Diary of a poultry farmer: Any good farm worker out there?

Some minutes after I got to my farm last Saturday morning, the dogs started to woof. The farm is next to the main road leading to Njiru Health Centre and in most cases, the dogs bark at passers-by, although their persistence was unusual. I requested the worker to check at the gate just in case there was a guest.

Five minutes later, he hadn’t resumed work and when I checked on him, I saw him chatting up two lassies barely in their early teens. I’d never known my worker to be a ladies’ man but I decided to give him some ‘breathing space’.

Ten minutes later, I became fretful because he was taking too long and yet the birds needed water and feed change. I sauntered towards the gate and to my surprise, the chat had turned into a quarrel, but hold your horses first.

If you’re a regular, you’ll recall my 12-step guide to the drop in egg production that I shared on March 10, (see Step-by-step diagnosis for drop in egg production available online). In step 11, I mentioned that a good homicide detective first looks for clues closer home.

I’ve said before that every farmer has a story or two to tell about their farm workers. You probably recall the incident when some men wielding guns pulled into my farm and threatened to carry away my chickens.

Later, I learnt that they had a score to settle with my worker for reasons I’ve never quite come to understand. I let him go (Seeds of Gold, June 11, 2016).

The qualities I look for in a worker include honesty, industry and ability to work with minimal supervision.

Unfortunately, it’s difficult to find a worker with all these qualities. In fact, most of the farm workers I’ve had were hard working but they required constant supervision.

It’s certainly a good idea to get references from friends, family and trusted neighbours but I’ve realised that people will tell you what you want to hear to get a job.

It also helps to ensure they’re supervised round-the-clock. At some point, I’d hired a part-time manager to oversee the day-to-day farm management, although it became too expensive for me and I had to let him go.

SELLING TO NEIGHBOURS

I’ve also tried to offer a good salary and other benefits such as free housing, water, electricity and NHIF medical cover.

All said, I’ve learnt that when it comes to farm workers, sometimes luck plays a major role. Another lesson is to trust but verify.

Now, here’s the answer to the puzzle about the quarrel. The worker had been selling eggs and chicken to the neighbours behind my back.

The two girls had come to demand for their change and refused to leave until their request was granted, hence the altercation.

I confronted the worker to discern his reason for stealing from me (since my egg incubator started working two months ago, I’d instructed him not to sell any eggs). At first he denied vehemently but when I insisted, he blurted out a cheeky riposte, “I was tempted by the devil!”

Later, after dismissing him, I discovered that besides his larceny tendencies, he’d found other ways of making a quick buck. I used to send him money to buy electricity tokens but instead of loading them into the system, he’d figured a way to by-pass the meter connection.

He’d colluded with an electrician to tap power directly from the electric post so that they could share the money for the tokens. I’d been spending about Sh5,000 every month only on electricity tokens.

Okay, as a telephone farmer, I visit my farm once a week every Saturday without fail. However, one thing I’ve learnt with telephone farming is that if you find that despite constant prodding, you’re not getting desired results, take action immediately.

Luckily, I’d trained another worker who came to replace him the same day.

For now, I’m still assessing the damage but one idea is to install CCTV cameras on the farm to enable me monitor everything going on. I remain steadfast.