Dabaco Vietnam Group plans to double its annual production of coloured day-old chicks (DOC) to 80 million by early 2020 as soon as its new hatchery in Binh Phuoc is completed, said Nguyen Nhu Phan, vice-director.
Dabaco Vietnam Group currently supplies coloured DOC to customers across the country via its hatchery in Bac Giang, 50 km east of Hanoi.
The new hatchery and production units worth US$40 million will bolster chick quality by reducing delivery times substantially. The cutoff point for splitting northern and southern markets will be in Hue province, with the southern hub serving 31 provinces.
The new PS hatchery in Binh Phuoc, a border town between Cambodia and Ho Chi Minh City, is designed to produce 40 million chicks/year. Hatching eggs will be delivered from the north.
Dabaco currently offers seven indigenous bird products whose meat quality, body weight and growth rate vary in line with customer preferences. However, the best selling product with 60% of total sales is J-Dabaco, an indigenous male crossed with Hubbard JA57 females.
Dabaco uses a selection progam for the sire that has its own great grand parent and grand parent line.
Selection for the indigenous male is aimed at giving progeny persistent and consistent characteristics as well as meat quality and growth performance. The JA57 female is prolific, yielding around 211 hatching eggs at 64 weeks, said Mr Phan.
The day-old chicks are vaccinated for Marek’s disease at the hatchery, which uses Jamesway single-stage incubators and hatchers.
Dabaco began producing coloured birds 22 years ago. It expanded its hatchery capacity to increase production to 25 million/year in 2014, up from 14 million/year. Plans are underway to also supply pullets.
Key players in colored birds are Luong Hue, based in Hai Phong, and Minh Du Poultry Breed Co Ltd, in Binh Dinh province. Marketing indigenous chicken hybrids is a highly volatile business due to the presence of numerous small-scale operators with low capital structures who can easily enter and exit the market.