Today we flew to our second destination: Rio Prato, home of many of Brazil’s hatcheries (that is, where eggs from hens are incubated until they hatch, and sold to chicken growers). The size of these operations are absolutely phenomenal: in this small area, over 10 million chickens are born every single day.
After driving to the operations, we were given a fantastic lunch, and an overview of how chickens are grown in Brazil on powerpoint. Not to mention free merchandise (hats, t-shirts and pens … ah, I felt like I was home again!) … it was nice to be the client again!
One part which was quite not-as-hospitable-as-I-was-expecting was the procedure we needed to go through to have a look inside the hatchery. You see, with millions of chickens under incubation – and each chicken worth almost a dollar – disease is an extraordinarily big issue.
The solution? Before anyone can enter the premises, they need to strip, shower, change into a sterilized set of clothes (complete with thongs), have all your belongings fumigated, and enter the sealed, restricted area. Sound glamorous? It was the closest I think I’ve ever felt like what it is to enter jail – without the strip searching and feeling guilty! Here’s us at the shower block after our “hose down” …
Once inside, the usual array of cute chicks ready for sale was to greet us …
… accompanied by cool little machines that segregate male and female chicks – labeled accordingly! If only human life was this easy! Just kidding … =)
It was great to get out to Rio Prato. Unlike the endless urban sprawl of Sao Paulo, these are the Brazillian suburbs - where chickens and cows wonder free and little kids play soccer and skip rope in the streets. Like African kids, life is beautiful for them …
Oh, and now I can say “I’ve been to Rio” without lying!
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