Rebuilding Haiti must start from the ground up, with agricultural education

Jacquie Jacob's Comments

Comment Wall (6 comments)

At 8:27am on July 14, 2011, Robert Fairchild said…: Welcome Jackie,

We'd love to get your comments on our "Chicken Project" page under "more Meat".

Thanks,

Bob (in Berea)

At 10:37pm on July 26, 2011, Mike Mahowald said…: Hi Jackie, sorry I've been really busy trying to get stoves ready for Haiti project. Are you trying to raise chickens in Haiti? This is a great project but must warn you there are a lot of diseases they can get that can take them down fast. First thing to know is start with birds that have resistence to their environment. Tell us more of your plans for chickens, thanks Mike

At 6:56am on July 27, 2011, Jacquie Jacob said…: I've been asked to go to Haiti to work with a cooperative on Tortuga Island that is starting to raise chickens for meat and eggs. They are taking over a 'business' that didn't make it because of feed cost and some disease. The feed costs are my biggest concern at the moment. The resources are limited on the island so I pretty much have to come up with a balanced diet out of thin air. The azolla, soldier fly and earthworm projects appear to have some promise. How can I get more information? I'm suppose to be heading down soon so am trying to gather as much information as I can.

At 6:57am on October 5, 2011, Robert Fairchild said…: Jacquie,

Somehow missed this correspondence. How was your trip to Haiti? I'm going again in late October.

Bob

At 7:02am on October 5, 2011, Jacquie Jacob said…: The trip went well though too short to accomplish much. I was on Turtle Island (ie Island of Tortuga). It is pretty isolated so no real problem with chicken diseases but feed is a big issue. The chickens weren't laying - primarily because they were only feeding corn, but also because of heat stress (water has to be carried in). Not much agriculture on the island so coming up with alternatives was difficult but we managed to put something together that should replace half of the feed the chickens should need. Also built a kerosene-incubator but didn't have time to really teach them how to use it.

At 7:04am on October 5, 2011, Jacquie Jacob said…: Oh yeah - I got sun-poisoning resulting from the chloroquine and too much sun. During the trip home my legs came out in large, growing blisters (ie - touch the blister and skin separates around it resulting in larger blister). Had to go to the hospital. Wounds have healed but it will take several months for my legs to return to normal color. Currently they are an off shade of brownish-red.