Getting Started With Chickens Interview

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of being interviewed again by Farmer Liz over at Eight Acres.

This time the interview was about how I got started with my backyard flock and any advice I had for the good readers of her blog.

Here is a little extract of the interview;

How many chickens (and other fowl) do you keep, what breed and what do you use them for (meat, eggs, slug control etc)?

I currently have 10 hens and no roosters. I have six ISA Browns, two Leghorns, and two Pekin Bantams. The large hens are for egg production and the bantams are for pest control. They all grow old gracefully, and I do not cull them as they get old as a reward for all of the service they provide me.

Where did you get your first chickens and how do you now replenish your flock?

I bought my first hens from a lady named Sue who lives in New Gisborne, which is about 40 minutes north of Melton. She lives on a bush block and breeds hens for sale. They are well looked after, and she sells the pullets at point of lay. As the older hens pass away, I replace them with pullets. We still have one hen from our original flock that is 5 years old. Bunty is at the top of the pecking order, and probably will be until the day she dies.

For the full interview, pop on over to Liz's blog post titled "Getting started with chickens - Gavin Webber"

I hope you enjoy it.  If you have any comments, pop back here and post them.

Winter Garden - June

I love this season.  

We get rain, but weeds don't grow very fast.  We have had another 25mm (1 inch) of rain in the last week, which is about 40mm (1 1/2 inches) about the monthly average to date.

Cabbages do very well, especially as Ben and I have been feeding them our special worm and weed tea once a fortnight!  The heads are starting to swell and tighten.

Very well indeed.  I think we will be able to make our first batch of sauerkraut this year.

Radishes, Brown onions and Carrots are growing all in the same space.  No sign of any black aphids on the onions or garlic so far this year.

I even have a tomato plant that wants to grow in winter.  I believe that it may be a broad ripple yellow currant, which is the main self seeded variety in my garden.  This variety was introduced into the plot in 2009, so it knows what climate it likes.  It will probably get knocked back when we have our first frost, however we are yet to have one.

Garlic and Red Onions are thriving.

The Broad Beans (Fava) are slowly but surely inching their way to their normal 1.8 metres (6ft).  Hopefully, we will not have broad bean rust like last season.

So there it is, looking down the path.  Lots of citrus on the trees being eaten slowly.  It is so nice to pick lemons and limes straight off the tree when you want to cook with them.  Delightful.

The Oranges and Mandarins are beginning to ripen, which I can't wait to get stuck into.  Now that I have two Mandarin trees, I will be able to take a piece of homegrown fruit to work for lunch every day.

Who else loves winter gardening?

Stockpiling Essentials - Podcast Episode 37

This episode is all about stockpiling essentials. Things like food, water, cooking methods and the like that are good to have at hand during an emergency.

A while ago, I wrote a post titled Nine Meals from Anarchy, which talks about what might happen in an emergency. This podcast episode takes it one step further where I talk about essential things that you may need in the event of an emergency if the supermarket shelves become bare.

I also touch on a series of posts that I wrote a couple of years ago called the Be Prepared Challenge, collaborating with Bec from Eat At Dixiebelle's.

Anyway, I hope that you gain an insight into why it is a great idea to have a small stockpile of sorts, in your own home.

Don't forget that you can leave a comment about the podcast via this blog, or a leave me a voicemail question or comment via the gadget on the sidebar, which I can play during the next episode.

Happy Stockpiling!