Foul-smelling fowl farm irks locals

KRABI: Krabi locals filed a complained about a less-than-sanitary chicken farm in Klong Hin sub-district, which led officials from the Krabi Livestock Office to inspect the premises on Wednesday.

Dr Narong Benjakun led a team of officers to check the fly-infested, feces-covered facility. Farm manager Panthep Kanyuenyong helped with the inspection by showing officials around the farm and machinery control room.

Officials noted that 10 of the automatic conveyor belts were broken, causing feces to get stuck on the belts.

“This resulted in the setup emanating foul smells that locals have been complaining about,” said Dr Narong. “The manager has promised to make repairs within a week.”

Twenty families and several schools in the area complained of the foul smells and swarms of flies.

“The belts have been broken since late June,” Mr Panthep told officials. “Our engineer quit without allowing us time to hire anybody else.”

Mr Panthep said that his staff have been working hard to try and clean the feces everyday.

“To solve the problem temporarily, local officials have been spraying chemicals to get rid of the flies and also hand them out to locals for their daily use,” he said.

“We cannot spray the entire farm as we have to get the chickens out first. Getting rid of all the flies is expected to take about one week.”

— Kritsada Mueanhawong