2 Women on 2 Acres

The power of animals to recover from abominable treatment never ceases to amaze me. We brought three leghorn chickens not long after we moved onto the block and when we picked them up, we met the seller at a fruit & vegetable shop at a half way point between when we both lived.

It was a scorching New Zealand day, blue skies and no shade. We arrived at mid day for the pick up and when we saw ‘our girls’ stuck in a sealed cardboard box, which stank of chicken droppings, it was SO bad, the box has started to disintegrate and if that wasn’t bad enough, the box had been stuffed in the airless boot of the car for over an hours drive to say we were horrified was truly an understatement.

Worse was to come though…
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The torrential weather continues, flooding is rife and the animals are suffering. It breaks my heart, the scrawny animals we see in the paddocks all around are a sorry state, and to think it lambing season. No, I cannot think about that too much.

On the block, our animals are in fine fettle. However, the strangest thing happened the other day, looking back it was all my fault, but still it gave me a huge shock, the second one in as many days.

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Well, I’m pleased to announce we are the proud parents of 5, YES FIVE cute cuddly little chicks….

I really thought we were NEVER going to have any chicks at all.

I mean our hens just haven’t been interested, then all of a sudden THREE go broody at once, reminds me of waiting for a bus, none when you want one then three turn up at once!!

Going broody is one thing, sitting on eggs is another matter all together.
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I know it’s spring because we have had the clocks go forward, day light savings had been changed to a week earlier than usual and it took us by surprise..not having a tv or newspaper to remind us.
But WHAT has happened to the weather?
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Things in life have a funny way of happening, have you noticed that? When we moved to our piece of paradise, our intention was to become self sufficient and work from home.

And although we have been working towards that goal, it seems fate is telling us we have been dragging our feet, so it has intervened in a way that fate does, giving us NO choice but to open our eyes and take stock of our lives…
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Yet another storm has reeked havoc in our neck of the woods. After months of NO rain, we have had a week of hurricanes and torrential downpours.

Trees, power lines and goodness knows what else have fallen down. But the sad, sad news is we suffered more than structural damage.

I’m afraid to say Doris ‘the toughest damn chicken in the whole wide world’ died in the storm on monday and we found her on tuesday morning, along with Angus and Benji, who were also taken from us…this is for you all, guys, as a way of a thank you…
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I don’t know about you but I look forward to what the day holds when the rooster’s, Solomon and Caesar, wake me up at 06.00 EVERY morning. They work on the assumption that lie in’s are for wimps..and the early bird catches the worm.
They could be right, all I know is, I look out of the window to see all the crew: the ducks, chickens and the goats waiting, sometimes patiently and more often than not, making SUCH a racket it motivates me into action.
They know the routine, a bucket of food scattered far and wide and their day has begun with the sun barely up over the horizon.
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Why in the world would you want to keep chickens???

This has to be the first question you ask yourself…
For us it was two fold:to tend to our vegetable beds with the added bonus that they produce THE BEST eggs you will EVER have the privilege to taste…
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Well, what can I say???
Our Doris is doing very well after her run in with two of our dogs. I have no doubt in my mind, she is the toughest chicken that ever lived…
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We have decided to follow Lynda Woodrow’s plan for a permaculture garden, this involves using chickens for the mundane work of tilling the soil. If you have ever seen a group of chickens at work, you will know they are more than qualified to do this.

It’s quite amazing how they can demolish weeds, scratch and turn over the top of the earth until in no time at all, it has a fine sieved like appearance. All in a days work, they love it.
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