Chooks and chickens

Having grown up with chickens roaming round the yard and the boisterous crowing of the roosters as part of the soundtrack of my childhood, it seemed only natural that we should have some of the feathery fowl.

Getting started was easy enough as my mother still keeps a motley crew of hens. Working through the technicalities has been a little more challenging.  Chickens are generally low maintenance, forage for a good portion of their food and offer a variety of valuable by-products including eggs, meat, earth moving, feathers, manure and body heat.

Assuming you have a rooster, their tendency to hatch out large numbers of babies means, for better or worse, the size of your flock can grow very quickly.

Concrete bench top - faux granite

Concrete bench top - faux granite

If you spend a lot of time in the kitchen as we do you will appreciate the value of a quality bench and sink configuration.
The one we had was a single tub with a wooden bench top constructed of poor quality materials and it wasn't living up to our requirements.
In typical style I decided I needed a challenging new project and launched into building a complete replacement with a concrete bench top and double tubs. This is the story.
August 01, 2012
  concrete  kitchen  bench  tub  sink 
olmec
Read More
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   
Chopping the clucky chook for dinner

Chopping the clucky chook for dinner

So, our chooks have started going clucky (broody) on us again. That means fewer eggs and the usual dramas of trying to get them 'unclucked'. Since we have been considering downscaling our operation due to the excess of eggs and the damage caused in the garden by the aggressively scratching fowls it seemed like an opportunity to have a chicken dinner.
January 24, 2011
  cook  eat  kill  clucky  broody  hen  chook 
olmec
Full Story