Poultry farming in South Africa. Poultry houses and chicken farming in a green way – so what is green poultry farming? There are currently only two processes that can be called green – and both of them fall short. Free range chicken farming is green in that the chicken has a good life but the planet and supply chain is ignored and Organic chicken farming – which is green for humans and chickens but mostly ignores the planet. Free range eggs and organic eggs are overpriced because the economies of scale are not there yet. This is likely to change as people around the world start to grasp the dangers of intensive farming practises – which lead to disease, drug resistant bacteria and contaminated meat filled with antibiotics and chemicals – all put into our food sources for the benefit of profit. Anyone who has ever been on a chicken farm that uses layer cages or battery farming is unlikely ever to eat an egg again – and if they had any inkling of what chemicals and medication is used they would probably become vegetarians.

A more holistic view needs to be taken – Green chicken farming would take the best of organic chicken farming (minus the huge certification costs) and the best of free range. It would allow small farmers to have their produce (chicken eggs and broiler chickens) classified and marketed in a way that also save the planet. Most of the planet killing comes in the supply chain – trucks, chemicals etc. Most of the profit does not end up in the small farmers hands – and most of the eggs and chickens end up being moved around the the country (and sometimes the world). Whether the broiler poultry houses are for broiler chickens or layer chickens a green solution can be found that suits Africans and the small growers.

Poultry houses and chicken farming  – using standard poultry equipment and poultry suppliers in South Africa can overcome the challenges. Chicken houses for small poultry producers are the first step – small poultry producers buying and selling locally. Poultry farming in South Africa is dominated by the large produces and the large chain stores. Knock down chicken houses are an option for the remote rural areas. All kinds of poultry production use cooling (fans), heat (usually gas heaters or coal heaters) and lights (for regulating and increasing production rates) – Solar lights are easy enough to install, and relatively inexpensive, solar fans present more of a problem – but as most fans run at night batteries are not needed. The biggest challenge is solar heating – heat needs to be available 24 hours a day in a broiler house with baby chicks – and solar heaters with that kind of capacity are just not available on the market.

The use of chicken waste or chicken litter has great potential as a bio fuel – but again, it is costly to implement – using the chicken waste in a green fashion for crop fertilizer is an option that is seldom used by any chicken farmer. Small poultry producers would do well to grow crops that their chickens could eat instead of trucking in chicken feed.

Poultry houses, poultry farming, chickens, hoender, pluimvee, organic eggs, organic chickens, free range chickens, free range eggs, green technology, green farming or green chicken farming is an answer – we need action from government - government loans for poultry farming are not enough. We need a concerted effort in terms of training and education – for farmers and the public.