Restarting the Egg Farm
We are in the process of restarting a women’s cooperative egg farm. The egg farm was one of the original economic projects for Grupo Cajolá and it was highly successful for many years. A group of six women independently managed about 1800 egg-laying hens. They acquired impressive managing and planning skills and were Cajolá’s pioneers in operating a business collectively.
In addition to the daily work of collecting eggs, feeding the hens, and ensuring the health of the hens, the cooperative had to set aside funds to pay for the next month’s feed, and to purchase the next group of hens (hens lay eggs productively for about 14 months). The women’s work was so successful that buyers came from Quetzaltenango to purchase the eggs!
In March 2022, the inflationary spiral that began after the pandemic overwhelmed them, and they decided to sell the hens and to take a six-month break.
However, all but one of the women found other projects or activities during that six-month break. The remaining woman has now found six other women to work with her. The newly formed cooperative of seven women invested their own capital, and with funds raised on the Global Giving platform, they had the hen house repaired, purchased 400 hens and the chicken feed to sustain them until they are laying enough eggs to pay for their feed. The hens arrived on March 27th, 2025 and they are back in business!
Donate to the Egg Farm by clicking on the 'Donate' button here on the right.
The first 400 hens arrived in March, 2025. The women would like to fill the second hen house in November, 2025.
$30 buys a bag of feed – the women need to feed the hens from arrival until they begin laying eggs, about 3 weeks. They will need 240 bags to feed 800 hens – $7200.
$131 buys a dozen hens – their goal is 800 hens.
The new Egg Farm Team
