Thousands of chickens suffocated in an enclosed coop at a local chicken farm over the past weekend when the farm’s back-up generator failed to engage after a power outage. The farm supplies chickens to, among others, the national company Rainbow Chicken Farms.

The incident occurred on the Kharishume Poultry Farm along the Madombidza road south of Makhado (Louis Trichardt). Some 19 000 chickens died on the farm.

The Zoutpansberger became aware of the tragedy when residents of the neighbouring Rietvlei smallholdings started complaining about the overwhelming stench emanating from the farm. When the newspaper visited Kharishume’s coops on Tuesday, live chickens were found trampling over decaying carcasses in the coop.

When asked, owner and manager of the farm Mr Tumelo Siliga explained on Wednesday that the chickens had died as a result of a power cut on Friday afternoon. The chickens, which are kept in an enclosed coop, suffocated when the back-up generator that was supposed to power the ventilation fans also failed.

The chickens that survived, as far as the newspaper could determine, were sent to Bush Valley Farms in Tzaneen on Tuesday. Bush Valley is a contract supplier for Rainbow Chicken Farms. Kharishume, said Siliga, functioned as a contract grower for Bush Valley. Bush Valley would supply feed and day-old chicks to Kharishume to grow to a certain age until they are ready to be slaughtered.

Bush Valley confirmed on Wednesday morning that they had received 12 000 chickens intended for slaughtering and sale. “They are not sick,” was the response when Bush Valley was asked whether they thought the chickens were still fit for human consumption, especially after they had been left among thousands of decomposing carcasses for more than two days. All other questions were, however, referred to Rainbow Chickens’ head office in Durban.

According to Siliga, he and his employees managed to clear about one quarter of the dead chickens from the coop. By Saturday, however, the stench from the rotting chickens kept helpers away. “Nobody wanted to help me,” said Siliga. 

On Wednesday, all the live chickens were removed and Siliga was waiting for Bush Valley to send a TLB to help clean the coops and dig a hole to bury them in. “This disaster has bankrupted me,” said Siliga. He also lost about 10 000 chickens during the January floods. “What can you do when your back-up plan also fails?”

Siliga also did not think that the chickens that he sent to Bush Valley would be unfit for human use. “Chickens die in coops every day,” he remarked. “We supplied food and water to the remaining chickens, which means that they did not peck at the dead carcasses,” he added.

Local SPCA animal inspector Mr Lawrence Khodobo was asked to comment on the situation at Kharishume. He confirmed that the SPCA had been contacted by neighbouring farms about the smell. “We couldn’t do anything about the smell,” Khodobo said.

Asked about the live chickens that were left in the coop among the carcasses, Khodobo also remarked that chickens died every day. “This is the first time that something like this has happened at Kharishume. It is very unfortunate,” he said. Khodobo said that, like many other chicken farms, Kharishume was subjected to the SPCA’s inspection.

At the time of going to press, comment from the head office of Rainbow Chicken Farms was still forthcoming.

Click here to see a short video clip taken of the live chickens that were left with the decaying carcasses on Kharishume.