Despite the lack of large-scale farming of free-range chickens in Brazil, their production generates income in the countryside and prevents exodus of rural families in agricultural regions. The objective of this study is to evaluate the economic viability of free-range broiler production in different facilities. The experiment was conducted in two different sheds (masonry shed-SM and wooden shed-SW) located in the Plural Space of the Universidade Federal do Vale São Francisco, municipality of Juazeiro, BA. Here, 200 heavy red French free-range chickens were distributed in the two sheds and were raised from the 1st to the 88th day (slaughter). Assuming that the minimum age for slaughter is 85 days, the results indicated that at least 205 birds in SM and 217 birds in SW were necessary for the producer to earn the minimum per capita monthly wage in Brazil (2020); at least 411 birds in CG and 600 birds in GM were found to be necessary to achieve maximum productivity at the end of the production cycle. The maximum profitability in the slaughter of the chickens was achieved at an age of 60 days.
Keywords: alternative poultry production; free-range chicken; poultry production; productive performance.
© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Animal Science.