Greetings from Africa

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mtngrant

mtngrant

Hatching
8 Years
Jun 27, 2011
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Hello chicken enthusiasts! I came across this website in search for chicken raising resources so I figured I would give a shout out on the forum. I am a Peace Corps volunteer currently serving in Namibia, Africa. I am a small enterprise development volunteer in a small village in the north of the country. I was recently approached by a woman who was interested in raising chickens for eggs and meat as a way to generate income. I have a about a year of experience with backyard chickens when I was living in Montana; it was a wonderful year! However, that year certainly has not prepared me to confidently undertake a chicken project in Africa. So I am looking for any advice or resources (websites, electronic documents, etc) you have to get me pointed down the right track.

Here are some brief details about the project: 50+ chickens, eggs and meat, 10 people, lots of space, limited resources, the area is hot, dry (except for 3 months during the rainy season), and sandy.

There are lots of chickens wandering around here but whether or not they are good egg-laying or meat breeds, I am not sure. Additionally, commercial feed might be difficult to obtain. Assuming it is possible to get a coop built and secure area for them to run, what else should be put in order to get this operating successfully?

Sorry if this seems far-fetched or vague. I appreciate you taking the time to respond. Let me know if you need more information. Cheers.
 
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from Florida

It sounds like you are taking on quite a project. I am probably not the best person to give you the info you need. I can tell you that you will find tons of info on this forum. We have members from all over the world! I've seen some from Afganistan, Korea, and India who also have limited resources. I'm sure some of more seasoned members can help you sort it out. The forum will pick up in a couple of hours. Most are probably sleeping right now. You can search various topics by typing what you are looking for in the search box on the top right of the page.

Good luck.
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from the state of Indiana! That's going to be a tough one, so I hope some folks with experience in areas like yours see this. Do you have access to wire or netting??

This won't help you right now, but you may find it interesting reading: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=407328&p=1 It's about featherless chickens - an attempt to make raising chickens for meat in third world areas cost effective, especially in areas that are hot.
 
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Welcome:welcome

I am originally from South Africa. Not quite sure where you are in relation to Windhoek. With regard to a coop you would probably just need a back wall and a roof with the rest being a wire mesh. I would bury the wire below ground all the way around to keep out jackal etc.

Perhaps you could grow sunflower seeds/corn and millet to add to whatever feed you can purchase.
 
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from California

What a great project. Not an easy one I'm sure, but a good one none the less.

I raised several breeds of chickens here and I live in an area that can go from 28 degrees in winter to 115 degrees in the summer.

One of the things I'm doing is crossing two of my breeds for meat and eggs. I have the late French Copper Marans and cross them with American Games. The Games do really well in the heat and the Marans are huge dual purpose birds. The idea is to get a large bird that lays well in heat and cold. I've got a lot of these hatched and here I'm using the extra ones to help pay my fed bills. I have an auction very close to my house, so it helps with some of my costs.

You mentioned the chickens in the area and not knowing if they will be good for meat and eggs. A good place to start is to ask someone who has them as many questions about them as you can. You've found one person that knows that area, so hopefully you'll find more. Maybe a mix of the breeds that are running around and another breed would be something you could do for developing a good bird that handles all of the area conditions and still provides the commodities you're looking for.

There ARE members here from Africa. Maybe one of them has stock you can get. They would know what thrives well and maybe be able to direct you to a dual purpose breed. That's what you are looking for. Dual purpose, unless you want to set up addional areas. One for meat birds, one for layers.

This site is going to be one of your best resources. The board helps you get direct answers to your questions and there are many people here that can find information faster than anything I've seen.

One place I was thinking might help is National Geographic. They have just about everything covered there. They may have an article on poultry that is most used in the area.

The Peace Corps should also be able to provide some information. I'm surprised it wasn't given to you or isn't readily available.

I think no matter what plan you come up with that securing them from preditors is going to be your top priority. As far as feed, the suggestions you got from another member are good ideas. I don't know what you'd be able to grow there. I do know the black sunflower are very easy to grow and are heat tolerant. They are a healthy suppliment to your feed and then finding all of the typed of grains that can grow in your area and make up a balanced diet, may help with not being able to find fed close by.

You can find threads here with a variety of recipes for feed that some have come up with. Maybe search for those and then find out what is listed and see if it will grow with not to much trouble there.

I really hope you are able to help them. This would be a good way of helping them become self sufficient and maybe they can even help others do the same. It's great that you are trying to help them with this project. I hope you'll continue to post here, so we can all see how the project goes.
 

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