New "residents" at the Child Rescue Centre

The Child Rescue Centre has some new residents - chickens!  With the advice of Njala Agricultural Professor, Roland Suluku, and under the supervision of Head Gardener, Kinnie Earnest, the CRC has added a chicken coop to the CRC Garden program.  Twenty laying hens were recently installed in the brand new coop, and are busily supplying the CRC with eggs.  Roland provided advice and counsel on the size of the coop, the number of chickens  (the coop will ultimately hold as many as 40, but the CRC opted to start small with just 20 hens to start) and he vaccinated each of the hens.  Roland also spent time training Kinnie and CRC staff and children in the care and feeding of these new CRC residents.  Under the careful supervision of Kinnie and the CRC staff, the children will participate in helping to care for these chickens.  

According to Roland, the hens will begin laying eggs by next month, and  can lay eggs for 18 months consecutively. The eggs will be used as food at the CRC, and extras will be shared with families enrolled in the microfinance program who may benefit from the eggs, either as food or as a business.  As a part of the partnership between Mercy and CRC, patients at Mercy who may need extra protein might also benefit from the eggs. The children are learning a lot about agriculture through the CRC Garden.