Where the chickens roost at night...#savethechickens

 Photo from tripadvisor.co.uk

Every day the sun sets over the equator and every day chickens in Uganda seek refuge for the night hoping to survive countless predators, including thieves. For a successful farmer, the possibilities are endless, most often locking their chickens away in huts or chicken coops for the night to ensure their poultry’s safety. However, for the few that can afford very little, a different way of providing safety for their chickens emerged decades ago. This innovative method involved training their chickens to climb up nearby trees so that they can roost in safety.

Now if you know anything about chickens, they do not really fly. They leap or jump off the ground for short periods of time with the use of their wings so casually flying up into trees is not an option for them; they must climb. Through what could be classified as Ivan Pavlov’s  “Classical Conditioning” form of learning, the farmers conditioned their chickens to roost in the nearby trees when night fell. This behavior is instinctive in chickens, so training them to roost in trees every evening is a natural and unforced behavioral change, hence why it became a common practice.

The chickens in rural Uganda are the true definition of free-range, spending their days roaming farmlands and their nights sleeping freely in trees. Like the ladders in chicken coops, the chickens hop up the trees to a safe height where they can comfortably rest their eyes and know that the probability of them opening their eyelids the following morning is relatively high. Please note however, that this was not always the safest choice for chickens because back in the day when there were fewer settlements and more wildlife, attempts to find safety in trees were futile. This was because the most common predator in the area was none other than the tree-lurking leopard.

The new fight for these chickens these days however, is not only finding safety from obvious predators during the night, but the silent predators that come in the form of diseases and parasites. One of these killers is Newcastle Disease (NCD), a contagious bird disease that wipes out thousands of chickens every year. These chickens do not have a fighting chance without a vaccine against NCD. However, with the new KUKUSTAR I-2 Thermostable NCD vaccine, Brentec Vaccines is giving farmers the chance to protect their poultry from a much bigger threat.

Time is of the Essence…#savethechickens

Photo by Kristian Rangel Vallari

As millions of unsuspecting chickens leave their innocent footprints on Ugandan soil, they are unaware that what lies ahead of them is yet another seasonal battle. Their enemy once again is the deadly Newcastle Disease (NCD), a disease that will wipe them out in masses if they are not vaccinated against it. The dry season is approaching and so begins the mass movement of these birds, which is the driving force behind the spread and infection of NCD amongst poultry in rural Uganda. As they travel from household to household and farm to farm, they rub shoulders against their fellow fowls, increasing their risk of infection drastically and leaving them vulnerable to the deadly disease that has been waiting patiently to make yet another dent in the chicken and poultry population in the area.

The beginning of the dry season is marked by holidays where the chickens punch in frequent traveler miles as gifts, merchandise and rare treats at holiday feasts. It is also the time when farmers lay down their tools and focus on the business aspect of their farms and households because most farming comes to a halt with the absence of rain. The mass transit of the birds from place to place allows the disease to travel to new destinations through infected birds and with humans, who carry the disease most often through contact with infected offal. The proximity of the birds in the various modes of transport during transit and also at their new destinations is when the birds are most susceptible to infection. This makes it the most opportune time for Newcastle Disease to strike and become an epidemic.

The pressure is now on Brentec Vaccines as we race against the clock. With the upcoming launch of the KUKUSTAR I-2 Thermostable NCD Vaccine, which was designed to make the vaccine easier to transport to even the most remote areas in Uganda, it is imperative that we get the ball rolling and reach out to these rural farmers. We must achieve this before the movement of the chickens becomes almost identical to holiday travelers through Heathrow Airport, making it impossible to control the spread of the disease. If farmers can act quickly and we are able to give them access to the vaccine, we could save thousands of chickens from the death grip of Newcastle Disease.

You can follow Brentec Vaccines on Facebook (Brentec Vaccines) and Twitter (@BrentecVaccines). Together we can #savethechickens.