By Kailash Lama , Charikot, Apr. 9 : Local chickens are considered good for meat and eggs. Especially in the villages, chickens are raised to serve guests, feed pregnant women and the sick, and they are also used as offering during worship.

Most households keep no more than half a dozen chickens in small chicken coops. But at Melung Rural Municipality of Dolakha, chickens are not only being raised to serve household purposes but also for commercial ones.

A local poultry business has started at Ward No. 7 of the Rural Municipality at an investment of Rs. 4 million. The farm, which began by breeding 750 chicks, today has over 500 fully grown local chickens, informed proprietor Bidur Karki.

Karki’s farm sprawls along six ropanis of land surrounded by wired fences. The chickens are housed inside huge steel truss structures.

He started this burgeoning business after returning from his foreign employment and has been reaping substantial benefits from the enterprise since then.

“The chickens are grown in organic manner. We feed them with wheat, maize and hay,” informed Karki. Every day, the farm produces about 70-75 eggs, which are then sold at Rs. 450 per crate while meat is sold at Rs. 600 per kg.”

According to Karki, the chickens are ready to be sold for meat within six months after reaching 1.5 to 2.5 kgs.

The poultry farm has been supplying its produce to Ramechhap’s Milti, Devitar, Manthali Bazaar to Dolakha’s headquarters Charikot.