10,000 chickens to ‘ride out’ hurricane on St Mary farm
Published:Tuesday | October 28, 2025 | 12:10 AMAndre Williams/Staff Reporter
The rush was on yesterday at the Golden Egg Farm in Georgia, St Mary, as workers raced to harvest eggs and feed 10,000 layer chickens ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Melissa.
The memories of Hurricane Beryl in July 2024 – which devastated egg farms across central Jamaica and led to a national shortage – remain fresh in the minds of farmers like Edward Roy, who works at Golden Egg.
Roy said he intends to “ride out” the storm with the birds, just as he did during Beryl.
“We ride [it out] already, y’know, so we a go ride again,” he told The Gleaner, , adding that while Melissa appears stronger than Beryl, “it kinda have we a way, but what we gonna do?”
The idea of killing any of the birds to prevent loss never surfaced, he said. Instead, workers focused on collecting and packaging as many eggs as possible from the farm’s three large coops before conditions worsened.
Golden Egg operates seven days a week, supplying eggs to the local community and other parishes. The coops, made of mesh, board and zinc, are far from ideal for withstanding a Category 5 storm, but the staff said they would batten down and do what they could to protect the birds.
“The plan is to [secure what we can], but what can we do with so much fowl?” Roy said, donning a ‘Farming equals life’ T-shirt as he worked among puddles forming across the property.
Nearby, Buzzar Bucknal, another staff member, was busy feeding a flock in one of the coops at around 1 p.m. The chickens followed him closely as he scattered the feed.
He told The Gleaner that he intends to feed the birds again today and insisted that if the passage of Hurricane Melissa disrupted the feeding plan, the birds could still survive.
For Patricia Stewart, a new employee at Golden Egg, the experience was especially unnerving. It was her first time facing a hurricane while on the job. She had already harvested five boxes of eggs from her assigned coop and was hurrying to finish before the rains began.
Stewart also plans to ride out the storm with the birds, but was concerned that she had not been able to follow the hurricane bulletins closely.
Across the agricultural sector, preparations were in full swing as the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining activated its emergency protocols. Minister Floyd Green confirmed during a Saturday press briefing at Jamaica House that the ministry’s Disaster Management and Mitigation Committee had been convened in response to Hurricane Melissa.
“We have seen ... that the [system] has strengthened, and based on the forecast, we are to get significant rain and significant wind. As such, we are saying to our farmers, ‘Take the necessary precautions’,” Green said.
He also noted that the ministry has been working with crop farmers to harvest what they can to minimise losses, and with livestock farmers to ensure that they have sufficient feed and clean water for their animals.
“If animals are in a flood-prone area, move them to higher ground. It is very important that they act now, especially in preparing silage, so that the animals will have feed during the [hurricane],” Green advised.
Green reminded farmers to clear drains to allow the free flow of water to reduce flooding; trim trees; and store chemicals in a dry area.
“We know that with a lot of rain comes the onset of a lot of fungus. You need to have your fungicides ... . We don’t want anyone trying to venture out in the weather event to try to save their crops and animals. That often causes loss of life, so make these preparations now,” he said.
He also urged greenhouse farmers to remove external coverings to prevent them from being damaged by the high winds.
“You are to strip your greenhouses. Take off the plastic so that the wind can pass through. Originally, we were just talking about rain, but as you have seen, based on the trajectory of the [system], we are going to have significant wind, so we are asking our farmers to follow the protocols,” he urged, adding that the Government will be there to help farmers recover.