A giant leap . . .

Last week was quite an encouragement as our experiment with backyard captive poultry scaled new heights. Many of the people who had adopted this technique of growing fowl had reported that their hen had started laying eggs by the age of 22nd to the 24th weeks. 

We never had the patience to wait till they started laying eggs or our travels did not permit us to keep the chicken for long. However, a batch of four escaped the butcher's knife and we had been waiting. Our patience paid off as one laid an egg at the age of 21 weeks and 6 days. And then, they have been laying regularly...

Snaps . . . 

Considering into fact that these colored eggs cost about 8-9 INR per egg in the market, I can see it's potential as a source of extra income for poor families . . .  

Any takers ? ? ? 

Backyard captive poultry

It is a very well accepted fact that backyard poultry is a very rewarding pastime as well as a source of income. There is enough research which has proved that backyard poultry rearing improves household nutrition as well as empowers women.

However, there are major challenges, especially in rural areas.

As part of our Community Health project aimed at building up resilience in the local communities against Climate Change, our team was involved in exploring opportunities for income generation. One theme that was echoed across almost all sections of the society was backyard poultry. Initially, it was about vaccinating the birds from Ranikhet (Newcastle disease). We got some success by going for vaccination campaigns. But, we found out that there was couple of pertaining issues which needed to be sorted out.

The first issue was of predators which preyed on the birds when they scavenged during daytime and even at night. There were incidents of wild cats entering chicken coops made of mud and killing off entire flocks of birds. The other predators were snakes and various species of rats and mice.

The second issue was of sustained feeding of the birds. Because of irregular and erratic food availability, the birds took time to gain weight and therefore were not economically productive.

The third issue was of diseases - the main disease being Ranikhet (Newcastle disease).

We thought quite a lot about solutions. It was very obvious that with a bit of change in practices and discipline we could tackle the second and third issues without much problem. The major issue with the first issue was to make a cheap chicken coop which will keep out wild cats and snakes. There were quite a lot of designs available in the internet to make quite beautiful chicken coops. The problem was the enormous cost.

While I was in Kerala, I saw advertisements for cage like structures to keep 4-6 chickens that cost about 2500 INR (40 USD, 25 GBP, 35 Euros) to make. The monthly earning of an average family in our nearby village was hardly 2000-3000 INR. And most of the poor earned less than that.

It was obvious that we had to think of a new design. Dinesh, our maintenance manager and I ultimate came up with a design. We decided to try it out ourselves as well as among few families within the campus who consented to try it out. We had no inkling about the success.

The contraption was quite simple. We got 3 feet wide chicken mesh, which usually came in rolls of 50 feet. We made cylinder structures using these mesh with a diameter of 3 feet, height of 1.5 feet and circumference of 9.4 feet. On the top of the cylinder, an opening was made with a mesh door. There was no use of any other frame for this cage. The cost of one cage came to around 650 INR (10 USD, 7 GBP, 9 Euros). And it could comfortably house 6 chickens.

Our family has already kept 4 batches of chicken (each batch of 6 chicks) over the last 5 months. And it has been a roaring success. Many of our staff tried it and are quite happy about it. Then, we moved out from NJH to Barwadih. Quite a lot of people who saw the cages were very impressed.

And slowly people started to enquire on where to procure these cages. And we started off a small industry. The priests at the Catholic Ashram, Barwadih were very helpful. We trained few local boys to make them.

In NJH, we made about 20 cages for the staff and villagers before we moved out and at Barwadih, we made about 40 cages in 2 months time.

Few snaps of what we've doing . . . 

Sukhi - the first person who attempted our theory and succeeded. 

The initial days - one of the first cages being made at NJH

A cage kept by one of the staff at NJH

A cage in one of the nearby homes at Barwadih

The 3 cages we used to have. We used to buy 6 chicks every 2-3 weeks which meant that we had regular chicken to cut

The cages being made at Catholic Ashram, Barwadih

Chicks ready for sale

Ujwal, Amit and Manbodh . . . the first full time experts on the cage . . .

Women . . . empowered . . . 

Going home with the cages

It was not only the women . . . even the men were quite interested in the dynamics

Well, I’m sure there will be people who will be interested to do this in other places. As of now, we’ve this being made at NJH and Catholic Ashram, Barwadih. There are 3 more places where few of my friends are exploring on start promoting this. 

The challenge is to have some funds to start off and to find the right people.

You can contact me at jeevan53@gmail.com or call me at 8986725933 for more details. 

Alarm Clocks

Over the last couple of weeks, we've been woken up quite a few days by . . .

Well . . . where did  they come from . . . Another snap of the quartet getting ready to sleep . . .

The kids have a great time feeding and watching them .. .. ..

I hope you remember the 'turkey poults' that a fly-by-night salesman' sold me in January. I had been suspicious all the time. However, the guy had done a good job shaving off their necks and coloring their heads. He would have got them by paying some broiler hatchery worker for the roosters. The male chicks are usually killed in broiler hatcheries. 

I'm not complaining though . . . In a couple of weeks, we'll have some good meat on the table . . . .  

New residents

Last Sunday, we got some new members into our household . . .

It has been sometime since our Community Health department had been exploring new options in rural livelihoods. We had also made some visits to the Veterinary Department of the Agriculture University in Ranchi. 

We got some amount of success on our inquiries regarding pigs, sheep and chicken.

However, I was more interested in getting few turkeys for the campus. Although the concerned department had few turkeys, they did not have any poults (baby turkey) to sell. 

But, I had a surprise last week. As we drove back from Ranchi after a weekend break, I had to stop to buy some vegetables from one of the local markets. 

As I explored the village shanty, I was attracted by a crowd of villagers around one man with about 30 chicken who was quite vociferous. 

'40 kilogram chicken for sale . . . 40 kilogram chicken for sale . . . ' 

I was quite interested. I asked him what the name of this 40 kilogram chicken was. He showed me a picture. And it was the snap of a turkey . . . 

I was not sure . . . I asked the guy about the cost . . .  3 poults for 100 INR. 

A one day old chick of chicken cost nothing less than 30 INR. I thought of trying my bargaining skills. I asked him for 5 poults for 100 INR. He agreed for 4 for 100 INR. 

Thus, I came back to the jeep with the 4 poults. There was some amount of opposition from my sweet better half. However, after some pleading we were on our way back home. 

Snaps of the quartet. 

One of the previous doctors at NJH, Dr. Colin Binks, had kept rabbits in cages. And these cages were in the maintenance dump. 

We had them readied up in no time and the poults have a very comfortable home. 

Now, the advantages of having these birds . . .

1. All the crumbs from the dining table goes into the bird feed. They are voracious eaters. 

2. There is new entertainment for the kids.

The downside . . . I'm not sure if they are really turkey poults . . . They could be chicks of normal fowl. The fly by night salesman could have been selling normal chicks with their heads shaven off . . . 

But, then, I do not lose anything . . . they had cost me only 100 INR . . .