Dusty Clean up and this and that.

The dust descended on us for 2 days....it went from brilliant orange to the white cloud you can see in the pic....it has settled on everything...from the plants to the fences...the roof will need washing as will all the windows.






Felix the white Alpaca is now a nice shade of orange brown. (I actually watched them chase a fox out of the paddock this morning at about 5.45 am was amazing to watch them work together)

The wind is still gale force and its quite cold, I worry for the "bare naked ladies" as they have next to no feathers.

The egg production has dropped, we are only getting 3 eggs a day from the 8 girls (Shayne is coming to pick up her 2 so then there will be 6). With the egg drop I have noticed a change in the girls, they are starting to replace their feathers, or where their feathers should have been.


Iris in particular has nice little dark pin feathers all over her bald spots....very exciting
so instead of the protein in their diet going into making eggs (which I am in no short supply of)
their bodies are using it to create new feathers. Unfortunately chooks can't do both...lay eggs and make new feathers that's why when a normal chook moults in the autumn, their egg production falls off until they have their new clothes....!!


They have all discovered the delights of the out doors, even in the wind and dust, and are becoming increasingly difficult to get to go home in the evening....they have me running round in circles trying to get them to go home, you can't but help laugh at the antics of these girls burning around avoiding home, featherless and sprinting like naked road runners.
Only one girl ...(not sure who) is using the nest box, the other 2 lay where ever they are standing.



Spring has sprung, and I have my first Broody Goose sitting on 10 eggs, my ducks are laying, and we are using the eggs to make the most amazing cakes, though I do have to hunt around for the eggs at times, one girl likes to lay in the compost heap, another in the garden at the stable doors....I have to get to them before the Wiley crow...who shadows their every move...grrrr



Other than cleaning the dust...today's project is transplanting all the veg seedlings into the Veg garden that are ready, pulling out what is finished and saving the seeds for next year.

I am really excited to be planting some Heirloom Tomatoes again this year ..the fruit was amazing.......

Green Recycling machine

I wanted to tell you about my AMAZING Recycling machine.
For anyone interested in gardening....and benefits to the family,
people who are conscious of how their food is produced.....

• Requires minimal fuel, runs well on almost all your kitchen scraps plus a small amount of Fuel.



• Low Cost


• Comes in a Variety of colours, Sizes and shapes....



• Turns all your household waste into Usable material,for both Garden and kitchen....



• Vitamin and Nutrient rich by-products



• By-product suitable for human consumption



• User friendly, requires minimal skill for operating.



• Gives great Joy to the user


• can be used to aid in soil regeneration, and harrowing of unsuitable soils.


• great addition to your orchard and veg Garden



• will make you highly popular with friends and relatives wanting to get the by products!!!



• Do something for the environment......get your self a "Green Recycling Machine"

Picture below of this LOW COST WONDER.....

Felix and Salvadore

Meet Felix (white Alpaca wether) and Salvadore (Brown Alpaca Wether) they are best friends and Guardians of the Feathered flock.

Whilst they do not run directly with the birds (chooks), they are in the paddocks surrounding the flock. Since their addition to our property, we have a noticeable reduction of Crows (stealing eggs), Wild ducks (spreading disease) and Foxes, preying on the Flock. Old Mr Fox who crossed the paddock like clock work has not been seen since they boys took over.


They enjoy the company of our 3 pet lambs, Ringo, Buddy and Molly, and get quite ruffled when the geese leave their dam and the paddock to go wandering around....this is when this pic was taken, they were waiting to count the waterfowl and usher them back to bed....mind you they were also hitting me up for some Alpaca Tucker.


Not a great deal has changed in the last 24 hrs with the Rescue hens, other than again like clock work we got eggs....they have not got with the idea of a nesting box yet and lay their eggs where they stand...so it can mean grubby eggs and a bit of a treasure hunt.


Again its Lola who is venturing out doors again, while the others are happy to bask in the sunshine and dust bathe in the mulch....they are kind of looking like Sigmund the sea monster, as all the much and litter is sticking to their Porcupine quills......All of them have more colour in their combs and wattles, which is a good sign for a chook....quite vocal with each other making the "bok bok bok" happy chook noise.


I must say it is a real joy to watch them, discover life......

Heidi

Operation Gloria : The Beginning

My Name is Heidi, I live in the beautiful NSW Southern Highlands, we have 50 acres of grazing land where we run a few cattle a geriatric horse, some pet sheep, 2 Alpaca Guradians and and ever suffering husban... we raise our 3 kids and a bunch of chooks, geese, ducks and guinea fowl.

I have always had a passion for animals, caught the poultry bug from my Irish Grandmother at age 3, and always was determined to have a rural property and some chooks.

Well 100 birds later, numerous breeds and many exhibition awards under my belt, we decided to take the jump into small Free Range Pasture egg Production.

I have always had a massive hatred toward mass produced cage raised eggs, and can say I have never KNOWINGLY purchased a cage produced egg.

I am always banging on to who ever will listen about the suffering a cage hen is put through so humans can have low cost all year round eggs.

I dont understand why when there are so many alternatives out there, how people can purchase eggs produced in such angst and suffering....how can eating such "karma" be good for your body?

Almost every council in NSW will allow the household to keep 3 or 4 hens in your backyard.....simple and inexpensive coop in your yard will give you endless eggs for your kitchen and provide you not only with hours of entertainment but a living garbage disposal for all edible waste from your household.

SO, on Sunday September 13 2009, i decided to put my money where my mouth was....

I visited a Battery egg farm on the outskirts of Sydney, purchased 8 EX-BATTERY HENS ($3.00 ea) who have spent the best side of 14 months inside a shed. In a cage no bigger than an A4 size piece of paper (Go on look how big that isn't), with 3 - 4 birds crammed in with them....laying eggs...fighting for Food, water, space and somewhere to sit.

Never having felt sunshine, wind in their feathers, or dirt under their feet (they stand on wire for their entire laying life) only to be killed off when they are no longer mass producers......dont get me started on how they are killed.....

Egg laying is a naural sexual function that is extended by high protein feeds and artificial lighting.
The very yellow yolk that is naturally produced when a bird has access to green feed (grass, vege leaves etc) is created by mass quantities of Beta-carotene, fed to them nonstop in pelleted form.

An unhappy hen will lay.....featherless, De-beaked and starved for space, never even being able to extend their wings ...SHE will still lay......

For conditions these birds are kept in ...please visit http://www.freebetty.com/

I intend to introduce you to Gloria, Mandy, Lola, Sadie and friends, have a look at what they look like.....I am going to start a Photographic journal of their progress from what you will see to "Normal Chooks"...If you can eat a cage egg again after veiwing the state of these birds....

"karma will get you eventually"....lol

Oh BTW...they have all laid an egg today...bald as they are...they still did what they were supposed to!!!!


Welcome to OPERATION GLORIA : A road to recovery!

Heidi