August 2011
Our 6th Annual Chicken Run was plagued by torrential rain in the week before and the grounding of Tiger Airways, which meant that one chicken owner couldn’t return by the due date.
Thirteen of us, however, gathered on a grey morning and went on a shortened tour (rechristened the Chicken Hop).
Firstly we drove to Rob and Deb Folkard’s beautifully maintained chicken establishment. Here, with the country sound of black faced sheep bleating in the background, we inspected his moveable chicken pens and then the original pen made in the old dairy and finally the wonderful new shed further up the hill. Rob’s attention to detail, the cleanliness of the housing and the award-winning chickens made us all wish we could start again and try to emulate his system.
What a joy it was to wander around the delightful coops, with not a cobweb in sight, and hear his theories on raising good chickens. We are particularly indebted to Rob’s enthusiasm as this year, with all the pitfalls, the Chicken Run may not have got off the ground without his offer to share his love of his hens.
The second visit was to a very different, but just as magnificent, chicken paradise.
Chris Francis, in Berry, has a fabulous system for his hens: he has built a round structure with eight sections (two of which are entrance corridors opposite each other) and in each of the other six he grows vegetables.
Every month (on the first Sunday of the month when he goes to Berry Markets and buys his seedlings) the chickens are transferred to the next section and allowed to scratch around, eating the left over vegetable matter for that month, after which they move to the next section.
Thus the chickens scratch up the soil and fertilise the ground in each section twice a year. The vegetables looked delicious and the hens looked very happy.
There is a door only on the section holding the chickens and that is moved, along with their covered home, each month to the fallow section.
This is the prototype building and I am sure that Chris would be interested in talking to others and even organising the building of any coops/vegetable gardens in the future.
So, while it was a shortened trip this year, we learnt quite a lot and feel privileged to have seen these interesting ideas “in the flesh”. Afterwards we all went to Berry for a delicious lunch and then the sun came out!