COLONIA, YAP, FSM.  Steven Young-Uhk, CRE Coordinator, Yap Cooperative Research and Extension.

There is a growing trend in Yap for backyard chicken farming. More and more households in Yap are doing backyard poultry farming using imported breeds and combination of local feed materials and commercial feed to produce eggs for consumption and selling the surplus for extra income. Through one-on-one intervention and farm visits, Yap CES has been providing technical assistance and advice on a wide range of poultry topics including type of breeds, importation and quarantine requirements, brooding and caring for chicks, feeding, watering, and general health care.

A recent extension survey on backyard chicken farmers in Yap revealed that these households are raising from 4 to 21 chickens per family (average of 11 chickens) and producing 3-19 eggs per day. Some families sell their eggs at a price range of $3.75 to $4.25 per dozen and/or $0.40 to 0.50 per fresh or boiled egg. The chicken coop designs are simple using a variety of low-cost materials such as bamboo, wire, or plastic fencing, thatch or old roofing tin for the roof, and dry litter materials for the flooring.

Raising chickens in the backyard offer many advantages to the households. This include: i) Hens will provide the family a steady supply of fresh healthy eggs, considerably healthier than their store bought counterparts, ii) Surplus eggs may be sold for extra family income, iii) Children can learn a lot from raising chickens and many people keep chickens as pets. Additionally chicken manure and bedding materials are good for the family garden.