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Denise Davis knows better than to get up close and personal with baby chickens, but her Buff Orpington breed chicks, Mabel and Gert, liked to cuddle when she fed them.

This is why Davis had a tiny bandage on her lip at the Eagle-Condor Humanitarian "Gifts of the Heart" fundraising banquet last March.

"It was just a little peck," Davis said. "They get so excited when they eat."

Today, Mabel and Gert and the other five chicks raised in a child's wading pool in Denise and Mark Davis' West Jordan guest room are "big and cute," and have moved outside to a custom-designed pen.

"It doesn't have a roof yet, so they still spend nights in the garage," Davis said.

While it is true that Davis loves animals - she fosters puppies until they are adopted and has a cat and a dog - the chickens are part of an animal husbandry project for Eagle-Condor Humanitarian.

Founded in 2003 by people who served LDS missions to Peru, the organization supports two others in the South American nation: One helps people establish small businesses; the second handles community projects, building houses, school bathrooms, community wells. Davis' project is a plan to introduce a more sanitary method of raising chickens in rural Peru, where chickens, guinea pigs and rabbits commonly live in homes that frequently lack electricity and running water.

"The animals are inside to keep them from running away or being eaten by something else," Davis said. "They are all over in the cooking area and under the bed. Everywhere. The challenge is to help people learn how to keep the animals separate without completely changing the way people live."

Davis, who has been to Peru four times, feels a personal connection to the country and the people.

"The first two visits were on my own. I fell in love with Cuzco and the 'Sacred Valley.' When I discovered that is where Eagle-Condor Humanitarian was working, I went on two expeditions with the group," she said, adding, "I believe it is where I am meant to help."

In addition to Buff Orpington chicks, Davis' project involves South American Araucanas, which lay green and blue eggs, rumored to have less cholesterol, and Black Sex-Linked chickens, more easily identified by sex than other breeds. Roosters are mainly food animals, because they are not necessary for egg production, and one rooster can fertilize a lot of eggs if you want to raise chickens.

Davis monitors weight and growth, but she also is concerned with temperament.

"Egg-gathering usually is done by children," Davis explained. Chickens can be unfriendly about having their eggs taken away.

Meanwhile, Mabel still likes to sit on Davis' lap and all seven follow her around the garden. The only fly in the ointment, so to speak, is that the experimental coop is too elaborate for practical purposes. Mark Davis, an architect, is doing a remodel.

"He is making a chicken house that is safe, easy to clean and easy to put together in Peru," Davis said.

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* JUDY MAGID can be contacted at magid@sltrib.com or 801-257-8608. Send comments to livingeditor@sltrib.com.

About this series

Oscars, Emmys, Tonys, Pulitzers: All give recognition for outstanding achievements, and sometimes make people famous. But often those we most admire are people making their marks in less grandiose ways every day. This occasional series is about people close to home who change lives through daily interaction. Some are well-known, others less so. Each is unique; all are people we admire. If you know someone we should include, contact Judy Magid at magid@sltrib.com or 801-257-8608.