The “Pasture Poultry Movement” is hot in the USA. Free range chickens are moved from pasture to pasture, following the sheep or cattle, foraging and feeding on the parasites and bugs the animals leave behind. Most holdings are small over there – 200 acres is a big holding. Usually it is combined with other c omplementary enterprises. For instant, the mnost famous of them is Joel Salatin who runs chickens and pigs in between his orchard trees, in bottomless cages on wheels, so that the chickens and the pigs (separately) can till the soil and clean up the bad bugs in the soil. He has a slaughterhouse on his small holding and sells dressed chickens to people who travel for miles to get his good organic birds.
We like the idea of free range chickens following our sheep as they move from small paddock (field) to paddock, scratching and disturbing the soil, adding to the tilling effect and manuring effect of the sheep. So we thought of buying an old caravan, gutting it, equipping it with perches and laying boxes, and hauling it around behind the sheep. Or an old bus. (Considerations: Water supply. Portection against foxes. Someone would have to shut them in at night and let them out in the morning. Supplementary feeding. Collecting the eggs. Marketing the eggs (when everyone around seems to be growing chooks and you can buy a dozen caged eggs for $1 in the supermarkets). Marketing the chicken meat.
So while all this too-ing and fro-ing was going on I spied a sign outside a house at Blackheath. “Chickens for sale. Laying.” So I thought I’d pick up a dozen and force the issue by turning up at “Uamby” with a load of chickens – dive in the deep end. How much can they cost – a coupla bucks each? What’ve we got to lose? Instead of a dozen birds, I found there were only two rather elegant birds for sale at $15 each. What the hell, I’ll take em. They’re pretty nice birds and Sue, the nice lady who tells me they moved to the area because their former neighbour was a ‘sexual predator’ and she has a teenage daughter, she was an enthusiast about the birds. (I’ll blog Sue and her backyard later – something else!) She and her son picked the chickens up and patted them like pussy cats. A couple of Rottweilers mixed with the birds peacefully.
These elegant birds are known as Ancona. I looked them up on the Oklahoma State University website:
It said: “The Ancona originated near the city of Ancona, Italy, from early Leghorns and other breeds. Its mixed ancestry gives it extreme hardiness and prolificacy. Anconas were originally known as Black Leghorns because of their color, which is black with evenly white-tipped feathers. As with Leghorns, Anconas are known primarily for egg-laying and produce large numbers of white eggs. They were once one of the prime egg-producing breeds in Europe, and joined American farm flocks in the 19th century. Active and busy birds, they are good foragers and said to be indifferent to climate.”
Well all that turns out to be true. They can take 48°C heat and they can handle five dogs who all want to eat them And their eggs are pure white, with rich yellow yokes. One of them fills you up.
Anyway, the arrival of the chickens generated the action I wanted. Daniel created a mobile chook motel with grasscatcher laying box (see pics). But the chickens would have none of it. They were used to being part of the family, so they wait by the back door for company. They’re never happier than when Louisa is picking slugs off the vegetables and feeding them to the chickens.
When it’s extra hot they retire to the laundry, with its concrete floors and deep cool shadows.
We’re no closer to our pasture poultry enterprise, but we’re learning about the habits of two rather eccentric Italian chickens.
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