Chicken project

Some people from 1st world countries, believe the way to start a program in a 3rd world country is to give people chickens.

The fact is there are many chickens already in Haiti, the problem is not enough food for the chickens. Their indigenous chickens already have immunities to their environment and will multiply by laying lots of eggs as long as they get protein and calcium.

If you are having problems with Chickens, ECHO has a good PDF in Creole

Amelyore Pwodiksyon Poul An Ayiti

there's also  a publication in French:

 L'élevage des poules à petite échelle   

Small Scale Chicken production in English Click following link  agrodok-04-small-scale%20poultry%20production%20in%20the%20tropics.pdf

Chickens eat seeds. Pitimi & corn are excellent bird food. Haitian member Junior Obrand says farmers only give corn to roosters because it makes them strong for fighting, for eating it makes their meat tough.

My experience is, Haitians have a hard time giving animals a lot to eat when their families are hungry. But chickens love a lot of weed seeds, grubs and find many insects pecking along the ground.

Haitians understand they only have so much land for so many chickens so to create more chickens they must supply more food.

Jason Fox from Hawaii says there are natural farming methods for feeding chickens and other livestock.

Feed is the biggest hold back in sustainability with them.

I personally grows pigeon pea, amaranth, and catch fish for them to eat. I also grow Black solider fly larvae, which is a cheap food source. Click here to read how to grow Protein from Thin Air a great idea, best quick increase in fertility.

My whole farm is based on chickens and sheep prep work.

I personally don't free range because they eat light greens,dig in raised bed gardens, and it doesn't concentrate the eggs,and manure were I want it. If you want to free range, just make a box and put a fake egg or raffia seed in it for them to find home.The positive to free range is they will eat slugs and frogs.

It would be a lot to type you can give me a ring or specific questions and I'm more than happy to help. I rotate a large chicken tractor.

Aloha, Jason

Moveable chicken coops also called chicken tractors would be perfect anywhere in Haiti, which families could use for hens laying eggs. Click Here to see examples of how we can build them in Haiti.

This permits them to be mobile finding more insects and weed seeds or placed on areas they want to fertilize.

This is ideal for every family to protect their eggs and keep the hens from being fertilized by free range roosters.

OTHER ALTERNATIVE CHICKEN FEED

Sunflower Seed Cake

Black oil sunflowers (Peredovik is the commonest variety) can be easily grown in the tropics.They are not difficult to hull and can then be pressed for cooking oil. The cake left after pressing can be fed to chickens or other livestock. See:

http://www.journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/oilpress.html

A small hand cranked oil press can be obtained from:

http://www.piteba.com/eng/index_eng.htm

Black Soldier Fly Larvae

There is information on a soldier fly cultivation system at

http://blacksoldierflyblog.com/bsf-bucket-composter-version-2-1/

Earthworms

Earthworms can also be grown in compost and used as chicken feed.

See: "Chicken Feed:Worms for Feed" at

http://www.lionsgrip.com/worms.html

and "Use of redworms to manage agricultural wastes and supply valuable feed for poultry" at

http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd21/11/ton21192.htm

Azolla

Azolla is a small nitrogen fixing water plant that multiplies rapidly and can be cultivated in small shallow tanks. It is widely grow in southeast Asia as a natural fertilizer for rice. It can be fed to chickens as well as pigs and cows. I have grown it successfully here in the states as a nitrogen source for composting sawdust. I have several books and articles on the subject and will put together some practical information for Haiti.