. . . with a cluck, cluck here, and a cluck, cluck there. Here a cluck. There a cluck. Everywhere a cluck, cluck.
The chickens have finally arrived!
It’s been a journey—I have learned a lot on it. And, I have learned that I still don’t know much about raising chickens!
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| Mardoché working on the water dispenser set up |
The journey began last February when we began construction on the coop. I had plans and everything; unfortunately, those plans weren’t followed, and we ended up with a coop about twice as large as we needed. It didn’t help that the construction was (mostly) done while I was back in the States during Carnival week.
Fast forward to May—we still didn't have the coop finished! No matter how much I hounded people to get it finished, it just wasn’t going to happen. At least not before summer break.
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| Cozy Crate |
When I returned in August, I made finishing the coop a priority. And, it only took six weeks to accomplish! Then started the process of getting what we needed to actually care for the chickens—feeder, water dispenser, food, bedding, medicine, vaccines, etc.
Thus began a whole new learning curve for me. I found the chicken place on my own thanks to good directions from Mardoché. I managed to get a quote all on my own. Managed to order the chickens on my own.
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| Kids ripped up the cardboard for us |
Then I panicked about the bedding and floor covering—didn’t know where to find it in Haiti and most people said that what I was looking for wasn’t needed. Totally conflicting advice from multiple sources. So, I followed the advice of Gertrude: dry leaves and light-weight carboard torn up would be fine.
Then the agronom stopped in to give us some help—and totally shot down the dry leaves and ripped-up cardboard idea. We, Mardoché and I, had no idea what we were doing, and it turns out we needed lots of help. With the chickens arriving in less than 36 hours, we were feeling some pressure.
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| Feeding Frenzy |
Saturday morning Mardoché and I met at the school to figure out how to set up the water dispenser and feeder. After two hours--with the water dispenser still not working--we decided we should go get the chickens before the place closed.
I had wanted to take the truck so that we could put the chickens in the back (not sure how we would keep them from flying away, but it seemed better than putting them inside a vehicle). Well, we had the van instead, so they would be inside a vehicle no matter what. We get to the chicken place, and our chickens are in these two tiny crates, about ten in each. I thought they looked crowded, but they seemed happy. Apparently, there was enough room because three of them laid eggs while we got everything ready to transport them!
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| Drinking craze |
So, the chickens go in the van. And proceed to poop. All over the seat and floor. Oops. I didn’t think inside was a good idea, but, no one wanted to listen to me!
Back at the ranch, er . . . school, we put the chickens in the coop. They proceeded to drink and eat as if there were no tomorrow! We grabbed the three eggs out of the crates and gave them to Patrick, our driver—the eggs were still warm! Talk about fresh.
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| I thought a toilet bowl brush would be better than just a towel! |
The day ended with Patrick, William (the school handyman), and I scrubbing out the van and spraying peach-scented perfume to cover the chicken smell.
This morning I went to the school to feed and water the chickens. We have much work to do! Water from the dispenser on the floor, poop everywhere because we didn't put down enough leaves, and only one egg laid in a next. Gonna have to go back later today and keep working on it
Even though only one egg was laid in a nest (I got to take it out with the hen still on it!), we did have four hens lay!
