A Chicken That Ticks All The Right Boxes

It is no secret that the African climate can be very unforgiving, especially when it comes to farming. Luckily for many farmers the Boschveld chicken, a hardy breed from Limpopo, has found its way to no less than 19 African countries and it is flourishing.

- Andries Gouws

Mike Bosch, a native of Zimbabwe, is the descendant of inventive ancestors who have left their footprints throughout Africa. He is continuing this tradition in his own unique way, having established a Boschveld chicken farming enterprise which aims to help African subsistence farmers combat famine, establish fertile land for vegetable cultivation, and creating conditions in which children can thrive.

Using chickens for tick control

Back when Mike still focused on farming cattle – he is a well-known Beefmaster and Boran breeder – he started breeding chickens as a form of tick control. He crossed some agile Namibian Ovambo chickens, good egg-laying Venda chickens from the north of Limpopo, and fleshy Matabele chickens. He named this breed the Boschveld chicken. With his innovative approach to tick control, Mike was ultimately able to reduce dipping from 26 times a year to a mere 14 times a year.

He soon realised, however, that Boschveld chickens had potential beyond tick control and his experiment soon developed into a full-fledged chicken enterprise, which today has expanded throughout much of Africa.

In fact, the popularity of the hardy Boschveld chicken has increased to such an extent, that his enterprise has grown from nest hatches and an incubator made from a converted refrigerator, to a modern hatchery. Nowadays, approximately 60 000 eggs are placed in modern incubators every three weeks, with a hatching rate of approximately 85%.

Africa’s need for nutrition

While expanding his business to other African countries, Mike realised that people in rural areas often had enough water for subsistence farming, but that they experienced a shortage of good quality seed, livestock and fertiliser.