Caraga Black: Two Papers, Forty Birds, and an Egg Figure That Disagrees With Itself
not publishedEggs
The annual egg figure in the reproduction paper disagrees with itself between the abstract and the results table, so neither number is printed here.
1.9 kgMature weight, rooster
Journal measurement, at twelve months, 40 birds. Austral TM Jr, August 2026.
1.35 kgMature weight, hen
Journal measurement, at twelve months, 40 birds. Austral TM Jr, August 2026.
not publishedTo market
The published work on this line covers morphology and reproduction. Neither paper reports days to a market weight.
Not namedFree-range standard
Not on the permitted list in PNS/BAFS 262:2018, so stock of this line cannot be sold as free-range under the standard.
The short answer
The Caraga black, known locally as Patani, is the best-documented Philippine native line nobody talks about: a measured adult weight of 1.9 kg for cocks and 1,350 g for hens, plus fertility at 85 per cent and hatchability at 84 per cent. One problem, though. Its own paper prints two different annual egg figures, 110 and 121, at walang nagsabi kung alin ang tama.
Source Austral et al. (2022), Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences 21(6):178-183 (read on August 22, 2026)
What forty birds produced
Both papers work from the same flock: 40 head, 8 roosters and 32 hens, from the F2 generation of a breeding and purification project at the Organic Native Chicken Project area, Caraga State University main campus, Ampayon, Butuan City. The birds ran on commercial feeds plus Trichanthera, Arachis pintoi, Leucaena and Gliricidia forage equivalent to about half the daily requirement.
| Measured at 12 months | Rooster | Hen |
|---|---|---|
| Body weight | 1.9 kg | 1,350 g |
| Height | 33 cm | 28.5 cm |
| Body length | 24 cm | 24 cm |
| Reproductive record, hens aged 30–38 weeks | Figure |
|---|---|
| Fertility | 85% |
| Hatchability | 84% |
| Livability, day-old to three months | 81% |
| Egg weight | 45.5 g in the abstract, 44 g in the egg-quality section |
| Eggs per hen per year | 110 in the abstract, 121 in the results and the conclusion |
The disagreement, stated plainly
The abstract says 110. The results section says the average annual total egg production recorded 121 eggs per hen, and the conclusion repeats 121.
Neither number is a typo you can safely pick between from outside. They sit eleven eggs apart, a tenth of the smaller one, and a tenth is a lot when the whole national range across native lines runs 62 to 121. This page therefore leaves its own annual egg field empty and prints both figures here instead. Mas maayos sana ang isang numero, pero imbento po iyon.
The egg weight has the same shape of problem, smaller: 45.5 g in the abstract, 44 g in the section that actually reports the egg-quality measurements.
| Adult body weight | Measured, n=401.9 kg cocks and 1,350 g hens at 12 months. One of two Philippine native lines with an adult weight in print. |
|---|---|
| Fertility and hatchability | Measured over 30–38 weeks85 and 84 per cent, with fertility ranging 63 to 95 per cent by hen age. The age effect is larger than the headline. |
| Annual egg production | Contradicted in its own paper110 in the abstract, 121 in results and conclusion. Use neither as a plan figure. |
| Growth curve and FCR | Not publishedNothing between hatch and 12 months, and no feed intake at any age. |
The age effect is the useful finding
Read past the headline percentages and the hen-age series is the part a keeper can act on. Fertility ran 63 per cent at 32 weeks and 95 per cent at 35 to 36 weeks. Hatchability ran 72 per cent at 32 weeks and 93 per cent at 38 weeks.
That is a large movement inside six weeks, on one flock, in one house. When you set eggs matters at least as much as which line laid them, and the timing is the half you control. A hatch planned off a young flock’s first weeks will look like a bad breed and will be a bad week.
Where it sits, and what it is not
The Caraga black is outside the DOST-PCAARRD breed information system, which covers four lines and not this one. It has an active DOST-PCAARRD-funded breeding and purification project behind it, and the two papers above are what that project has put in print.
Do not confuse it with a gamefowl line because of the black plumage. PSA classifies gamefowl separately and so should anybody reading this. The papers describe a smallholder meat and egg bird, hindi isang panabong.
Questions people actually ask
How much does a Caraga black chicken weigh?
Roosters averaged 1.9 kg and hens 1,350 g at 12 months old, measured on 40 birds by Austral et al. (2022). That makes it one of only two Philippine native lines with a measured adult weight in print, the other being Paraoakan at 2.3 kg and 1.67 kg.
How many eggs does a Caraga black hen lay? Show the answer
The reproductive paper gives two figures and does not reconcile them. Its abstract states 110 eggs per year; its results section and its conclusion both state 121 eggs per hen. Both numbers come from the same 40 birds over the same weeks, so this page prints neither as the answer.
What are the Caraga black fertility and hatchability rates? Show the answer
85 per cent fertility and 84 per cent hatchability across hens aged 30 to 38 weeks, with livability at 81 per cent from day-old to three months. Fertility peaked at 95 per cent at 35 to 36 weeks and fell to 63 per cent at 32 weeks, so hen age moved it substantially.
What does a Caraga black look like? Show the answer
Black almost everywhere: black plumage, comb, earlobe, shank, skin and wattle, dark-brown iris, dark grey beak, greyish meat and black bones. The morphology paper describes it as an endemic Caraga chicken known locally as Patani.