Food Security Fiji Project #20071

Happy Chickens for Fiji Food & Climate Emergency!

by Corals for Conservation

Project Report | Nov 28, 2024
Young Laying Hens Transported to Coral Village

By Kim Bowden-Kerby | Permaculture farm hostess of livelihoods workshops

US Embassy funded Livelihoods workshop at farm

Notes from Austin: known locally as both "The Chicken Man" or "The Coral Man" depending on where in Fiji you're talking with folks.

I also graduated the remaining chickens from the mobile rearing pen to a house, That gave space to move 5 broody hens off the nests and put them into jail to cure them. I found two hens sitting on clutches of eggs in the bushes, but decided to leave them.

Just yesterday Parvinesh, the backhoe owner who digs out our drains (roadside ditches) was telling me that the small incubator we gave his wife a year and a half ago continues to hatch out chicks every three weeks or so. She sells them for $50 a dozen and it is a good business for her. The big rooster she got from me three years ago is getting too old, so Parvinesh took two young breeder roosters as replacements. Our son Akka handles all the chicken sales. There are so many customers that the wait time for chicks is usually 4-6 months. Akka keeps the orders in a notebook with consecutive numbers - and he records the customer's phone number with his number in the line (like Ravi 237, Jone 258, Sara 401). As the phone rings, he knows it is a customer - and with a quick glance at the last customer served, he can immediately tell the caller how much longer the wait for chicks is going to be. Efficient.

The chickens sent out to the reef conserving communities are free.

AND we paid for the materials to build the chicken sheds in Daku and Uluibau villages in Morutiki.

We also recently sent out 18 of the sub-adult chickens to Naidiri as well. The ones on the recent Australian news film. See attached link.

Austin said to tell you that he buried a dead hen under this tree, and now it is blooming poultry with over 10 chickens enjoying the mottled shade of the branches.

Austin’s chicken tree

The light quality wasn’t great when Austin took the photo for proof, so I put yellow circles to show each of the six chickens in the tree.

In more serious chicken business… the team was able to achieve a “grant output” by transporting 47 nearly-grown chickens to the island of Moturiki. There, residents of two villages are involved in the Reefs of Hope coral program, have no-take fishing areas established, and are now getting chickens from the Happy Chicken project as a source of alternative protein.

Junia is getting the chickens out of their mobile rearing pen, into the transport crates. The dogs approve.

Eroni hefts the crates into the truck. In reality, this was a three-man job with Austin also providing muscle power.

A close-up of one crate of chickens going to their “forever home.”

This delivery was a first. Eroni, still a pretty new driver, drove the project truck all the way to Ucunivanua landing (way past Suva) and most of the way home. Junia, still on a learner’s permit, drove the last leg from Navua to the farm. From the landing, they took a boat to Moturiki – usually a 35-minute trip. On the way back, it rained so hard that that they were 20 minutes lost and with no landmarks at all (scary!) – that return took well over an hour. Oh, the adventures of the Happy Chicken Project!

Links:

Coral and Chicken Conservation short film shared by Aussie news

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Oct 3, 2024
Happy Chickens As Alternative to Overfishing Reefs

By Austin Bowden-Kerby, Phd. | Coral Scientist & breeder of tropical hardy chicks

Happy Hen with chicks

Corals for Conservation launched Happy Chickens as our first GlobalGiving project based on success with helping reef-dependent communities set up no-fishing Tabu zones within locally managed marine areas, with the first such areas established in 1999 in Cuvu District and now spreading to over 300 communities all around Fiji.

By setting aside so much of their fishing grounds, indigenous communities had made a big sacrifice, but in many areas overfishing was severe and the reefs were not providing enough to feed families. Both a reduction in overfishing plus an alternative foodsource needed to be found. Although the >50,000 chicks hatched and distributed so far from our Happy Chicken program is only a drop in the bucket, the chickens are breeding in the villages, and since we introduced the mini-hatchery program, distributing over 70 small inclbators, the chicks are becoming more available, providing a more reliable source of protein and livelihoods, with the free range village chicken projects mainly carried out by village women.

We are presently head-starting 125 chicks to be sent out to communities when they can forage better and eat coconut and other local feeds. Starting next week, three dozen hens will be separated, along with one rooster per every five hens, and sent to Naidiri Village on the Coral Coast, where the pen is all ready and waiting. The the remainder will be sent to Uluibau and Daku Villages on Moturiki island in early November, and materials haev been sent to build chicken houses there, with two additional master chicken farmers. These villages all have large no-fishing Tabu areas. Community members from each of the threee villages have come to the Teitei Livelihoods Centre for training in the chicken farming methods and other livelihoods. Our next report will focus on the communities who are receiving the chickens.

Geese protect the chickens from stray dogs, hawks, and mongoose predators. A gander has even adopted one of the mobile rearing pens and he patrols the perimeter, protecting the chicks! See the photos below!

A Youth group from Wallis and Futuna islands stayed over at the farm in September to learn about livelihoods and happy chickens. Jumper dog and Ginger dog guard the farm and protect the chickens from predators.

The chickens are trained to sleep and lay in open chciken houses, but the new group was not as well trained apparently! We had four hens hide in the bushes and emerge with clutches of baby chicks this season! We now try to find the stray nests and collect the eggs daily, leaving one nest egg so that the hens will not find a new hiding place! We can tell how many hens are working together to fill up the nest by the unique egg color that each hen has. We have chickens that lay multiple shades of brown, tan, olive, green, and even blue!

Kind regards to all, and thanks for your continued support!

Austin

Mobile Rearing Pen- chickens mow the grass!

Kiki helps raise the chicks up for the community.

Ample clean water for the chicks is vital.

Laying boxes inside the 100% open chicken houses.

Renegade hens sometimes lay in the bush!

The Pavilion, the chickens somehow never enter

A gander has adopted this group of chicks!

Jumper dog and the cut grass as the pens move

Chick receiving room, where the chicks start out.

Sweet potatos grow well on chicken manure!

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Jun 5, 2024
30 Unhappy Caged Hens Rescued for a Healthy Future!

By Austin Bowden-Kerby | Project visionary and facilitator

The rescued chickens become part of the flock

Emergency Rescue of 30 tightly-caged and crippled hens:

Here at the Happy Chicken farm we mobilized and immediately responded to take in 30 improperly housed caged commercial egg chickens. Most had been held so long that they were barely able to walk. While many countries have banned the cruelm practice of chaged egg production, with three hens per gage and barely enough room to turn around, which unfortunately leads to unhealthy poultry in such dire straits. We're not here to cast stones, but to teach local farmers how it is actually less expensive to have free roaming chickens during the day, with chicken house protection during the night. That way, the chickens will feed off of the many natural plants and waste foods and coconuts we cut open for them, which build their bodies and make them healthy and more productive. The sad chickens are becoming very happy now. Although their bodies were exhausted from being jailed for so long and laying for 6-9 months, they are now gaining strength and will be laying again within two months. We are crossing them with our big cross-breed roosters and hatching the eggs to produce chicks that grow into excellent egg producing hens.

Corals for Conservation launched Happy Chickens as our first project to assist poor and reef-dependent communities, many who were setting aside no-fishing zones, and who needed an alternative food source. Our Happy Chickens, particularly with the mini-hatchery program we created last year, provide a livelihood to the women of fisherman households, while also providing families a reliable protein source.

Happy Chickens succeeds because we recognize the connection between human well-being and the natural prosperity of nature, and the need to protect it: "One Planet, One People, One Atmosphere, and One Ocean!"

Here in the South Pacific, our communities are but dots in a vast expanse of ocean. Even with the recognition of our being a tiny corner of the planet, Corals for Conservation celebrates the fact that individuals like you and me can make a big difference! It is vital that the indigenous peoples of the world, most of whom still live by farming and fishing be recognized as being intellenegt and in greater balance with nature than most societies are presentlhy, and so our work to help them build a sustainable ocean and islands is important in helping secure not only their own future, but also the future of the entire planet.

Open doors, the chickens are free to roam all day!

A formerly caged chicken still in recovery

Happy Chicken Eggs come in several colors!

Some hens take to the roost to rest in the day.

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