Yes, my friends threw themselves enthusiastically into the task of building a chook pen – a welcome break from city life, they said. So now, our adopted girls have a new home and they are so much happier!! I still lock them into their little tractor at night as those fox horror stories still ring in my ears, but I let them out as soon as I wake up in the morning and they roam the enclosure until lunchtime once they’ve paid their board with an egg or two – yes still only 2 eggs per 4 girls.
We had some dramas there for a while with soft eggs and the chooks eating their eggs. That led me racing back to the library to borrow every chook book I could find. To my horror, the books said it was incurable and they should be lined up for the dinner table – simply not an option when you are chook-sitting someone’s dearly beloved pets! Good old Google informed us otherwise – give them more calcium and grit and if that doesn’t work then blow an egg and fill it with mustard. We just bought different food and shell grit and lucky for the girls, didn’t have to resort to the mustard trick!
So now I’m thinking about chook food. I think it’s appalling that you can’t get soy free chook feed here in Oz. My friend says she hunted far and wide and even rang some manufacturing plant in the outback. Their reply was that it’s cheap protein. So it may seem healthy to have your own chooks but they’re still getting the same crap as everyone else is feeding their chooks.
A new challenge awaits me then – now I have to research the optimal chook diet and find out how to provide it! I’m thinking I’ll have to wait until more people move into the Ecovillage and get chooks and then we’ll set up a bulk chook feed co-op or something. Calling all chook-keepers…. what do you feed your chooks?
About the Author...
Filippa lives in an ecovillage in southeast Queensland with her husband (K), her young son (Mr T), and "tummy bug" - due late September. She is passionate about nutrition, and enjoys nourishing dinner parties and luscious swims in the nearby waterhole. One day, she's hoping to say that she loves gardening too. First though, she's got to get past those childhood memories of Sundays spent pulling little weeds out of a manicured suburban garden bed.
Feb 15th, 2008 at 4:45 am
Hi Filippa, welcome to blogging world!
Hope the lovely chookies are going well. Yes it is sad but true-the chook who eats her egg can never be cured of the habit. A bit tricky though as you can’t turn someone else’s lovely pet into curry.
I used to plant lots of Giant Russian Sunflowers all around the chook yard. They love to eat the sunflower seeds when they dry out. They even fly up to get them. I used to plant a crop of green manure just for the hens and fence it all off until ready to eat-Amaranth, broad beans etc. Anything high in protein for the chooks. Plus the added benefit of nitrogen for the garden once the girls destroy it and scratch it into the earth. Otherwise a big bag of wheat to supplement the house hold scraps is always good. Rats also love the wheat so it needs to go in a well sealed container.
If chooks slow down in laying, a serve of warm cooked oats in the morning gets them going. You can soak up all of the meat fats from cooking bacon or roasting etc for a meal they will LOVE. Plus no need to have to work out how to dispose of the meat fat. Also the pumpkin seeds and their pulp (scrapped from a fresh pumpkin) and lots of crushed garlic thrown in is supposed to limit internal parasites.
Sometimes buying high quality feed for the chooks ends up costing more than buying free range, organic eggs from someone else. But I still think it is worth having them for the satisfaction, household recycling and pure entertainment. Chooks are hilarious and are good for our mental health.
Feb 16th, 2008 at 2:16 am
Hi Julia, nice to “see” you here! Thanks for the feeding tips. I was doing the oatmeal for a bit and the girls loved it but I’m just too time poor. Just bought a new rice cooker though which does porridge so maybe I’ll get motivated again. Came home with a huge bucket of scraps from a friend and voila! today - 4 eggs!! I also left them in the coop until 2.30 (forgot them, poor luvs) so maybe the time made a difference too. Must endeavour to become more food-scrap productive - sighhh, just not into salads at the moment: “tummy bug” just seems to want chicken stock type soups and noodles.
So did you buy mixed chook feed/laying pellets for your chooks at all? I know from Linda Woodrow’s book (The Permaculture Home Garden) that it’s possible to grow all your chook feed - but that means some pretty serious mandala gardens which I’m not ready for! I’m still thinking along the lines of an organic, soy-free, GM-free chook feed co-op. It would be great to encourage more people to produce their own eggs.
By the way, our chooks must be the exception to the “incurable” rule when it comes to eating their own eggs. As soon as we got shell grit and more variety of chook feed, the shells got hard and they stopped eating them. Phew!!
I agree about their entertainment value. I often sit on the steps with Mr T and watch them.
Feb 16th, 2008 at 3:49 am
Good evening-
a couple of times we did buy mixed grain or chook pellets but only as emergency type food for them. I was suspicious about what was really in the chook pellets so mostly bought 20kg bags of mixed grain.At the time organic, soy-free, GM-free chook feed just wasn’t available where we were living. We tried hard to find a supplier. Probably easier now. Because I was running a school garden plus doing cooking with all of the children there was always heaps of nutritious leftovers for our hens (and later for the school flock as well). The girls were regularly eating left over foods such as soups full of veges and beans!
Great news that your hens have stopped eating their eggs. They must have really needed the shell grit and more protein. If you have easy access to dried cuttle fish (lying on the beach) that is really good too.
I used to always use the cooked oats as a ’special treat’ (not as a regular morning food). It seemed to work a treat especially when they were molting and off the lay a bit. Plus it is so convenient for disposing of cooking fats in a useful way.
I was talking to a lady at the ‘Lismore Organic Growers Market’. Her certified organic eggs are the yummiest in all the land (in my own opinion). I have been sampling all of the local eggs as I can’t have hens were we live at the moment. She told me that she always gives her hens warm cooked oats for breakfast. So there you go!
Feb 17th, 2008 at 2:16 am
Organic chook feed is available but soy-free isn’t to my knowledge. Thanks for all the tips! I must start planting some yummy nibblies for them in their pen.
Dec 25th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Hi Filippa,
I live just up the road from you and have been longing to meet you!
I am interested in so many of the same things. Right now it is obtaining Certified Organic chook food, among other things. Any idea where i can it?
I also want to get raw milk and I believe you know about this, as well as lots of other things.
Would love to hear from you when you have time.
thanks
Pip
Jan 5th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Hi Fillipa,
I have found a supplier who will produce soy free organic chook food, but he will only do it in 1 tonne (40 x 25kg bags) lots. This is a bit much for me to store all at once, but if you or some others would like to split the feed into managable chunks, we could maybe arrange something. Also, if the supplier knows there is enough demand, he may supply it in small amounts in the future. If you’re interested, send a reply to this article and I’ll find a way to get my email address to you.
http://www.organicstockfeed.com
Jan 25th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
Hi Peter, I think you can contact me through “contact author”. I’d certainly be interested. There are a few of us with chooks in the ecovillage now and as more move in, more will get chooks. A woman up the road from us gets organic soy free chook food made up by the tonne and sells it for $38 a bag. I can give you her contact details too. Look forward to hearing from you.
Jan 25th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Hi Pip, indeed we have met when gave me some Bowen Therapy sessions when I was pregnant with my son 4 years ago! I think I’ve got your card somewhere so I’ll give you a call. Freya up the road from you usually has certified organic soy free chook food. You can get the herdshare milk through Food Connect who deliver to my house every Thursday. I’ll give you a buzz anyway!
Mar 23rd, 2009 at 12:14 am
I have finally finished building my chook pen and have 6 chooks which are just at the point of lay age. On the weekend they finally started laying but I really want to start feeding them naturally without having to use the commercial layer pellets. I give them loads of kitchen scraps but they really aren’t that interersted in them and often don’t eat them all. Things such as cabbage and celery are regularly left uneaten. I’ve read up and believe I could feed them wheat, sunflower seeds etc. instead of layer pellets. Can you please help with some advice.
Apr 5th, 2009 at 2:22 am
Hi Sandra, I don’t have any answers for you unfortunately but I’m sure you wouldn’t have to give them layer pellets. When I was having problems with my chooks, I joined a yahoo group where I found some of the answers I needed. I recommend you do this or maybe one of our readers can help out. I am a totally novice chook-keeper and I inherited my chooks when they were already fully grown and indeed nearing the end of their prime laying period. If you find out though, please let us know!