Sakthivel, K.M.Narmatha, N.Uma, V.Jothilakshmi, M.TANUVAS2018-03-272018-03-272017-08http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810042635TNV_IJPS_2017_52(2)-236-238A study was taken up to examine the gender involvement of rural farmers in backyard poultry production and their decision making pattern. Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu was purposively selected for the study and the data were collected from 222 respondents by using multistage random sampling. The results reveal that most of the activities in backyard poultry were performed by women, while independent participation of men was around 10.0 per cent. Further, women’s participation in decision making was more than 50.0 per cent in all the activities of breeding and management. In health care also the decision making was more than 50.0 per cent except in vaccination and medication. Most of the health care activities were not followed by more than 40.0 per cent of the households. This indicates lack of awareness about the importance of health care practices among the households although the backyard poultry rearing is a traditional occupation in rural households.enPoultry ScienceArticle