Hi folks,

Greetings from Peru. It is spring here. The kids had a weeklong celebration at school. The trees are blooming and the bird’s songs are different. It seems strange to us to have spring in September /October. It has also been very hot with only a little rain occasionally.

The chicken project keeps me very busy. The critical thing for a new flock is heat for the chicks. Yes even here in the hot jungle chicks need heat especially at night when it can get down in the 70’s. Heat is provided with charcoal burned in 55 gallon drum halves. Someone needs to check them every 3 hours the first week around the clock. There is no automation here so the curtains on the chicken house are regulated manually to control ventilation and heat.

The second chicken house is finished now and we have the first flock of 1000 chickens in it. I have some before and after pictures of the house. Yes, it still looks crude but I get the feeling from the brothers here they think is over built. The metal roof that I used should last 10 years or more which is much better than 1 year for the thatch roof.

Several trips are made to Iquitos every week now for feed. This is usually an all-day affair. Monday I had a lot of other things I needed to do so I called ahead to schedule the feed so I wouldn’t have to spend all day in town. They said it would be ready at 11:00 in the morning. But after I got there they changed the pickup time several times until it was 3:30 in the afternoon when I picked it up. The older boys (12-15 year olds) hoist the 110 lb. sacks on their shoulders and help carry them up the hill to the chicken house.

We use wood shavings for bedding. It is readily available in Nauta at several carpenter shops. We take feed sacks in and fill 20-30 at a time and haul them back. The young boys (8-12 year olds) love to carry them up the hill to the chicken houses because they are big and look like a 110 lb. sack of feed but are

light enough for them to handle.

With 2 chicken houses functioning we can raise 2 flocks at a time. I have the flocks staggered so the first is half finished before the next one starts. Each flock takes about 6 weeks from start to finish. There’s a flock in the first chicken house now that is almost ready to sell. This is the second 1000 bird flock for this chicken house since we came back from the States in June. The chickens are doing very well up to this point. We have realized a 25% profitability so far.

The profit from the chickens goes toward the home’s expenses. A month or so ago the selling price of chickens dipped way below what is needed to just break even. Fortunately the price has come up again although not as high as before but we are still concerned. You can pray with us for the profitability of this project. Thank you for your interest and your prayers.

Stan