Ghana Day 8 032012 Chickens

Ghana Day 8 032012 Chickens

Our host, Patrick, has an inner calm and peacefulness and trust in God about this orphanage/school project. Just to recap, based on a vision that his wife had multiple times, he rented a home and converted it into a residence for local orphans (34) and a day school for additional students (90) who weren't able to afford an education. He has little income from this business, and the kids need everything from clothes to food to books, but the atmosphere is bright and sunny. As though increasing his family size to 125 wasn't enough of a challenge, he got into his head that raising chickens would be a good thing. He rented a barn about a half mile away from his home in the opposite direction from the orphanage, and got started about 8 months ago with 1500 chickens. Best to start small, right? He purchased these "broilers" as day-old chicks and raised them to adulthood 6 months later.

We expressed an interest in seeing 'the farm', as Patrick calls it, and took several trips to help with the newest batch of chickens. Now, Penny is vegan, and I've taken to purchasing free range chickens when possible. We've viewed documentaries like Food, Inc, exposing the overcrowded coop conditions of American Agribusiness. so I wasn't sure what Ghanaian chicken farm conditions would be like. I was pleasantly surprised how clean and organized the barn was, reflecting Patrick's attention to detail.

He has untertaken the chicken enterprise because he views it as an income opportunity to fund the school, and also as a backup for food if necessary. Currently there are 300 broilers, seriously scaled down from the 1500 there previously that I sense was a bigger project than anticipated. In a space designed for 750 birds, this smaller group has plenty of space to roam about. Patrick makes his own feed to save money. He buys bulk corn (maize) and has it ground locally. To this he adds some dried fish protein, also ground, that he has sitting on a large drying tray near the front door of his home. The barn is also without its own water "pipe" so the 50 gal or so that the birds require every two days muct be "fetched" by bucket from a home a few "doors" down. A taxi helps to bring the 50 Kilo (110+ pounds) bag of grain from market in town (Tuesdays and Fridays) directly to the barn.

Once the grain has been stirred and mixed, the birds are fed twice daily by filling about a dozen feeder containers located around the coop space. Similarly, there are a half dozen, gravity feed water containers that each hold about 2 gallons, that must be replenished. Sunday (we found out too late) was cleaning day, so we hand washed all of the water containers with a disinfectant solution, and helped to sweep out the feathers and dust and waste from the barn, out the window into "the hole", a trench that has been dug just outside that will later be covered over with dirt in a kind of composting activity.

Patrick is toying with purchasing a second group of "lay-ers" to provide eggs to sell. The day old broilers cost about a dollar, and sell at market for about $20 in 6 months. Layers cost twice as much, but will produce eggs nearly daily for over a year, yielding well over $75 per bird. 

Many readers have asked if they can help to support the orphanage project, so we set up a webpage for the orphanage, fundraising for some of the recurring expenses like food, shelter and utilities.  We also have a donation page for several special projects including the opportunity to help the school by making a one time donation to purchase chickens..  You can find out more, or support the school at: WestAfricanSchool.org

That is about all that I know about chicken farming, but it is quite a bit more than I brought over in my brain from the States. My final point about chickens, is that they are roaming everywhere, kind of like pigeons. On the side of the road, in every ditch, and scurrying in all directions at all times, there are chickens. And roosters. Roosters, you will remember, wake up with the sun, and with about 100 roosters in this neighborhood, there is quite a morning symphony. The problem is that not each rooster is exactly sychronized with the sun, and the cacaphony begins closer to midnight than dawn. Just another part of the audible palatte of our new neighborhood.