The chicken farm program in Lahindaro is designed to provide a sustainable means of living for the people of Lahindaro. There are some 500 families in the village who have no basis of income due to their exile status. SAO Buton has developed, in conjunction with the people, a program for the establishment of a large chicken farm for production of eggs. In the above photographs you can see some of the clearing and construction of the chicken farm in March and April 2000.

The chickens were to be housed in three large barns, one with a raised floor for protection of the small hatchlings and to provide quarters for the staff who would be on hand 24 hours a day and storage for foodstuffs and supplements.

The other buildings would house the tiered rows of pens for the chickens, designed so that feeding, watering, cleaning and collection of eggs can take place efficiently.

We commenced with 3000 live chickens in April 2000 and added another 1300 chickens in June. The chickens began laying on 23 August and full production commenced in September when the first batch of chickens reached maturity.

In all of Buton there is only one existing chicken farm where there are 1,500 laying chickens, and this is nowhere near enough for the needs of the island. The short-supply on local produce is brought in from Makassar and Java. This is why we decided upon the chicken farm as a sustainable activity for the Lahindaro folks. They will have ongoing work into the future and will earn their income form share distribution of the product sales.