Our property is becoming a little more abundant each year. With hens and roosters and geese. Our hens have various homes. An enclosed run with deep litter. And various orchards and paddocks where they can roam. And now geese! Proud and confident, they roam in ORTO two...
It is spring and Madeline is here from Canada. And working with her is a dream. Her pace is calm and focused. Together we are working through various projects on our 15 acres of volcanic soil. In the morning we visit the hens. We place clean water in their heavy cast...
We are offering a tour of our burgeoning permaculture farm followed by afternoon herbal teas and home made treats on Sunday 15th December 2pm -4pm. Please go to our Workshop tab to book a ticket. We are on 15 acres in Blampied between Daylesford and Ballarat. We began...
Ancona We have chickens after a four-year break. First, we needed to build our home, the farm stay, the piazza shed. We needed to plant thousands of trees, and grasses, and fruit orchards and berries and chestnuts and oaks, and hazelnuts and our kitchen garden. There...
As I was cleaning out the chickens nesting boxes I noticed my Light Sussex, position herself on the garden shed shelf. Over the past weeks I have found eggs there. I have also found eggs broken on the ground, as though the egg had rolled off the shelf. I kept...
When chickens are healthy, they look it. Their coats are shiny, they are not hen pecked, their combs (Isaa Browns) are bright and upright. Sometimes backyard gardeners don't realise that in fact their chickens are actually on the unhappy side of life. Sometimes food...
To keep the soil in the chicken run from turning into a muddy mess in winter, to help keep chicken feet a little dryer...to ensure that you don't step in fresh chicken droppings as you walk through the run (as the chicken toss and turn the straw about the droppings...
Finally my new chickens started laying three weeks ago! I had been truly missing having my own eggs....but just as soon as they did lay, I started to find broken eggs with the yolks completely gone....I suspected the Ravens or Crows that perch on the nearby telephone...
For the most part I keep the chickens in their run, it is large and comfortable and everything they need is there. I let them out in the garden only occasionally but need to do so more often. I have raised garden beds with a gravel topping (called Tuscan Topping). The...
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