The little fellas

The little fellas

In an attempt to diversify our gene pool and add a touch more variety to our flock we acquired 6 new chooks.

The 3 little english game hens, as seen in the foreground, are cute little midgets and the rooster has a hilarious crow...

Also in the mix, 2 bantams and a lavender arikana.
June 29, 2010
  English Game Hens  Small Chooks   
Somewhat free range

Somewhat free range

Facing increasing encroachment into our living and garden area by adventurous chooks, we finally snapped and set up a caged are for 'time out'.
By covering the bays along the sheltered side of the old piggery that is their home we have succeed in providing a relatively large space with little hope of escape.
Concentrated chook action combined with food scraps, cut grass and other organic material is a great recipe for rapid composting.
June 20, 2010
The King is Dead!

The King is Dead!

This morning the king (rooster) was noted absent from breakfast around 8:30. The discovery a mass of scattered feathers at the far end of the track at 11 made his disappearance more sinister. Was it a plot by the 3 young brothers, to unseat their father as head of the tribe. Or was it some kind of wild animal?
Warning: disturbing images
June 04, 2010
  Rooster  Death  Stoat  Ferret  Pests 
The tragic story...
Brownie

Brownie

On Saturday morning we found that another one of our chooks had been killed by a ferret. This time it was 'Brownie'...my favourite chook who was quite friendly. She used to follow me around quite closely out in the paddock and even let me pet her a couple of times. In her time with us she hatched two chickens. She was a nice little chook.
May 08, 2010
Melisa Sinclair
Eating Meat

Eating Meat

We decided to cook our young rooster since he was eating plenty and not making any eggs.
He was about 6 months old, one of our first set of baby chickens.
Follow my easy steps for killing, plucking, gutting and cooking.
April 06, 2010
  Chooks  meat  butchering 
olmec
Instructions
Resurrection

Resurrection

As the number of chooks steadily increases so too does the need for housing.
In attempt to prevent the family of bantams from visiting our garden everyday we decided to resurrect the old shed down the far end of the farm.
Click the photo to see before and after
March 09, 2010
  Chickens  Construction  Renovation 
olmec
View map

Conquering Clucky Chooks

For the past several weeks, our chooks had been clucky....sitting on either one egg, or sometimes no eggs at all. They just sat in the nest boxes and stubbornly wouldn't leave the nest. We tried putting them in a clucky box for a few days, but this did not work. As soon as they came out, they would go straight back on the nest.

But a bit by accident, we discovered a technique that worked really well to take the cluckiness out of the chook!
March 02, 2010
Melisa Sinclair
Uncluck my chook
Fifteen!

Fifteen!

Update Feb 16 - 2 chickens hatched!

Yesterday morning I noticed the brown hen was missing, but Olmec was sure he saw her looking a bit wet and worn out. But then when I went to feed the chooks at lunchtime, she still wasn't around....which made us both wonder if perhaps she was sitting on a nest somewhere. This would be unlikely since we have never seen her lay an egg...
But in the evening she emerged from the far end of the paddock so she could eat some dinner. We went to search the area she had come from....and there in the tall grass were 15 eggs! Not all of them would be hers, as there were different coloured eggs. But some of them could be...and if anything, at least she wants to sit on the nest. So in about 3 weeks we may have more babies.
January 25, 2010
Melisa Sinclair
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