I gotta say it. If you need an article about chickens in Iraq, you can count on 1st Lt. William Perdue.

Classrooms are once again filled with children. Families are tending their fields and dust fills the air from boys playing soccer. The community of Abu Lukah, Iraq, has been transformed through security.

Residents have opened businesses in the area. During the past few months, chicken houses, barber shops and restaurants have sprung up.

Another stride forward has been the establishment of an agriculture union in Abu Lukah.

Soldiers in Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, assessed a brick business, March 14.

The business owner buys the concrete mix from Musayyib and makes bricks on-site. He started the operation just three weeks ago and says business is good.

His primary market is the community of Abu Lukah.

This is the third new brick business in Abu Lukah in the past three months. There is a demand for bricks to build and improve homes in Abu Lukah.

“This increase in infrastructure is indicative of employment gains experienced through Sons of Iraq, the Ag Union and small contracts,” said 1st Lt. Travis Hayes, platoon leader for 2nd Platoon, Company A, 1st Battalion, 76th Field Artillery, attached to HHC, 3-7th Inf. Regt. “It is also an indicator of the fact that people now have enough income … to spend money for things other than basic subsistence needs.”

MNF-I
By 1st Lt. William Perdue
4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division

We’re reaching a point where some of our soldiers in Iraq are more in danger from a stampede than from enemy action. And look at the author’s name, just for a yolk.

Chicken farming in Iraq is moving toward pre-war levels, as coalition forces work with farmers to overcome challenges.

Dialogue has begun on how to increase production with the owners of seven chicken houses in the region where the 3rd Infantry Division’s 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, operates.

The community of Abu Lukah, one of the first areas where soldiers discovered chicken houses, has four chicken houses, three of which are functioning. The first visit by the unit was at the end of January, during which the owner, Abdul Sataar, had just begun a new cycle. Recently the unit revisited Chicken House No. 1 to check on the status of operations. It had been about 35 days since the arrival of the first batch of chicks, and in about 10 days the chickens would be ready for sale.

Of the initial 7,500 chicks, only 210 died during this cycle, a 2.8 percent loss for Abdul Sataar. He will sell the chickens to the highest bidder from the Baghdad, Karbala or Hilla markets.

“This is an absolute success story,” said Capt. David Stewart, commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3-7th Infantry Regiment. “Abdul conducts his business without coalition assistance and is able to maintain profitability.”

Recently, four other chicken houses were discovered in the Abu Jasim area. Two had about 2,000 chickens and were able to produce seven crates filled with 350 eggs each. The farm is operating at about 50 percent of capacity due to limited electricity and fuel to run the generators. Profit from the eggs is being used to buy fuel and to keep the farm running, Stewart said.

The other two chicken houses face the same challenges, Stewart added. They have 24,000 white chickens and 18,000 red chickens, and are able to produce 77 crates of eggs daily.

Because limited electricity affects their capacity, the farmers are unable to sell chickens and to produce feed to sell at the market, Stewart said. The short-term solution is to replace the generators. The famers now have three generators, two of which need repairs.

The long-term solution, the captain said, is to get off the generators and use industrial power. Efforts are going to be focused on fixing the power to greatly impact the community, Stewart added.

(Army 1st Lt. William Perdue serves in the public affairs office of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team.)

DoD
By 1st Lt. William Perdue, USA
Special to American Forces Press Service