Happy Chickens for Food Security and Environment

Greetings to all the donors and suporters of the Happy Chicken Project.

We are now permanently listed on the Global Giving website, and we have passed the 6,000 mark! 

Here are some updates to keep you informed of the progress of the work.

We are presently working furiously to get the breeding flock approved by Fiji Biosecurity so that the chicks can be exported to Vanuatu.  This involves, among other things, covering the pens with fishing net to keep the flocks of wild birds out (and from stealng the feed), and pouring concrete floors to keep the rats out.  Our goal is for the breeding farm to be approved byJuly, so that the first workshops (with chicks in hand) can take place on Tanna and Efate islands in late July or early August. 

We also have enquires about obtaining the chicks from development projects in other countries of our region (Tuvalu, Kiribati, and the Solomon Islands), and so once we have been approved by Fiji Biosecurity for export, the work might just go regional!  Fiji is ideally situated as we are the regional airline hub, and as we are free of the major poultry diseases.

We are in the planning phase of building ten small breeding pens so that we can further improve the egg laying productivity of the chooks, without sacrificing their hardy foraging ability.  Also in anticipation of bringing in seven heritage breeds of chickens from New Zealand in September for cross breeding trials (Rhode Island Reds, Australorps Leghorns, and the like). 

Our food security project for the dorm at the nearby elementary and high school is progressing well: the fish pond has been dug out and the Tilapia fish stocked, and now the secure chin link fences are being built, with the ducks and chickens to be added by the end of June.  The children come fro two very remote villages, six hours walk into the hills.  We discovered last year that the chidren (from class one) are getting very little protein in their diet, and so we are doing what we can to remedy the probem in a sustainable and permanent way.  Ford Motor Company has provided a small grant to help with that, but donations to the Happy Chicken project will provide the chicks for the students to raise, as well as sending home chicks with the students to their communities after they are trained.   

Our hatchery was closed for two months during the summer molt, but the chickens have begun laying heavily again now, and the first chicks of the new season were hatched just yesterday, and those will be distributed to the farmers at cost tomorrow.  Based on our records, we havehad to raised the price (to the more proserous farmers) from $7.50 to $9/doz, based on actual cost of production- but still not counting labor.  Free chicks contnue to be provided to needy families, disabled people, and widows.  Happy Chicken is a labor of love for both the chooks and for the people. Of course the needs on Vanuatu remain, and our goal is to get there as soon as humanly possible.

If any of you would like to visit the project site at the Sustainable Environmental Livelihoods Farm, my son and his Fijian wife operate a simple home stay business from the property, with outreach to the surrounding community, booking through AirBnB.  See Teitei Homestay Fiji on Facebook for photos and information. 

Blessings and peace in all that you do,

Austin