About 15 kilometres off the Machakos-Wote highway, the Seeds of Gold team takes the bumpy and dusty road that leads to Kaiti bridge. We drive for about 20 minutes before turning right and climbing the hill to Matheka village.
The moderate temperature here is conducive for sugarcane, avocado and mango production. Some homes have adopted the smallholder mixed crop-livestock systems.
“The upper storey has four cubes with a section for layers, chicks, roosters and a quarantine room for the sick birds,” Kithuku says.
Kithuku, who resides and works in Nairobi, began the project at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The aim was to keep himself busy.
He sold one of his cows at Sh30,000 and ploughed the amount into poultry farming.
Kithuku used some of the money to build a permanent coop and the rest went into buying 24 chicks from a certified breeder in Nairobi.
According to Kithuku, chicken farming is pocket-friendly, unlike rearing cows, goats, sheep or camels. The birds require little space and their maintenance cost is low.
Nduta, who does the bulk of the work, says the daily routine begins by cleaning the cages every morning.
Nduta says chickens are fed on maize flour that is sourced from local posho mills.
Most of their buyers are kiosks, learning institutions and fellow Matheka villagers.
She adds that a farmer needs to watch out for New Castle, a disease that is characterised by sneezing , nasal discharge, twisted neck and diarrhoea.
“New Castle is controlled by cleaning and disinfecting the coop, restricting entry of people into the chicken house and reducing contact between the chickens and other birds like turkeys and ducks,” Nduta says.
The biggest challenge the couple has to deal with is the high cost of feeds. That has made most poultry farmers in Matheka and surrounding villagers quit the venture.
He says environmental extremes like cold and heat can be managed by ensuring the coops are properly ventilated.
