Student builds ideal chicken coop for busy, urban farmers

The coop is divided into four cages, with each holding up to eight layers or broilers. However, it can be extended vertically or horizontally to keep more chicken. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • This modern coop is the brainchild of Ms Joan Jeruto, 21, a diploma student in general agriculture at Kitale National Polytechnic.
  • Jeruto said her motivation was to come up with an innovation which can be used by small-scale poultry farmers.
  • She presented the invention at the national technical vocational education and training (TVET) institutions science fair and science congress in June and July last year in Kisumu and Nairobi respectively, where it emerged tops in the agricultural innovation category.

From afar, one can dismiss it as just another ordinary chicken coop.

However, this modern coop is the brainchild of Ms Joan Jeruto, 21, a diploma student in general agriculture at Kitale National Polytechnic.

BUSY LIFESTYLES

She came up with the innovation last year and is ideal for small-scale farmers, particularly those in urban centres who have very busy lifestyles.

“This was not a school project... it was my own initiative but the school supported me to assemble this coop,” she told the Nation.

The coop is divided into four cages, with each holding up to eight layers or broilers. However, it can be extended vertically or horizontally to keep more chicken.

The coop is made of galvanised iron sheets, wire mesh and metallic rods.

Ms Jeruto said her motivation was to come up with an innovation which can be used by small-scale poultry farmers.

WATER FLOW

Atop the coop is a bucket connected to a pipe which supplies water to the birds. The water flows to plastic nipples. Each cage has three red-coloured nipples.

“When a chicken pecks on the nipple, droplets of water comes out and they are able to quench their thirst,” she said.

Ms Jeruto said a farmer can either use the same bucket or introduce another when he or she wants to vaccinate the birds.

In between the cages are movable feeders, both in the upper and lower side.

The lower one is made of plastic pipes and covered with corks (costs about Sh150) at the end to prevent spillage of the feeds while it is rotating. The upper one is metallic.

Each feeder has six wooden boxes for keeping the chicken feeds. The boxes are perforated to allow the birds access the feeds.

“When the chicken consume the feed in each feeder it will result in a weight difference and this automatically allows it to rotate,” Ms Jeruto said.

She said her innovation is ideal for urban farmers with limited space.

“Your work is just to place the feeds and even if you go for a week, the chicken are able to get feeds and water by themselves,” she said.

SCIENCE FAIRS

Ms Jeruto said it took her two months to assemble the structure at cost of Sh29,000.

At each end of the four cages are laying nests made of wooden tray covered with saw-dust.

Ms Jeruto’s innovation has caught the eyes of many people.

She presented the invention at the national technical vocational education and training (TVET) institutions science fair and science congress in June and July last year in Kisumu and Nairobi respectively, where it emerged tops in the agricultural innovation category.

In February this year, she patented her innovation at the Kenya Industrial Property Institute.

According to Mr Lewis Kibagendi, a lecturer at the agriculture department of Kitale National Polytechnic, the coop reduces labour costs and curbs the spread of diseases since the birds are separated in different cages. “It is difficult to lose the entire stock in the event of disease outbreak since they are held in different compartments. In case a farmer notices there’s a disease outbreak in a particular cage, then it is very easy to treat or replace the sick birds,” Mr Kibagendi said.

Ms Jeruto’s invention is not the only good news coming from the college. Apart from the modern coop, other innovations at the learning institution are a manual planter and an improvised coffee plump, which are also designed for small-scale farmers.