Happy Chickens for Fiji Food & Climate Emergency!

Emergency Rescue of 30 tightly-caged and crippled hens:

Here at the Happy Chicken farm we mobilized and immediately responded to take in 30 improperly housed caged commercial egg chickens.  Most had been held so long that they were barely able to walk.  While many countries have banned the cruelm practice of chaged egg production, with three hens per gage and barely enough room to turn around, which unfortunately leads to unhealthy poultry in such dire straits.  We're not here to cast stones, but to teach local farmers how it is actually less expensive to have free roaming chickens during the day, with chicken house protection during the night.  That way, the chickens will feed off of the many natural plants and waste foods and coconuts we cut open for them, which build their bodies and make them healthy and more productive.  The sad chickens are becoming very happy now.  Although their bodies were exhausted from being jailed for so long and laying for 6-9 months, they are now gaining strength and will be laying again within two months.  We are crossing them with our big cross-breed roosters and hatching the eggs to produce chicks that grow into excellent egg producing hens. 

Corals for Conservation launched Happy Chickens as our first project to assist poor and reef-dependent communities, many who were setting aside no-fishing zones, and who needed an alternative food source.  Our Happy Chickens, particularly with the mini-hatchery program we created last year, provide a livelihood to the women of fisherman households, while also providing families a reliable protein source.  

Happy Chickens succeeds because we recognize the connection between human well-being and the natural prosperity of nature, and the need to protect it:  "One Planet, One People, One Atmosphere, and One Ocean!"

Here in the South Pacific, our communities are but dots in a vast expanse of ocean.  Even with the recognition of our being a tiny corner of the planet, Corals for Conservation celebrates the fact that individuals like you and me can make a big difference!  It is vital that the indigenous peoples of the world, most of whom still live by farming and fishing be recognized as being intellenegt and in greater balance with nature than most societies are presentlhy, and so our work to help them build a sustainable ocean and islands is important in helping secure not only their own future, but also the future of the entire planet.