in terms of the environment they live in, management, flock structures, uses, performance and phenotypes. Data were captured using a structured questionnaire administered to 240 respondents and involved 960 indigenous chickens.  Data were analyzed by descriptive statistical methods, having been collated as absolute figures or percentages.  Chicken flocks ranged from 2 to 113 and most people kept 1-4 cocks and 2-19 hens.  The growers (3-7 months) formed the biggest (38%) part of the flocks followed by chicks (37%). Indigenous eggs are mainly used for hatching chicks (45%), eaten at home (33%), sold for cash (20%) and about 2% are used for other purposes. The chickens are kept mainly for home consumption (36%), cash (33%), ceremonies (16%) and gifts (13%).  The chickens are valued mainly for their ability to scavenge (32%), followed by disease tolerance (29%), meat quality (22%) and general hardiness (17%).  Adult cocks weigh 2.1kg compared to 1.4kg for adult hens. Most pullets reach sexual maturity at 7 months and most hens lay 14 eggs per hen per clutch, with a hatchability of 87% and wean 6.3 chicks on average after 2.8 months.  On average, the chickens have two clutches of eggs per year and with an interval of 2.8 months between the two clutches. Throughout the country, the chickens exhibited a wide phenotypic variability in all the characters studied except egg yolk colour, which was exclusively 100% yellow in all districts. The wide variation in populations of indigenous chickens in Uganda may help to create improved breeds of chickens selected from the indigenous populations or crosses generated for specific purposes.

Key words

Indigenous chicken, characterization, Uganda

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