Young farmer’s zeal to keep poultry

By Lilian Wangui  
United we stand, divided we fall is one slogan that motivates Wangwaci Young Farmers who thought of joining hands and embark on a poultry business journey . The group comprises of twenty members who are really determined to help each other grow economically by indulging themselves in various income generating projects.

Members constructing poultry house

One of the projects they have started is poultry keeping, rearing improved indigenous chicken to be precise. Since it’s a group of twenty members they have decided that each member keep 30 chicks for a start which makes it 600 chicks for the group. But, for them to be successful in this venture they realized the need to be enlightened more on chicken rearing. They wanted to know about environmental requirements of poultry, housing, breeder management and hatchery management.

Mr. Samuel Muriithi, Divisional Livestock Production Officer in Sipili took the initiative of equipping them with knowledge pertaining chicken farming. The first lesson was about construction of a decent, up-to-standard poultry house. “If your livestock is under stress because of poor living condition be assured your output will be very low and that will mean meager income,” said Mr. Muriithi.

Poultry house halfway complete

He took them through basic factors to be considered when constructing a poultry house. A suitable location was one of the factors he emphasized on. The poultry house should be located away from the direction of wind. After being taught everything pertaining construction of the poultry house, the group commenced building one at one of the member’s farm. Their eyes reflected great determination and zeal for the work at hand.

After completion Mr. Muriithi took a few minutes to lightly touch on how to take care of one day old chick and poultry nutrition with a promise to give them detailed information on the same next time they meet. This they do every Wednesday.

Wangwaci Young Farmers are stopping at nothing until they witness every project they have in their to-do-list is running efficiently and effectively. The way the group works is analogous to the way of life of ants. No wonder, one African adage says “when ants unite their mouths, they can carry an elephant”.