Chook Problems – Excess Eggs
Maryanne Slattery has eggs available as the result of a fox disaster amongst her chooks (see her mesage below). If you would like some eggs, please contact Maryanne by phone directly (Ed.).
We have a small acreage at Wallaroo (just west of Hall, overlooking the Murrumbidgee River), called ‘Gaia’. The property has been managed on organic and biodynamic principles for the past 30 odd years. Our family became custodians of Gaia 2 years ago. Recently we have embarked on a free range egg production. Our first flock was intentionally small as we are learning as we go. The hens started laying a couple of weeks ago and we now have more eggs than we can handle. Our intention is to eventually sell the eggs through shops like the farmers outlet. Unfortunately a couple of nights ago the hens were attacked by either dogs or foxes just before twilight – leaving us with only about 80 hens. Apart from the disappointment of losing hens we have raised from day old chicks, we are now in the awkward position of having too many eggs for ourselves and family, and not enough eggs to sell through a shop. So, we are spruiking eggs! We are selling a dozen for $4 small (40g/egg) and $5 large (60g/egg). We are not certified organic, but we adhere to organic principles as much as possible. The chickens are fed a commercial (non organic) feed, and graze on several acres of pasture during the daylight hours. We are very proud of the quality of our eggs and the health of our hens. And for those worried about the ongoing chicken safety….we have been saving for some fox proof fencing, and intend to erect that shortly. The chickens are in a foxproof shed overnight. In the meantime, family cocktail hour has been moved to a site overlooking the chookshed. We are pretty roudy, so hopefully that will keep the foxes away until the new fence is up.
Please contact Maryanne (we can discuss a convenient drop off point) on 62309664 or 0402367455.
2 December, 2009 at 10:53 pm
That’s terrible Maryanne – might I suggest a couple of Maremma dogs to guard your flock and keep the marauders away. I know a lot of chook owners have them.
Good luck with whatever you come up with.
4 December, 2009 at 9:23 am
So sorry to hear about your poor chickens, that must have been horrible for you to find.
I work for an organisation that assists families in crisis of homelessness and/or domestic violence. We are always looking for people who may consider supporting our families by way of donations, or subsidised items. I was wondering if we could help you with the overload of eggs by purchasing some on behalf of our clients, or if you would like to donate some to our families that would be awesome as well! We educate our families on a range of positive parenting techniques as well as nutrition and healty eating advice. As such, we have quite a number of families that would benefit from noting the difference between shop bought and beautiful farm eggs, and we could also incorporate this into our healthy eating lessons.
I would love to chat with you some more regarding an arrangement, please contact me via my email address or phone 0408 200 353 and I can call you back.
Thanks!
Martina