My first time in Afghanistan to my last time we had Chickens and turkeys. Here are some points I like to talk about with them. Most Locals know all about Chickens so you really don’t need to do much with them. The biggest thing is teaching them how to mass produce or raise chickens for profit and commercial means. We had a small chicken pin that had around 40 to 60 chickens and last time we only had around 5 to 15 at one time.
Determine how large you want your farm to be and how many chickens you plan to raise. A poultry farm usually requires 10 square meters per bird. Which I think we planned for 3 to 4 square feet per bird. This may be your building or the open area, but you will need a building for them. A 30,000 sq ft house is needed for 10,000 chickens, if you prefer cage type shed then the built-up area will be 4000 sq ft to 7500 sq ft depending on the type of cage you use in your poultry farm. Average space needed for a bird in cage type shed is from .4 - .75 sq ft. for you 18C’s.
In Afghanistan a small wall made out of small sticks and a bushy thorn was used to keep them in a general area and then a building for them to sleep in. Remember to follow KISS.. DO what the locals are all ready doing. If they are using wooden chicken coops with a small chicken wire fence then you do it. If their coop in mud huts you do it, if they only have plywood coop, and floor sheds, whatever, then take what they are doing and make it bigger. You can use what they are doing and use what you know or can find on the web and just making it bigger. I will say this in Afghanistan, WATER is key. Locals didn’t fully understand this. We made a large Mud house chicken floor sheds coop, like what you see in and around North Carolina. We made it only of Mud and what the locals were all ready doing and just doubled the size and add water to their coops. Our water was a raised 250Liter water tank and had plastic PVC piping into the Coop. Our water tank was on the sun rise side of the coop and we had piping going from one side to the other side then dropping down to two water feeder trays running down the center line and each side of the coop. Corn meal was thrown in by locals along the side of the coop. We had an open area for the chickens also. The locals had a separate area for chickens that were used for laying eggs. We took their plans and just made their laying coop larger. Easy really, just money was all, our CA guys used CERP funds to provide Micro-grants (or loans) to local individuals for a small business loan.
As the 18 Series checking on the chickens; especially if you’re eating them look at it this way. Chickens are just like your children and other house animals or pets. You should be checking on them and their condition continuous to ensure production of chicken and eggs. You’re not a veterinarian but chickens should be checked regularly to ensure their health. Sick chickens will negatively affect your production, and locals will KEEP a sick or poor chicken because they feel they can eat them later. Tell them to kill it now and they can eat it. If you have chicken then get with your veterinarian to find out about them and the care.
Ok so now you have set up a local (which typical is the local village head) with his very own chicken farm to provide funds, chickens, eggs to locals that he will be hiring to work at his small farm. This is the hard part, getting the local to hire locals to work there. Typically we have found that it is not much in the Afghan traditions to hire others outside of your household or mainly you’re FAMILY. Wives and women are not a part of the Afghan Family, it is all the males. Those shit rooms in every compound you have walked into, isn’t for the men. It is for the women that stay they ALL DAY. We except for the 40 minutes they go to the well with the kids to bring back water, and which is the only time she can talk to other women too. So all you CA people, don’t run water lines to houses or compounds, women like to make that walk to the well.
You can now use this farm to feed your ODA and ANA camp. You will buy chicken from the local farm during your visits to the village. You don’t say we will be back here on these days. But more when we come we will likely buys chickens and eggs from you at the bazaar or we will come to the farm to check on the chickens and will by some then. You can also use this process on you’re a camp. We purchased corn from the locals to feed them. Locals crashed the corn up a bit to feed the chickens.
You as that 18C and 18D here are some good web site to look and read up one. Having a guy that has raised chickens for FFA or worked on a chicken farm is best.
http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/?g...FcPD7QodDVfNuA
I like this site as a basic how to:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/rais...ens-basics.php
This is a site I used back in 2007. We had a guy that worked on a chicken farm as a teenager.
http://www.farminfo.org/livestock/chickens.htm
Chicken Shed plans:
http://www.freechickencoopplans.com/
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