Meat Chickens - Out an About

Well the meat chickens are out and about and loving it.

They have their own yard separate from our egg laying chickens but within the same large enclosure.

Before we ordered the meat chickens I removed a large section of the grass from what would be their yard and planted out a patch of Clucker Tucker that I ordered through a local company Green Harvest.  Clucker Tucker is a mix of barrel medic, bok choy, buckwheat, forage chicory, clover, cocksfoot, linseed, lucerne, millet, forage plantain, silverbeet, subclover and sunflower. Most have vigorous root systems that will quickly regrow leaves that are eaten and will tolerate a bit of scratching once established.

You can see the patch of Clucker Tucker planted out on the left of the below photo.

The chickens like to lie in the sun amongst the Clucker Tucker.

They do scratch in the dirt a bit but not like our other chickens.

The next two photos were taken about a week ago when the chickens were six weeks old.  As you can see they are huge for their age and very un-attractive.

My best friend visited today and she had not seen the meat chickens before but she summed them up quite well.  She said they look inbred.  I think that pretty much sums them up.  

There is something just not right about them.  They sort of look like chickens and sort of behave like chickens, but anyone who has has a flock of laying chickens would see straight away that they are are just not normal chickens.

This has been quite a learning experience so far and the final tests will be at the end of the process when it comes to butchering and eating.

We will do a tally at the end to see exactly how much it has cost us to produce each bird but we are almost  100% convinced we will choose a heavy heritage breed for meat in the future.  So now we are looking at which breeds might be suitable.

Slow Living - June

Linking up with Christine again this month although I am again running behind.

Nourish -Make and bake as much as possible from scratch. Ditch over packaged, over processed convenience foods and opt for 'real' food instead.
There has been bread making this month as well as pesto and big batches of muffins divided into small portions and frozen.  We have been eating the small number of eggs we are getting and have been eating silverbeet, bok choy, coriander, cabbage and kohl rabi  from the veggie garden.
I have been using up the limes, lemons and oranges that we picked a while back too.

Lime Spice Syrup Cake (recipe later this week)

Prepare - Stockpile and preserve. Freeze extra meals or excess garden/market produce. Bottle/can, dehydrate or pickle foods to enjoy when they are not in season.
I have made some batches of pesto and there are the extra muffins mentioned above.  I have also made a big batch of BBQ sauce (recipe yet to be posted).

BBQ Sauce

Reduce - Cut down on household waste by re-using, re-purposing and repairing.
We have been having a big clean up around the house and yard and have been sending lots of stuff off to the tip.  We also made the decision to sell out tractor.  It was old and needed a lot of work.  In the 3 years we had been here we had only used it twice so it made sense to get rid of it and put the money in the bank.

Green - Start (or continue!) using homemade cleaners, body products and basic herbal remedies. The options are endless, the savings huge and the health benefits enormous.
I also made up another batch of liquid soap and made some bi-carb paste.

Grow - plant/harvest. What's growing this month? What's being eaten from the garden?

It has all been about harvesting winter veg this month. And I have got some tomatoes in to see if I can get them through winter for a late winter/early spring crop.  We have just harvested our second bunch of bananas and these were much riper that the first ones.

Create - To fill a need or feed the soul. Create for ourselves or for others.
I have been knitting more dishcloths and so far have made 5.  I might have to move on to something a bit more challenging soon, a scarf might be in order before winter ends.

Discover - Feed the mind by reading texts relevant to current interests.
I have been reading books about bee keeping and raising pigs even though it is unlikely we can do either of those things in the near future, one day maybe.

Enhance - Community
I am the event director for a classic car show later this year so that is taking up a bit of time.  I am also still involved in the anti sand mining group for my local area.  Then there is fund raising for the local chaplaincy with monthly sausage sizzles and I  am involved in the social planning for our community.  The note on my message board in my office makes it very clear.  NO MORE MEETINGS OR COMMITTEES.  Yes my time is stretched thin on top of work and home and Hubby has laid down the law.

Enjoy - Life! Embrace moments with friends and family. Marking the seasons, celebrations and new arrivals are all cause for enjoyment.
June was a busy month and it was not until the last day of the month that we had time to catch up with friends.

Injured Hen Update

It looks as though Mrs Chicken will make a full recovery after her run in with Jessie.
She is eating, drinking and pooping (important since the skin tear was near her vent) as normal and was very partial to some curl grubs that I dug out of the compost for her.  The were a few clucks of appreciation which I am sure is a good sign.
She is enjoying her stint near the fire during this cold snap we are having ( frost for the last 2 days and it was still 0 degrees at 7.50 am yesterday) but will go back to join the flock on Saturday all gong well.

Birthday Ups and Downs

It was my birthday this week and there were highs and lows.

I woke in the morning to the following gift from the cat. Nothing like a dead mouse on your birthday to set the mood. : )

I was lucky enough to speak to my parents, grandparents, siblings, in-laws, friends and cousins both here and in NZ where all of my family live.
I received some lovely gifts including magazine subscriptions and the below book full of tips about growing different fruit and veggies and then ideas of how to use them.

So for most of the day it was great.  Then late in the afternoon I heard a commotion from the chicken pen.
Our dog Jessie had scaled the 5 foot  fence and had ripped out some of the feathers of one of our hens.
I was furious!  So I got her out of the pen and tied up and then I went back to find out exactly how bad the damage was and how many chickens had been involved.  I found the poor hen hiding in the long grass the grows around the fence and took her inside so I could have a good look at her.
I was home by myself and so the whole process of trying to look over a stressed out hen was not the easiest process.  I checked over her wings, head and body from the top then I wrapped her in a towel flipped her over and tried to get her to relax with some chicken hypnotism.  Now for those who might think this is a joke  it is actually a very good way of getting your chicken to to remain still while you look it over.  The method I use is to flip the chicken on its back, cover it's head with a cloth so it is dark (although this will still work even it you don't) then you take your thumb and index finger and run them down each side of the chickens breast bone.  Do this over and over and hey presto sleepy chicken.
Now it would have been much easier if I had a second person to keep stroking the chicken, but I didn't so I was not able to spend too long inspecting the hen.
I was able to see she had had a number of feather yanked out and was bleeding around her vent.  But it was hard to see how bad the damage actually was.  So I washed the area with some sterile irrigation solution from  our first aid kit (there goes some plastic in my plastic free month) and put the chicken into the small cage we have with so water and a clean but old towel to sit on and decided to keep her inside over night.
I rang hubby at work and told him what had happened and I hinted that I might take her to the vet.
Hubby then told me not to be so silly taking a $5 chicken to the vet for a $50 consultation and asked me to wait till he got home.  I understand his logic but I just felt really bad for my chicken.
Any way she has been in the cage for a few days and I have given the damaged area another wash and trimmed away the bloody feathers and it looks like it will heal up.  She is eating and drinking and pooping normally and today she even ate some of the chickweed I put in her cage so I think things will b ok.  I do not want to put her back with the other chickens too soon  as I would hate them to peck her or the rooster try and have his way with her, I am not sure she would tolerate that at the moment.  So we are back to having chicken(s) in the house but hopefully not for too long.

The next issue is securing the pen against Jessie as I do not want to go through this again.  That will wait for another post though.

A Plastic Free Month -The Challange

Well I have no doubt this is going to be a challange.  I have signed up for Plastic Free July.
The challange is to attempt to buy no single use disposable plastic in July.

This is an initiative of Earth Carers a group in Western Australia.

The Rules

• Between 1 – 31 July, attempt to buy no plastic packaging that cannot be recycled.
• Remember its not going to be easy, but  its a challenge, not a competition so don't worry about being perfect.
• Collect any plastic packaging you do buy. Keep it in a ‘dilemma bag’ and share a photograph at the end of the challenge. 

For a while now I have been trying to cut back on the plastic entering our house that is not able to be recycled.  I have an arrangement with our butcher that I can take in my own containers and he will tare off their weight and fill them with what I need.
I have long given up plastic bags at the green grocer and instead use some old onion bags that I collected.  They weigh nothing and can be used over and over again.

I think that it is going to be a hard month and I am not optimistic about my "dilemma bag"  being empty at the end of the month.

I will be reporting back weekly about my efforts, struggles and the "dilemma bag".

If you have any suggestions about being plastic free please let me know.