This Sustainable House

Posts Tagged ‘Chickens’

Just a few hours, if that, old...

Approx 21 days ago I placed some 40 chicken eggs into the incubator comprising 22 pure breed eggs that I purchased, and another 18 eggs collected from my own hens. Unfortunately, during the incubation process, candling revealed the purchased eggs to be of a very poor quality and 12 of the eggs were subsequently discarded as totally infertile. However the eggs from my hens proved to be more fertile, with only 2 eggs having to be discarded during this process.

As you might know, chicken eggs have an incubation period of 21 days so this evening I returned home to the comforting sound of the peeping of chicks coming from the office. Both Kailash and Tara seem bewildered, not quite sure what to make of the sound, and definitely unwilling to leave the door. They are ragdoll cats.

So please welcome the first 5 chicks hatched at TSH… hopefully only the first 5 of some 26 but time will tell.

Update – Well ultimately 15 chicks made it through the hatching process with almost all of the chicks from my girls making it through. Unfortunately, of the bought eggs only 2 hatched, and one of those died soon afterwards. Poor little thing…

The incubator is fired up again though, this time with Guinea Fowl and, hopefully soon, some Araucana’s and Welsummers.

Chicks in Brooder - About 1 week old

In 2003 Joel Salatin, of Polyface Farms, wrote an article of the above name. The article was written for Acres USA and can be found here. As much as I dislike ‘stealing’ his title (or is that research under the western academic system?) I have to admit that I haven’t yet come up with a title that sums this topic up more appropriately. My apologies Joel.

The point of this post is the raft of beaurucratically inspired idiocy that seems to pervade the ‘lucky country’. This is all the legislation, guidelines, audits, notifications, regulations, inspections, disallowable instruments, and general silliness by which the paternal state ‘protects’ our food supply. But who is this really protecting? The Consumer? Or vested interests in the industry? I am beginning to think it is the latter rather than the former. Read the rest of this entry »

One a recent post I mentioned that I have just reintroduced chickens into the permanent run. These were hybrid girls, and I was looking for a handsome Rooster to join them. Well the ‘prayers’ were answered…

Today I picked up a pair of very handsome Australorp roosters from a local breeder. It was pure luck, or not depending on your beliefs, that I found a breeder literally around the corner with a few ‘boys’ available.

I collected two boys and they are now living with their little ‘harem’ in the permanent run.

Picture of one of the boys and his girls

Well it has been a couple of months since my previous flock of chickens had met with a grisseley end, but in that time I managed to fix a few problems and anticipate a couple more. So the time came to get some more chickens.

The girls came from a breeder in Hill Top, and they are a motley crew of Hybrids. It’s different having hybrids, I’m usually a pure breed kind of guy, but I do have to admit that the mixture of colours and personalities is rather nice.

They arrived approx 3 weeks ago, and are settling in rather nicely. Mind you, a handsome rooster amidst their august company wouldn’t go astray… Anyone have a lovely boy they are looking to re-home?

The next step is to get them into the chicken dome for spring? And then to turn the permanent enclosure into a grow-out area for meat chickens.

There’s always something to do…

Do you purchase Free Range Eggs?

Why do you buy them? Is it because they;Free range chickens merrily picking their way over lush green grassy slopes

* taste better?

* are more nutritious?

* have a better ‘energy’?

* the chickens are more humanely housed?

All the above are reasons that many people shell out the additional sheckles for Free Range eggs but the sad truth is that there is little protection for consumers. This article, on the Green Phoenix Permaculture website, looks at the ‘definitions’ of Free Range Eggs, focussing on the housing requirements within the standards, and considers the question “Can bought eggs ever be considered Free Range?”

Check out the article here.