© Photo Credit to Sandy Davis
All About The Chickens!
The focus for the January 2020 trip was to assist the Salvadorans in the building of a new Community Chicken Coop, that will supply many families in San Diego, El Salvador with both food and ongoing income. They also spent time making new friends and learning about the history, culture, and people of this wonderful country.
You can read all about the trip along with many photos that were taken, on our El Salvador 2020, Trip Archives page.
The first video was sent to us on January 27, 2020, showing the completion of the new community chicken coop.
Once Otoniel Pleités, an Agricultural Technician with Otra Fe El Salvador, returns to El Salvador (Feb 18th) from his visit to Canada, he will do 3 workshops with the participants, after which the chickens, the feed, and the medicines will be purchased.
The second video was taken by one of our volunteers while helping with the build earlier in January 2020.
This style of chicken coop was designed by the Otra Fe El Salvador agronomist, Otoniel Pleites (who coincidentally is the "Ot" in Otra Fe) to withstand earthquakes, provide adequate shelter from sun and wind for the chickens and also a secure storage area for the chicken feed. It will hold 100 chickens to provide meat for six families with ample chicken left over to sell in order to have money with which to purchase more chicks to raise. This creates a self sustaining cycle.
The cement blocks used for the building are reinforced with rebar which was installed first in the foundation and the blocks are placed over the rebar. As seen in the video on the left, it was a challenge to reach! The tall area at the back of the project will become the storage area and the front, lower walls will be completed with wood posts and chicken wire and the whole structure will be covered with a roof. This work will be completed by the builder that was hired to lay the bricks, putting dollars into the local economy. He will be aided by the benefiting families as well.