Residents love their free-range chickens

SHIJIAZHUANG - Chickens roam on a vast farm in Hebei province, occasionally fluttering up into the trees.

Unlike other free-range fowl, each wears an electronic anklet that count steps to determine when they are ready for market.

"We don't sell them until they have taken more than 1 million steps, roughly 160 days," said He Xiaofei, manager of the chicken farm in Wuyi county. Walking around tightens chickens' muscles and makes their meat more tasty. Some 10,000 chickens are currently strolling around the farm's 14 hectares. All of them eat only natural food.