Now that we have reticulation to approximately 90% of Edgefield, a world of opportunity for planting perennials has opened up, which was previously unsustainable. Slowly but surely I’m developing the perennial garden, focusing my attention particularly on the east orchard at the …
Category: Animals
Spring baby season
The ducks and kangaroos are not the only ones having babies at Edgefield at the moment. There has been rather a lot of hatching going on in the chicken department and mostly NOT in the hen house. Perhaps I can blame my …
FlowHive on ‘Australian Story’
I’m looking forward to watching this episode of ‘Australian Story’ on the inventors of FlowHive. I’ve been watching FlowHive closely since it first hit the net and subsequently exploded across the world with its ridiculously successful crowdfunding campaign. I have been lusting after a FlowHive …
Restoring balance to the hen house
While it’s never a pleasant task, it’s one we are committed to doing here at Edgefield, that is, humanely despatching with excess roosters and preparing them for the pot. Poor Dirk, our spunky but rather light-framed rooster, was beginning to …
Dirk Diggler immortalised
My Mum painted this beautiful portrait for me of “Dirk Diggler”, my incredibly handsome Silver Spangled Hamburgh rooster, as an early birthday present. He is now proudly hanging on my kitchen wall. What a spunk!
Charming chooks
I’ve become a chicken fancier, a “mad chook lady” my husband teases me. I find them fascinating I must admit. In the way a crackling fire is mesmerising, I love to watch the pecking order politics and peculiarities of a flock of free range chooks. …
DIY brooder box and new Australorp chicks
I built a chick brooder box and I’m a little bit proud of myself. It’s a simple thing but often they’re the most rewarding, especially as I now have six new one-week-old Australorp chicks happily peeping outside my back door. I …
Designing a chook palace using permaculture principles
Another rainy day design session at home, this time imagining a monumentally magnificent chook house that would do any dandy rooster proud. I wanted a lesson in SketchUp, an awesome 3D modelling program that Jeff uses regularly for work and in which he created …
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Foxy loxy takes advantage of my forgetfulness
The early dark of winter makes it especially difficult to remember to lock up the chooks each night. Our flock free ranges each day and returns to the coop around dusk. It’s right at the wrong time: the witching hour. I’m busy making …
Chicken first aid
I am a terrible mother hen. I recently realised late last week that my flock was/is quite sick and I hadn’t noticed, or rather I hadn’t investigated closely enough to clue in to what was going on and take action. I …
Where food ethics meat reality: killing our own chickens
The three cockerels cock-a-doodle-dooing sealed their fate. We’d bred them from our own flock. They were handsome cross-breds out of our spunky Silver Spangled Hamburgh rooster, Dirk Diggler, and half Isa Brown half Coronation Sussex hens (I think). It was …
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RIP Sassy, my best mate
Sassafras – Sassy – Sass – DogFish, my jet black, rambunctious puppy turned grey-muzzled, arthritic old dog passed away naturally on Monday, 9 December 2013 aged 10 ½. It’s not dramatic to say it was one of the saddest days …
New fertile eggs for clucky Mona
Mona, my lovely chocolate brown Barnevelder hen, went clucky last week for the second time. So far I’ve hatched two clutches of eggs at Edgefield: four eggs by Mona – only one female survived and she is now laying (i …
Spring babies!
The four newest additions to the Edgefield family hatched while I was in Brisbane this weekend. We named them Liquorice, Chocolate, Popcorn and Banana. Mumma hen is VERY protective of her babies but is happy in the new outdoor pen I …
Add 3 more and now there are 9 chooks
So with my number of chooks rapidly dwindling, I decided to go get some more (fox fodder) today. After extensive research on the right breeds, I found a woman in Oakford and bought three pullets (12-15 weeks old). 1 x blue …
Only one chick left…
Against my better judgement I let Mona and her chicks out to scratch around a couple of days ago and when I put them away, two were gone. So now we’re down to one lonely little chick out of four …
Our first babies at Edgefield!
Mona, our Barnevelder hen, successfully hatched four chicks yesterday of mixed breed. Three eggs were brown (potentially hers and/or the two Coronation Sussex X Isa Brown hens, Lacey and Marshmallow) and one egg was white which belongs to the Silver …
We have chickens!
We picked up Corrina, Lou Lou, Helen and Madame Mimi (or “Dat” as Hugo would actually name her I’m sure) from Comps Poultry Farm in Herne Hill yesterday. They are 5-week old 3/4 leghorns, two black, two white. It’ll be …
