EA - Healthier Hens Y1.5 Update and scaledown assessment by lukasj10

Link to original articleWelcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Healthier Hens Y1.5 Update and scaledown assessment, published by lukasj10 on April 14, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.TL;DRHealthier Hens (HH) has scaled down due to not being able to secure enough funding to provide a sufficient runway to pilot dietary interventions effectively. We will continue through mini-projects and refining our plan for a feed pilot on the ground until our next organisational assessment at the end of summer 2023. Most efforts will now be spent on reporting, dissemination and fundraising. In this post we share updates, show what went well, less so and what others can learn from our attempts.Our mission and updated approachKeel bone fractures (KBF) are the second biggest source of hens’ suffering after behavioural deprivation related to cages, and the biggest in cage-free systems. Our mission remains to reduce the suffering of hens by addressing this source of pain. Numerous studies indicate that dietary interventions can reduce bone fractures. Our goal is to find ways to help hens get adequate nutrition and experience less pain. Besides research and piloting activities, we are doing that by outreach and collaboration with Kenyan cage-free egg farming stakeholders (including farmers, feed mills, universities and regulators) to improve on-farm hen welfare. Please read our introductory, 6M and 1Y update posts to learn more about the background and progress of HH. Due to funding constraints, we have downscaled and now focus on building capacity through mini-projects before piloting an intervention on the ground.HH Y1.5 updateWe decided to scale down and as of the first of March 2023, HH is a volunteer-led organisation. We will have our next evaluation point at the end of summer 2023.Despite major delays brought on by the presidential elections in Kenya, HH is finally a registered entity in both the US and our country of pilot operations.We carried out two additional farmer workshops in Murang’a and Nakuru counties. A report outlining this work will be published in May 2023. The workshops revealed significant knowledge gaps coupled with expressed interest by the farmers to learn and improve. To retain engagement, we began providing free resources and formed a WhatsApp group to stay connected with motivated cage-free farmers.Cage-free farmer workshop in Nakuru county, October, 2022.Cage-free coalition strategic session in Naivasha in February, 2023.We have published the third volume of our hen feed fortification literature review. This edition focused on nutrient level recommendations and the potential of other additives to improve bone health. We have also published a report outlining our feed sampling findings. It confirms potential issues with Kenyan feed quality and compositional consistency.We are engaged in the formation of a regional cage-free coalition aimed at accelerating transition campaigns, led by African Network for Animal Welfare.We surveyed our staff in February. We generally felt positive about the organization's culture and values. The survey also reveals that we were generally satisfied with our team and work, but were concerned about the impact of the recent decision to downscale. We also felt that there was a lack of critical feedback and constant communication within the team.Our collaboration with the University of Bern indicates negative results of a split-feeding intervention. While we expected a decrease in KBFs without compromising egg quality, surprisingly, poorer egg quality, digestive issues and neutral-to-negative effect on KBFs are observed.To explore alternative fundraising avenues, we looked into several social enterprise concepts, where hen welfare benefits could be attained while also improving the livelihoods of African cage-free farmers. The chosen concept (a hybridised adaptation of the wor...