Darag: The Best Published Egg Figure, and an Empty Weight Column
110Eggs
Station record. DOST-PCAARRD, August 2026.
41.36 gEgg weight
Station record. DOST-PCAARRD, August 2026.
81–83%Fertility
Station record. DOST-PCAARRD, August 2026.
not publishedMature weight, rooster
DOST-PCAARRD lists body weight among the traits its breed information system holds and publishes none of them for any chicken line. The morphometrics sit behind a sign-in.
not publishedMature weight, hen
DOST-PCAARRD lists body weight among the traits its breed information system holds and publishes none of them for any chicken line. The morphometrics sit behind a sign-in.
not publishedTo market
No Philippine source publishes days to a stated market weight for this line. DOST-PCAARRD.
Native typeFree-range standard
Named in PNS/BAFS 262:2018. Slaughter not earlier than 90 days.
The short answer
Darag is the native line from Panay Island with the highest published egg figure in the country: 110 itlog kada inahin kada taon, at 41.36 g per egg, with fertility at 81 to 83 per cent. If itlog is what you are after, this is the best documented of the four lines the government publishes. If you are buying it for meat, there is nothing published to buy on. No Philippine source prints a Darag body weight at any age.
Source DOST-PCAARRD, Philippine Animal Breed Information System, native poultry (read on August 22, 2026)
What is actually published
Every figure in this table comes off one page, the DOST-PCAARRD breed information system, read on 22 August 2026. Nothing here is averaged, adjusted or carried over from a secondary write-up.
| Trait | Darag | Where it stands among the four documented lines |
|---|---|---|
| Eggs per hen per year | 110 | Highest. ZamPen 105, Camarines 62, Boholano 62 |
| Egg weight | 41.36 g | Second. ZamPen is heavier at 43.6 g |
| Fertility | 81–83% | Joint highest with ZamPen |
| Hatchability | 70–77% | Published for all four together, not per line |
| Age at first egg | 20–22 weeks | Published for all four together |
| Mature weight, male | not published | Not published for any line |
| Mature weight, female | not published | Not published for any line |
| Days to market weight | not published | Not published for any line |
| Feed intake or FCR | not published | Not published for any line |
Four columns sit empty there, and that is not for want of looking. Kulang ang pambansang tala, hindi ang paghahanap.
The agency holds the weights and prints the eggs
This is the part worth understanding, kasi it explains why the table above cannot be completed by looking harder.
The breed system is a project of the UPLB Institute of Animal Science with the UPLB Institute of Computer Science, funded by DOST-PCAARRD. Under its quantitative-data heading it names the traits it holds: body weight, height, body length, chest circumference, wing span and shank length. Those are exactly the measurements a keeper choosing a manok na pangkarne needs. None of them is published. The public pages carry the reproductive figures and stop there.
So a Darag weight has been measured, by a state university, under a national programme, and it is not on the page. So every page carrying a Darag weight is not citing this source, kasi hindi ito kayang sipiin. Ask where the figure came from before you plan a batch around it.
| Eggs, and when they start | Plannable110 per hen per year, first egg at 20 to 22 weeks, both from the DOST-PCAARRD breed system read 22 August 2026. |
|---|---|
| Hatching your own replacements | PlannableFertility 81 to 83 per cent and hatchability 70 to 77 per cent, the same source. Hatchability is published across all four lines together. |
| Grow-out weight and age | GuessworkNo published Philippine figure at any age for this line. The only Philippine native growth curve published at all belongs to Boholano. |
| Feed to market | GuessworkNo published intake or FCR for Darag or for any of the four documented lines. |
Not a registered breed, in the project’s own words
A keeper reasonably assumes that a named line with a government programme behind it is registered somewhere. Hindi pa po.
The DOST-PCAARRD project page of 27 April 2022 lists among its expected outputs that “Darag will be a registered breed of chicken from internationally recognized certifying bodies.” A stated future outcome is proof that it has not happened yet. From the other direction, the DA-BAFS register of approved Philippine National Standards carries standards for broilers and layers, free-range chicken, hatcheries, primal cuts, carcass grading and shell eggs, and no native chicken breed standard.
That matters at the point of sale rather than in the bakuran. No official paper will say the bird you bought is a Darag. Ang tanging garantiya ay kung saan galing ang stock.
Where the stock is
The breed system names the WVSU Darag Center on Luna Street, La Paz, Iloilo City as the institutional nucleus, with a Panay Darag Breeders Association around it that DOST-PCAARRD describes as over a hundred local farmers, business owners and former OFWs. That is the widest breeder network among the four lines after ZamPen.
Kung malayo ka sa Panay, that association is the thing to weigh against the trip. A stressed bird off an eight-hour ride is a worse bird than whatever line is already alive in your municipality, and no published Darag figure is large enough to pay for that trip.
What usually goes wrong
The mistake: Quoting a Darag market weight from a breed table.
Do this instead: Say that no Philippine source publishes one, at any age.
DOST-PCAARRD collects body weight and publishes none of it. Any weight in a Darag table is unsourced by construction.
The mistake: Reading the PCAARRD programme figure of 120 eggs per hen per year as a Darag figure.
Do this instead: Treat 110 as the line figure and 120 as a programme-level claim about improved stock.
The programme average exceeds the best single line the same agency documents, and it names no line, no flock and no date range.
The mistake: Calling Darag a registered breed because it has a government project.
Do this instead: Call it a government-documented line with published reproductive figures.
Registration is listed as a future output of the project itself, and BAFS has no native breed standard.
What to ask before you buy
Two questions do most of the work here. The first is where the breeder stock came from and how many generations sit between those birds and the nucleus flock. A Darag out of a dispersal that traces back to the WVSU centre is a different proposition from a brown bakuran bird sold under the name.
The second is what the seller thinks the birds will weigh at five months. A fast, confident figure did not come out of any Philippine record, kasi wala pa. The honest answer today is that you will find out yourself, and your own notebook is the only source that will ever describe your own flock.
Questions people actually ask
How many eggs does a Darag hen lay in a year?
110, on the DOST-PCAARRD breed information system. That is the highest figure published for any of the four documented Philippine native lines, ahead of ZamPen at 105 and roughly double Camarines and Boholano at 62 each.
How much does a Darag chicken weigh? Show the answer
No Philippine primary source publishes it. The DOST-PCAARRD breed system lists body weight among the traits it holds and prints none of them for any chicken line. Any per-breed Darag weight table you find online is filled in from somewhere that is not a Philippine source.
Is Darag a registered breed? Show the answer
Not yet. The DOST-PCAARRD project page for Darag lists as an expected output that Darag will be a registered breed of chicken from internationally recognised certifying bodies, which is a statement that it has not happened. The DA-BAFS register of approved Philippine National Standards carries no native chicken breed standard.
Where do I buy Darag stock? Show the answer
The named institutional nucleus is the WVSU Darag Center on Luna Street, La Paz, Iloilo City. DOST-PCAARRD also reports a Panay Darag Breeders Association around it. Outside Western Visayas, LGU dispersal is usually the practical route.