Keeping chickens

An introduction to the management of
small flocks of laying hens
Keeping hens dates back many thousands of years since the eggs (and meat) of jungle fowl were first enjoyed by humans. Ever since then, the sound of chooks wandering around the yard or the paddock has been an enjoyable part of life for countless people in many civilisations. Today, keeping hens in the backyard or in small commercial flocks can still be rewarding. Fresh eggs laid each day are delicious, nutritious and reduce the family grocery budget. In the case of a commercial flock they also provide an income.
Always remember that you can give away as many surplus eggs as your hens lay but if you want to sell them you must comply with various regulations in each State, such as having a food safety program registered with your local council and you must use new cartons with labels which meet national labelling laws.As well as providing food, keeping hens also gives you the best fertiliser for your veggie garden.
Eggs – Nature's balanced food
Eggs are one of nature's most complete foods, containing all of the essential amino acids, vitamins and minerals needed by the human body. Eggs contain vitamin A, all eight of the B group vitamins as well as vitamins D and E.
An egg has five component parts:
The shell, which is mainly calcium carbonate, is quite porous and has nearly 8,000 tiny holes which allow air and water vapour to pass through.
The membrane, which is a barrier against bacteria contaminating the egg.
The egg white or albumen (including the chalazae), which hold the yolk in the centre of the egg to prevent damage.
The yolk which is the food source.
The germinal disc, which is a very small spot on the surface of the yolk. This is where the chicken develops in an egg that has been fertilised for hatching. If the egg is not fertile, there is no embryo.
Why do hens stop laying?
One question that is frequently asked by small-scale chicken owners is "Why have my hens stopped laying?"
There are many possibilities but the most common causes of a drop in egg production include: The hens are getting older, approaching the end of their laying cycle and may be starting to moult, decreasing day length, improper nutrition, disease and stress.
Decreasing day light
Hens need around 14 hours of daylight to sustain top egg production. In winter, once daylight drops below 12 hours, production can decrease and may stop altogether – depending on location. To prevent this, some egg farms install lights in sheds to maintain light for 12 - 14 hours a day and trick the birds into thinking it's still daytime (so they keep eating and laying eggs).
Improper nutrition
Laying hens require a completely balanced ration to sustain maximum egg production. Improper nutrition can easily affect the lay rate.
Inadequate levels of energy, protein or calcium will result in a production decrease. This is why it is so important to provide your laying hens with a constant supply of nutritionally balanced layer food with a protein content of 17% - 19% and good levels of energy and calcium. Avoid feeding too many scraps as these can create a dietary imbalance.
Often these imbalances can generate other problems like prolapse. Prolapse is caused when the bird is too fat or an egg is too large and part of the bird's reproductive tract is expelled with the egg. Prolapse is often fatal.
Having oyster shell or another source of calcium always available is also a good idea to ensure strong egg shells.
A common problem is failing to provide a constant source of fresh water. Provide adequate watering points so the birds always have fresh water (and make sure it's cool on hot days).
Disease
Disease problems can hit under the best of conditions and there are many diseases which affect laying birds. Make sure all your hens are fully vaccinated against the common diseases likely in your area. Things like Egg Drop Syndrome and Infectious Bronchitis can hit your flock hard. Often one of the first signs of disease is a drop in egg production. Other symptoms of disease include dull and listless appearance, watery eyes and nostrils, coughing, moulting, lameness and deaths in the flock. If you suspect a disease, contact a vet for help and get an accurate diagnosis before starting treatment. It's a waste of time and money treating the wrong illness!
Old Hens
Most hens lay efficiently for two laying cycles. However, after two or three years, there is likely to be a decline in productivity. This varies greatly from bird to bird. Good layers will lay for about 60 weeks in their first year and then perhaps 50 weeks in the second cycle. Between those cycles they will moult for a few weeks. As they get older the hens will moult more often and shell quality will reduce – resulting in more breakages and wrinkled shells. Not a problem for use in the home, but it makes life difficult if you are trying to sell the eggs!
Stress
Any stress such as moving, handling, changes in environmental conditions or fright can contribute to a decline in egg production. Common stresses include:
Heat or cold
Chickens can't handle high temperatures (over 40 degrees centigrade) or damp, cold and drafty conditions.
Handling or moving
Once the laying flock is in place, limit any unnecessary moving or handling. Introducing new birds may disrupt the pecking order and cause some temporary social stress in your flock as well as possibly introducing disease.
Parasites
Make sure you have adequate controls in place for external or internal parasites. If you don't want to use chemicals, put things like aromatic herbs in nest boxes to limit the activity of mites and add garlic and chillies to feed and cider vingar to water to help control worms.
Fright
Limit the movement of children, strange dogs, livestock and vehicles around your flock as well as loud noises which can frighten the hens.
Predators such as foxes and eagles also stress the birds and can be responsible for a decrease in production.
Other factors which may cause a drop in your egg numbers:
Predators and snakes consuming the eggs.
Egg-eating by hens in the flock.
Insufficient nest boxes can cause excessive egg breakage.
Hens hiding the eggs.
Egg quality
First quality eggs, are those that are well-formed, have clean, uncracked shells with an air cell no bigger than 5mm deep. Yolk colour should not be less than Number 10 on the industry standard 'DSM Yolk Colour Fan'. Most commercial farms include additives in the chook feed to boost yolk colour and most pellets which backyarders buy also contain yolk colouring. If you don't want those additives getting into your food, don't buy products that contain them.
Egg shell
It is vital that eggs intended for sale have no cracks and are kept clean and dry, as bacteria from dirt and stains can penetrate even through an unbroken shell. Washing dirty eggs can often make the problem worse by removing the natural 'bloom' over the surface of the shell and allowing more bacteria to enter the egg. There are strict controls on commercial farms which wash eggs covering water temperature, cleaning and sanitising products used. Some of those farms then spray a food grade oil over the eggs to limit the entry of bacteria. If your eggs are dirty it's a sign of management problems - look at your nest boxes and conditions around the shed.
Shell colour
There is no relationship between the colour of the shell and the quality of the egg or its flavour. Commercial hybrid hens can lay either white, tinted (creamy coloured) or brown-shelled eggs. Brown-shelled egg laying hybrids are now the most common hens. Birds such as Isa Browns, Hy Line or Hi-Sex birds. Leghorn cross hens will lay white-shelled eggs.
Blood stains on shell
The problem of blood stains on egg shells occurs most frequently with young birds, though it can happen with any aged bird when a large double or triple yolker is laid.The shell is stained when small blood vessels that line the oviduct rupture when an egg passes through. Eggs which are laid later are generally free from any stains. Blood-stained eggs could also indicate aggressive tendencies in the flock and it is important to check each bird for possible injury around its vent. This aggression can lead to cannibalism.
Yolk colour
Carotenoid pigments found in plants eaten by the hens help to pigment the egg yolk. Although orange yolks look good, there is very little nutritional difference between pale yellow and darker orange yolks. Pasture and vegetable scraps can contribute a range of carotenoid pigments to the hens’ diet. These are variable depending on the season and therefore yolk colour will change when hens are given access to a variety of feed sources. If the yolks are always a deep orange colour, it is a good indication that colouring additives are included in the hens' diet.
Blood or meat spots
Blood spots or meat spots in the eggs may seem unsightly but they are not harmful in any way to consumers and can be easily removed. When a mature yolk is released from its follicle in the ovary, the follicle usually bursts along a line (the stigma) that contains few blood vessels. If the follicle does not tear exactly along the stigma a tiny blood vessel may be torn and the bleeding may form a ‘blood spot’ in the egg. Some breeds of laying birds have a tendency to lay more eggs with blood spots. Also, you can expect a higher amount of blood spots in the eggs of young pullets just starting to lay. Albumen (egg white) is formed around the yolk as it passes through the oviduct. 'Meat spots' are thought to be pigmented pieces of albumen left behind after the formation of the previous egg. The pigment (Ooporphyrinse) is associated with colouring of brown-shelled eggs which is why meat spots are less common in white-shelled eggs.
All eggs which are sold should be 'candled' - which means they are passed over a light during the grading process to ensure there are no bloodspots in the egg, no cracks in the shell and there is only a small aircell at the blunt end of the egg.
Freshness
The best way to maintain freshness is to collect eggs several times a day and store them in a coolroom or refrigerator. As a general rule of thumb, as much freshness is lost in one day if an egg is stored at room temperature as in a week in the refrigerator.
Fresh, well-stored eggs have more flavour, produce firmer cakes and custards and the whites beat up to make a stable foam. The moment an egg is laid it contains no air cell, though as it cools and loses moisture, a slight vacuum is created which draws in air through the pores in the shell.
Runny whites
When a fresh, well-stored egg is fried, the albumen is more likely to stand high and close to the yolk rather than spread across the pan. Runny albumen is generally taken as a sign that the egg is old - but that isn't necessarily the case. It can be caused by a number of factors including genetic tendency, the age of the birds, health and nutrient intake. Albumen tends to become runnier as the hen gets older and when intake of key nutrients such as protein is compromised. It is important to provide young stock with shelter and water, especially during hot weather, to avoid a severe reduction to feed intake. It is also important to offer ample feed and avoid diluting balanced feeds with an excessive amount of scraps. Some chicken diseases also affect albumen quality.
The best chickens to buy
Depending on what you want, the most productive hens are commercial hybrids which have the potential to lay over 300 eggs per hen per year under ideal conditions (ISA Brown, Hi-sex Brown, Hyline Brown). More traditional brown-egg laying strains include the Black Cross (Australorp/New Hampshire) and the Red Cross (Rhode Island/New Hampshire). If you only want a small flock you may prefer to go for the many pure breeds which available in small numbers. For white eggs the traditional hen is the Leghorn.
Experience has shown that for maximum egg production, pullets which reach point of lay in September (at 17 - 18 weeks) are likely to be the most productive. Once they start, they should lay right through to the following September when their replacement flock will begin to lay. It's always a good idea to buy your replacement birds from a reputable source, either a commercial hatchery or a recognised breeder. Usually the classified section of rural newspapers have advertisements for poultry showing available breeds and prices.
Replacing your flock
If you are keen on maximising production, the industry advice is 'don’t keep old hens'. Most birds will complete their first laying cycle when they are 75 weeks old. Beyond that age, the rate of lay will drop, and egg shell and albumen quality will decline. The hens will probably lay well during their second laying cycle (after a brief period when they moult) but they won't lay quite as many eggs during their second cycle. And that decline will continue over the years although some hens will keep laying for five or six years – some even longer. The advantage of keeping older birds is they tend to lay large eggs, many double and even triple yolkers.
Rearing chicks and pullets
Rearing chicks from day-old requires good animal husbandry skills, time and the right equipment. Attention to detail is needed to minimise the death rate and poor performance over the life of the birds. If this is regarded as daunting, a better option is to buy point-of-lay pullets. There is likely to be little difference in cost once the price of feed and the vaccination program is taken into account.
Before the chickens arrive, all manure and litter from the previous flock must be removed and the enclosure scrubbed thoroughly with detergent and sprayed with a sanitiser approved for use in poultry houses. Dirt floors must be given special attention to minimise contamination by bacteria, viruses and parasites. Day-old pullets obtained from the supplier should be vaccinated against Marek’s Disease and Infectious Bronchitis Virus. Protection from predators such as rats and cats is essential. Day-old chicks should be reared for at least the first 3 weeks inside a draught-free enclosure, on clean, dry litter material (such as wood shavings or rice hulls), with a heat lamp or heater positioned so that the temperature at the chick level is around 33°C. It is essential that the young chicks can easily access fresh water. A pullet starter feed should be provided in feeders and by scattering feed on paper around the feeders and drinking points for the first 24 to 48 hours, the young chicks will learn to gain access to feed and water. Decrease temperature gradually, aiming to reach about 21°C at 3 to 4 weeks of age. Once birds are fully feathered, at around 5 to 6 weeks of age, they can tolerate lower temperatures and they can start to go outside. Extreme temperatures should be avoided as they may lead to mortalities and poor performance. Roof sprays or internal shed misters can help.
Hen housing
It is important to provide all poultry with protection against inclement weather and direct sunlight. The house must be ventilated, however it must also provide shelter from draughts and very hot winds. Exclusion of cats, foxes, dogs, rats and other predators is essential.
Convenient access to fresh water is important. If using surface water (dam, river, irrigation) it must be sanitised to be suitable for consumption by domestic poultry. This is to reduce the risk of infection with serious emergency poultry diseases (i.e. Avian Influenza) from water contaminated by wild birds, particularly waterfowl.
To work out the appropriate size of a hen house, allow approximately 0.37 square metres (4 sq.ft.) of floor space per bird. A 20 bird flock will need a floor area of at least 7.5 square metres or 80 sq.ft. Local councils may have restrictions on the keeping of poultry in your area so it's a goof idea to ask them.
Perches
Chickens in the wild roost in trees so they need to be able to perch. Without perches they will sit on anything available including nests, feeders gates and fences. At night if they don't have perches they may crowd into a corner of the hen house. This can create quite a messy area which will make the hens’ claws and feathers dirty. This build up of manure is likely to make the nests dirty (and therefore your eggs). By providing perches for roosting, your eggs will be much cleaner. The average hen needs about 250mm of perch space ideally around 600mm off the floor.
Nests
Nests need to be comfortable and fairly dark to provide privacy from the rest of the hen house. The amount of nesting space per flock depends on how many birds you have. As a rule, six layers need abour a square metre of nesting space. They usually prefer individual nests, but in some sheds communal nests seem to work well. Nesting material can be straw and wood shavings and needs to be at least 100mm deep and kept clean. Hens can be trained not to sleep in nests by providing perches and excluding them from the nests in the evening by blocking up the opening. Re-open the nests after they have roosted and after a week or so the birds will have formed a roosting habit, greatly reducing the amount of droppings in the nests. Collect eggs at least twice a day to ensure freshness and minimise the opportunity for egg eating.
Health
Keeping your flock productive and healthy is the main objective of everyone who keeps poultry. Proper management helps to reduce disease and other problems.
Coccidiosis is caused by an intestinal parasite. It generally is a result of damp ground or litter in the hen house which encourages the survival and development of the oocyst – the infectious stage of the coccidiosis life cycle.There are two main types: Caecal Coccidiosis usually affects young pullets up to 8 weeks of age and Intestinal Coccidiosis is more likely to occur in pullets from 8 to 12 weeks of age.Both types of coccidiosis can cause significant mortalities and chronic ill thrift in a percentage of the survivors, and hence a loss of flock uniformity. Signs that pullets are affected by clinical coccidiosis include mortalities, huddling, ruffled feathers, depression and blood in the droppings. Losses can be significant unless the affected birds are treated properly. Because there are a number of different species of poultry coccidia, pullets can experience repeated cases of coccidiosis under poor husbandry conditions. Beyond point of lay, birds will generally have developed an immunity to coccidia. But if there is a need for chemical control measures in place of using products likke cider vinegar, talk to your local vet.If further control measures are required be sure to seek advice from a veterinarian and always ensure that any additional medications are compatible with additives in the feed you are using – if you are buying a commerical product.
Worm infestations
The large roundworm (Ascaridia spp.) is the most likely to cause trouble in the backyard or free range flock. The adult worm lives in the intestine where it lays large numbers of eggs which are excreted in the birds’ droppings. These eggs are then picked up by other birds when feeding or scratching for food, and so the infection spreads. A notable feature of roundworm eggs is that they can remain viable on the ground for very long periods, particularly in damp, shaded areas. The symptoms of heavy roundworm infestation are wasting, loss of condition and reduced egg production.Poultry housed under barn or free range conditions are also commonly infested with other types of worms including the intestinal worm (Capillaria spp.), caecal worm (Heterakis spp.) and tapeworms (Raillientina spp. and Davainea spp.). The caecal worm plays a role as an intermediate host in the poultry disease, Blackhead. To control tapeworm effectively, you will also need to control their intermediate hosts – beetles, snails and slugs.
External parasites
External parasitic infestation such as ticks, lice and mites causes undue irritation and stress to your birds, which can result in a severe drop in egg production. Although it is unlikely you’ll be able to eliminate parasites completely, they can be kept to a minimum by sound management practices. If you don't want to use chemicals, put aromatic herbs in the nest boxes
Minimising internal and external parasites
Damp conditions promote the build up of internal parasites in the flock. Control dampness by attending to leaky drinkers or taps and avoid spillage when water is supplied by hand. Ensure that open areas are well drained and that rainwater cannot enter housing. Remove damp litter or soil and replace with clean, new material and fill in depressions. For maximum productivity, flocks should be replaced on an ‘all-in-all out’ basis to break the life cycle of internal and external parasites. Ideally, young pullets should be raised apart from older hens and on fresh ground that has not been used by older birds for at least 6 months. Before introducing new birds to the hen house, all old litter material should be removed and the house should be washed down with a detergent and then sanitised with an approved sanitiser for poultry houses. To ensure full control of external parasites and litter beetles it may be adviseable to treat the hen house with an approved insecticide well before the new flock arrives. Thorough cleaning and sanitising of nest boxes, drinkers and feeders must be carried out as well as any maintenance required before placement of the birds. If you do use chemical sanitisers, medications and other treatments, be sure always to follow instructions and seek veterinary advice when required.
Egg eating
Laying hens are naturally inclined to eat broken eggs, they know that a damaged egg cannot hatch even if it is fertile. This trait is not caused by a feed deficiency but it can develope into a vice where a hen deliberately pecks at eggs to break and eat them.Once this habit starts it is difficult to break. It will result in serious egg losses and may also lead to cannibalism.It is best to prevent egg eating from starting with good management, such as ensuring there's plenty of litter in nests, the nest are relatively dark, broken eggs are taken away promptly and eggs sre collected at least twice a day.
Feather picking and cannibalism
This is normally an indication of overcrowding, lack of drinking and feeding space, idleness and poor conditions. Any birds that have been seriosly vent picked, traumatised by other hens or are showing signs of poor health and debilitation should be immediately removed from the flock and assessed to see if they can be rehabiliated or should be euthanased in a humane manner. This is the problem which major producers solve by de-beaking their hens so they can keep running large numbers. If you must cull, seek advice from your vet about appropriate culling methods.If it is neglected, feather picking may develop into cannibalism. To help prevent this problem, don't overstock, ensure that nesting areas are reasonably dark and private and keep the birds occupied. Assuming your hens are well housed with adequate space, this can be done by scattering straw or feed over the ground for them to scratch around.
Broodiness
This is a natural, maternal instinct that can cause decreased egg production. Broody hens occupy the nest for extended periods of time, preventing other hens from laying. Even during the night broody hens tend to remain on the nest rather than roosting with other hens. Other signs of broodiness include the ruffling of feathers, aggressiveness when approached on the nest and making a characteristic clucking noise. Broody hens will continue to lay a clutch of 4 to 6 eggs before they stop laying. It is important to act prior to the hen laying this clutch of eggs to avoid the bird going out of lay. Broody hens should be removed to separate wire coops. There, provided with sufficient feed and water, they should be cured within 3-4 days after which they can be returned to the flock. Keep a close watch for the next few days, as they may lapse back to being broody. Repeat the isolation treatment if they do.
Poultry equipment
Heaps of home and commercial poultry equipment is available from produce stores. Most have a range of metal (or plastic) feeders to suit all types and numbers of birds. They can be small round feeders suitable for an aviculturalist to large 15kg or 40kg feeders for poultry. Plastic drinkers reduce the potential for water contamination and provide visible water levels.
Feeding hens
Chickens are omnivores, which means they will eat almost anything that includes animal or vegetable material. In the free range situation this means they will devour insects, worms, carcasses, seeds and other plant material. If you confine your birds they will not be productive on vegetable scraps alone. To achieve good health, well-being and egg production, the laying hen must have a balanced diet.
Water
Ample, cool, clean water should always be available as this is essential for maximum egg production. If a hen is without water for even a short time, her comb may turn a blue-black colour and she will cease to lay. In hot weather, a lack of water for even a few hours can be fatal. Although actual consumption depends on the size of bird, level of egg production, season and type of drinker used, most laying hens need around 500 ml of water per day.
In extremely hot weather a good rule to follow is to provide at least three times the usual water allowance and ensure that the water is cool by putting ice.
Protein and energy
Birds require an appropriate balance of protein and energy, vitamins and minerals to support growth, egg production, daily functions and overall health. A good mix of grains with a minimum protetin level of 17% is ideal. Quality pasture will be high in protein so if the hens have access to that there is no need for supplementary feed to be significantly higher although some egg producers insist on feed with a protein content of 22%
Coarse sources of calcium
Calcium is required for strong bones and good quality eggshells. Hens generally lay down egg shells during the night. It can be beneficial to also offer coarse sources of calcium such as shell grit or limestone chips. These provide a sustained slow-release of calcium and allow for the selection of extra calcium by the hens.
Hard grit
Hens need small stones to grind feed in the gizzard. They require grit when being fed coarse grains such as wheat or other feedstuffs where grinding is necessary for digestion. They may obtain enough grit from the soils in your paddock or yard but if not, small stones of 2 - 3mm in diameter can be incorporated in the feed or fed seperately.
Green feed and scraps
Green feed and scraps are a source of vitamins and can contribute carotenoid pigments for yolk colour. Hens enjoy grazing and picking over scraps and whilst these can contribute to their diet, they can also be very low in nutrients. If too much poor quality forage or scraps are fed too often in place of a balanced ration, egg production and hen health can suffer. Care should be taken to avoid access to mouldy or 'off ' feed such as old damp stored grain or mouldy bread. These may contain toxins that can affect the health and performance of laying hens.
Does It Pay To Keep Your Own Laying Hens?
When properly fed and cared for, hens in a home flock situation (commercial hybrids) should lay at least 20 dozen eggs per year. During that time the laying hen will eat approximately 47kg of feed. By calculating the annual cost of feed, housing, equipment, health care and replacement birds you can then establish how much it costs to produce your own eggs. This obviously pays no regard to the pleasure of keeping hens and producing your own food. What is free range?
From consumer research carried out at Farmers' Markets, a definition that most buyers seem to accept is: 'Free-range chickens are able to spend most of their time outdoors. They should not be de-beaked. The hens should not be confined to small areas. True free-range flocks are generally fed and watered outside'.
This encourages the birds to spend most of their time outdoors and keeps the laying sheds cleaner and drier. If fences confine the birds to small areas, the farm shouldn't be described as free-range, and neither should those where feed and water is only provided in sheds to keep the birds inside.
The egg industry view is that the term 'free range' applies to any poultry with access to an outdoor area, no matter how few birds actually go outside and how uninviting their outdoor yard may be.
What's the problem with a yard egg system?
It comes down to the amount of manure the land can handle, and the geometry of chicken yards. An acre of grass can handle about four tonnes of chicken manure per year. That's the output of up to 100 chickens. So, unless you want to kill off the grass and pollute the area with runoff, the limit is around 100 outdoor chickens per acre – unless you remove the manure.
What's worse is that the droppings are never evenly distributed across the yard. The manure is concentrated near the chicken house. This kills off all plant life near the chicken shed (if its a fixed shed) even if the chickens don't destroy the grass sod by scratching.
100 hens per acre equates to about 400 square feet per hen. Hens also don't like to travel long distances. They'll go 100 - 200 metres from the hen houses in good weather, if properly encouraged by outdoor feeders, waterers, vegetation and shade.
How the Europeans manage 400 hens per acre in their 'free-range' flocks.
EU regulations allow 400 hens per acre but require that the yards remain green. If that many hens actually went outdoors, the grass would be destroyed in no time. The manure load of 400 outdoor hens is unsustainable on one acre, killing the grass, producing high nutrient runoff levels, and a muddy yard unless the nutrients are removed from the ground. But as the hens spend most of their time indoors, the grass can remain green. It's similar in Australia where the Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals – Domestic Poultry sets out a maximum stocking density of 1500 birds per hectare. The Code doesn't limit flock sizes, so large farms have been established with sheds containing tens of thousands of birds – and they can be classified as 'free-range' as long as they have 'access' to an outdoor run.
Chickens eat and drink many times during a day, so their movements can be managed by careful placement of feeders and waterers. The basic scam in Australia (and in Europe) involves putting the feeders and waterers as far from the outside doors as possible, installing only a few doors and making them as small as possible. A few hens will wander around outside, providing window dressing for gullible observers, but most hens stay indoors.
The reality is that most 'free-range' hens are really confined in barns surrounded by nice lawns. To produce the coloured yolks associated with free-range flocks, many producers add special colouring ingredients to the feed. Some of these additives are claimed to be 'natural' but nearly all are produced in laboratories by men in white coats. If the hens eat grass, other green vegetation and a corn-based ration, the yolks will be a vibrant golden colour. But yolk colour in eggs from real free range farms will vary depending on the time year and the availability of green feed. If yolk colour never varies, you can be sure that colouring additives are being fed to the hens. Another indicator that shows that the flocks aren't free range at all is if the hens are de-beaked. With true free-range flocks, feather-picking and cannibalism are rare. Those behavioral problems are caused by intensive farming, confinement, farm management and choice of birds. Which is why the majority of Australias 'free-range' commercial flocks are beak-trimmed as a matter of course.
It's disappointing that the RSPCA encourages the de-beaking of birds by accepting royalty payments for the barn laid and 'free range' eggs which it accredits.
Some of the big producers even claim, after doing everything to discourage the hens from ever venturing outside, that 'chickens don't like to go outdoors.' Everyone who has ever had a small flock knows that chickens will spend most of their time outdoors if the weather isn't too bad and feed and water are provided outside.
The regulations have been written for major operators who have transfered large-scale factory farming techniques to a version of 'free range' farming which allows the businesses to maximise profits by allowing them to charge a premium for eggs which should be classified as 'cage-free' rather than 'free range'.
So how do you do it right?
Traditional free-range egg production is just part of a diversified farm. It enables a farm to make full use of the nutrients from the chicken manure. And it adds to the sustainability of the farming enterprise.
Many free range farms use portable hen houses, either on wheels or on skids. They can be moved around with a tractor to prevent the ground around the houses becoming muddy. This is the traditional approach we use at the Freeranger Farm. There is a trend towards using mobile electric poultry netting combined with frequent shed moves probably every 1-3 days. Moving the sheds is labour intensive but it helps to maintain pasture growth. With low stocking density, even if the houses are left in place for several weeks at a time, a scattering of bare rectangles every now and then on the pasture is not significant. The grass will regrow over the season. By feeding the hens outdoors and moving the feeders regularly, it's possible to get most of the effect of moving the houses, but with less effort.
It's clearly much more labour-intensive than the pretend 'free-range' techniques most big operators use, so it's not worth doing unless prices are substantially higher than for eggs produced by other methods – which is why the big producers don't want a legal definition of 'free range' to prohibit de-beaking and limit flock sizes.
It's often possible to get away with infrequent house moves as the manure under a chicken house becomes drier and less obnoxious the longer the house sits in one place. For the first few days a house is in a new spot, the manure can be wet and smelly. If the house has been in one place for a month, the manure is quite dry and there is no smell. Moving the houses too frequently seems to maximize the wetness and smell. Some operators have trays under the sheds to catch the manure and allow it to be spread where it is required rather than simply dropping through to the ground under the chicken house.
On clay soil, the mud problem makes it important to keep a solid turf at all times. Permanent pasture is the simplest way of achieving this, though a crop rotation with grasses or clover as one phase will also work. On sandy or gravely soils, cultivating the soil does not lead to an instant mud problem, so keeping the chickens among growing crops is a viable alternative.
Chickens love shade. It keeps them cool, out of the wind, and protects them from eagles, hawks and owls. Plantings of things like Kangaroo Apples, corn, kale, and sunflowers are suitable in the range areas, and native grasses can help to boost protein levels (as well as being drought tolerant to maintain green feed for most of the year). Adding plants like purslane in the pasture or cropping it and feeding to the chooks can boost Omega 3 levels in the eggs.
Nutritional benefits
More studies need to be done, but there is growing evidence that eggs from hens raised on pasture have nutritional benefits over the factory farm versions.
In 1974, the British Journal of Nutrition found that pastured eggs had 50 percent more folic acid and 70 percent more vitamin B12 than eggs from factory farm hens.
In 1988, Artemis Simopoulos, co-author of The Omega Diet, found pastured eggs in Greece contained 13 times more Omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids than U.S. commercial eggs. A 1998 study in Animal Feed Science and Technology found that pastured eggs had higher Omega 3 and vitamin E than eggs from caged hens.
A 1999 study by Barb Gorski at Pennsylvania State University found that eggs from pastured birds had 10 percent less fat, 34 percent less cholesterol, 40 percent more vitamin A, and four times the Omega 3 compared to the standard USDA data.
In 2003, Heather Karsten at Pennsylvania State University found that pastured eggs had three times more Omega 3, 220 percent more vitamin E and 62 percent more vitamin A than eggs from caged hens.
In 2007, the US magazine Mother Earth News analysed eggs from 14 free range flocks and compared the results to nutritional data available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for commercial eggs, the kind found in most supermarkets. The link is http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/2007-10-01/Tests-Reveal-Healthier-Eggs.aspx.
The free range eggs had:- 1⁄3 less cholesterol- 1⁄4 less saturated fat- 2⁄3 more vitamin A- 2 times more Omega 3 fatty acids- 3 times more vitamin E- 7 times more beta carotene
But be careful when buying 'free-range' eggs. As long as hens have 'access to an outdoor run' producers are able call their eggs free-range. What this usually means is that there is a small opening where hens could go outside, regardless of whether or not they ever do. In most cases a better description would be 'non-cage eggs'.
Often you can visibly tell the difference, but yolk colour is not always a good guide. Pastured yolks are often a rich orange colour from the beta-carotene in the plants (as long as there is plenty of green feed in the paddocks). Eggs from a genuine free range farm will vary in yolk colour – depending on the time of year and the amount of green feed available. If the yolk colour is always the same, you can be sure that colouring additives are included in the hens' feed.
It's up to consumers to find out how the chickens are being raised and what they're being fed. Talk to producers at farmers' markets to find out how they manage their flocks and make sure you are comfortable with the way the eggs are produced.
We can always send you an ebook on either keeping a backyard flock, or starting a commercial flock. Have a look at the products page on  www.freeranger.com.au

Check out more info on:
http://www.freeranger.com.au/

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/poultryoverview.html#colony

Easter break has pushed demand up still more

The demand for free range eggs seems to be never-ending. We have been unable to meet all additional orders this week - even from our regular outlets.
Some of the pressure may ease a bit when our new flock of Isa Brown pullets starts laying (hopefully in the next few days) but it really doesn't seem to matter how many eggs we have - it's never enough.
A big part of our problem is tourism. It's just not possible to keep everyone supplied when the local population jumps by 100,000 people over a weekend like Easter.
It's actually worse for us than the Christmas holidays - because over the summer holidays we know there is a peak period of around six weeks when demand will be excessive and we can try to increase flock sizes to meet those requirements. But there's no way we can do anything about a sudden jump in demand for one weekend (even though we know it's coming).
I'll be at the Cardinia Ranges Farmers' Market in Pakenham tomorrow (Saturday) but unfortunately those customers who don't get there early are likely to miss out on eggs because I will only have about 50 dozen.

Rain - again!!

Today we're having our first serious rain for a month. We did hope that a downpour in early March was the start of the Autumn break - but it didn't continue.
Today's rain has topped up nearly all of our tanks and is great for the veggie garden as well as the pasture.
Three of the Maremmas are in hiding because they hate thunder but hopefully it won't last long and they will get back to work.
It's just great to see puddles.
Our new flock of pullets is wondering what this wet stuff is because none of them has seen rain before. With a bit of luck they will start laying this week - just in time for Easter.

'Fox' attack may have been a Tasmanian Devil

The 'fox' attack our hens suffered last Wednesday and Thursday nights may not have been a fox at all but a Tasmanian Devil which escaped from a local fauna park.

It was a male and was apparently on the loose for two weeks before it was run over and killed on the Bass Highway.

Altogether at least 26 of our hens were killed and the electranet fencing on the 'chosen' paddock was chewed in a few places.

It's not just the loss of the hens which has caused a problem, the others in the flock are traumatised and our overall production has dropped by almost 50 dozen eggs a week. Imagine the devastation if more of these escape and start breeding!!!! The link to the article is http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2009/03/27/65971_latest-news.html

Demand for real free range eggs is still strong

I had a call yesterday from a bloke who said he owned a few restaurants in Melbourne and he wanted to source genuine free range eggs. I told him that our total weekly production was only about 400 - 450 dozen and his response was 'I only want 400 dozen each week'. It took 15 minutes or so to convince him that we couldn't possibly fill his order whilst meeting our regular committments.

His suggesstion was was that we should expand. My suggestion was ###########

We are always happy to accept new orders - but as a business philosophy we don't subscribe to the GOD 'growth' - and we won't expand our production to meet demand

Fox attack

We've just had our worst fox attack for ages. At least 10 and probably as many as 15 hens were killed by foxes last night- all in one paddock.
Their flock protector, a Maremma dog named Monte came charging out of the paddock at around 10.30 last night - obviously in pursuit of the nasty little critters but he left the rest of the flock to the ****** foxes.
I've now re-arranged the electric fences and we will give Monte some support with another Maremma in his paddock as it seems to be the most prone to predators. We have not had an attack like this since we've had our eight Maremmas - and we don't want another night like it.
It wouldn't be so bad if the foxes just killed what they needed to eat but we had headless bodies strewn around the paddock with feathers everywhere.
I don't think I'm alone in saying that I hate foxes!

Good dog Monte

Why hens stop laying

One question that we are frequently asked at Farmers' Markets by small-scale chicken owners is "Why have my hens stopped laying?"
The most common causes of decreased egg production include: lack of enough daylight, improper nutrition, disease, increasing age and stress.
Decreasing day light
Hens need around 14 hours of daylight to sustain top egg production. During winter, once daylight drops below 12 hours, production can decrease and may stop altogether – depending on location. To prevent this, some farms install lights in sheds to maintain light for 12 - 14 hours a day and trick the birds into thinking its still daytime (so they keep eating). That's not a farming practice that we think is appropriate.
Improper nutrition
Laying hens require a completely balanced ration to sustain maximum egg production. Improper nutrition can easily affect the lay rate.
This is why it's so important to give laying hens a constant supply of nutritionally balanced food containing 17% - 19% protein with good levels of energy and calcium. Avoid feeding many scraps as these can create a dietary imbalance - they dilute the essential ingredients if they form a significant part of the hens' diet.
An unbalanced diet can cause problems like prolapse. Prolapse is caused when the bird is too fat or an egg is too large and the bird's reproductive tract is expelled with the egg. Prolapse is often fatal.
Having oyster shell or another source of calcium always available is also a good idea to ensure strong egg shells. It can either be mixed in with the feed or made available to the hens in separate feeders.
A common problem is not ensuring there is a constant source of fresh water. Provide adequate watering points so the birds always have fresh water and make sure it's cool on hot days.
Disease
Disease problems can occur under the best of conditions and there are many diseases which affect laying birds. Only buy hens which are fully vaccinated against the common diseases likely in your area. Things like Egg Drop Syndrome and Infectious Bronchitis can hit your flock hard. Often one of the first signs of disease is a drop in egg production. Other symptoms of disease include dull and listless appearance, watery eyes and nostrils, coughing, molting, lameness and mortality in the flock. If you suspect a disease, contact a vet for help and get an accurate diagnosis before starting treatment.
Old Hens
Most hens lay efficiently for two laying cycles. However, after two or three years, there is likely to be a decline in productivity. This varies greatly from bird to bird. Once they start, good layers will keep laying for about 60 weeks in their first cycle and then perhaps 50 weeks in the second cycle. Between those cycles they will moult for a few weeks. As they get older the hens will moult more often and the shell quality will suffer – resulting in more breakages and wrinkled shells.
Stress
The birds don't like any change, so stresses caused by things like being moved, handled roughly, changes in environmental conditions or fright can contribute to a decline in egg production. Common stresses include:
Getting too hot, or too cold. Chickens can't handle high temperatures (over 40 degrees centigrade) or damp, cold and drafty conditions.
Handling or moving. Once the laying flock is in place, limit any unnecessary moving or handling. Introducing new birds may disrupt the pecking order and cause some temporary social stress in your flock as well as possibly introducing disease.
Parasites. Make sure you have adequate controls in place for external or internal parasites there are natural things you can use if you don't want to use chemicals.
Fright.
Limit the movement of children, strange dogs, livestock and vehicles around your flock as well as loud noises which can frighten the hens.
Predators such as foxes and eagles stress the birds and create a decrease in production.
Other factors which may cause a drop in your egg numbers are:
Predators and snakes consuming the eggs.
Egg-eating by hens in the flock.
Insufficient nest boxes can cause excessive egg breakage.
Hens hiding the eggs.

There's heaps more info in my ebook which can be found at http://www.freeranger.com.au/products.html

Rain today - hopefully this is the Autumn break

Yesterday and today have been great. Officialdom was predicting extreme fire danger but although we've had some strong winds, there have been low temperatures and RAIN .
It hasn't been a lot, but we have recorded 10mm and 15mm in the two guages on our property which is more than we've had for ages.
Hopefully the fire season is now over and we can get back to some semblance of 'normality' - whatever that is!
But we won't be putting the firefighting pumps away just yet.
I have been drafting our submission to the Royal Commission into Victoria's wildfires and I'll send it in as soon as I can find an address for the Commission!!!!

Egg yolk colour is not a good guide

Most years there is a problem maintaining the rich colour of yolks during summer when there is little green feed around. The majority of egg farms overcome this by putting additives in the feed - but we choose not to include pigmenters in the chook feed.
The colour of the yolk is due to substances called carotenoids. The nutritional value of the egg is not affected in any way by the natural yolk colour but most buyers expect a deep yellow or orange colour - particularly from free range eggs. And that's exactly what our customers get most of the year.
But right now, with the summer heat after an extremely long drought the yolks of our eggs are paler than normal because there is virtually no green feed around.
The most important sources of carotenoids in poultry feed are corn, lucerne and grass meals; these sources contain the pigmenting carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin.
Unfortunately the carotenoid content in the ingredients of poultry feed is not constant; the pigmentation properties of the carotenoids can be weakened or lost and the fluctuations are out of our control. It is these fluctuations in naturally-occurring carotenoids which push most producers to chase consistency by adding yellow and red carotenoids (such as apoester and canthaxanthin) to the feed. That's something we will never do. If we lose customers just because our yolks are paler than normal for a month or so during dry weather, so be it. We won't compromise our undertaking that we use no chemicals on the pastures where the hens roam and we include no additives in the feed to achieve the desired egg yolk colour.
Producers claim that the colouring additives are natural products. What they mean is that they may be derived from natural products. Virtually all of them are made in laboratories by men and women in white coats.
We choose to feed a corn-based mash supplemented by green feed from our veggie garden when there is no green grass in the paddocks.

Hot weather hasn't affected the hens

Our hens are still laying well despite the recent hot conditions and the lack of rain. We are expecting a 36 degree day today so it won't be very comfortable for them (or for us)!

The last 20 birds in our oldest flock are being sold on Sunday to live as backyard chooks - then we start getting the shed ready for the new flock of 300 which will arrive towards the end of March.

We will be a bit busy today spraying water around the sheds and putting ice in the hens' water to keep it cool - as well as the usual chores of egg collection, grading and packing. About 120 dozen eggs will be delivered on our usual weekly run to Phillip Island today and we are packing for the Churchill Island Farmers' Market on Saturday.

Fire fighting pumps at the ready!

With the devastating wildfires still roaring through many parts of Victoria, we are very aware of the need to be ready to tackle a local blaze.
We have two fire-fighting pumps (one diesel and one petrol) connected to tanks and one connected to a 600 litre mobile trailer. In addition we have fire extinguishers at all the mobile chook sheds and I've been going around today squirting water to keep the hens cool. We had a slight drop in egg production today but nothing serious and all the hens look pretty happy.
Today is a total fire ban day in our region and thankfully we haven't heard any of the locals riding around on their trail bikes in the bush.
It's amazing just how dumb some people are - because it's their home which are likely to burn if they start a fire.
I couldn't get one of the petrol pumps to start up this morning so I took it down to our local mechanic to see what was up. Apparently it has a fail safe device to prevent it running if the engine is low on oil. So all it needed was a top-up and it ran perfectly.
The motor and pump are new so it's a pity the manufacturer didn't supply a leaflet telling that information!!!!

What a day!!!

We managed to get through a 45 degree day today without any major hassles. Going around the chook sheds collecting eggs, spraying water and putting ice blocks in the hens' water kept everything on an even keel.
We also had to ensure that the dogs had plenty of water and shade - because they are more suseptible to heat problems than the chickens.
But a cool change went through at around 5 o'clock and the temperature dropped 15 degrees in as many minutes.
Thankfully we had no clowns out in the bush lighting fires - unlike other parts of Victoria. The Strzeleckis are burning again today and if the fire-lighter is grabbed by the right people ...........

Culling male chicks may be a thing of the past

The latest research from the Poultry Cooperative Research Centre will allow the Australian egg industry to almost eliminate the need to cull male chicks at hatcheries. Nearly half of all chicks hatched for the layer industry are males which are generally culled as day-olds. The Australian Poultry CRC, in collaboration with CSIRO Livestock Industries, is patenting a method to control sex determination in birds. This means that in future, the majority of chicks hatched will be females - with clear welfare and economic benefits.
According to Professor Mingan Choct, Chief Executive of the Poultry CRC, “From a welfare perspective, it’s extremely positive because there’ll be far fewer male chicks to cull. From an economic perspective, there’ll be savings because half of the vaccinated eggs will no longer be wasted simply because they hatch as males. This becomes a terribly important point when you realise that all of those vaccinations carry a significant cost and are crucial for flock health.”
The technology uses an existing vaccination method which injects vaccines directly into the fertilised egg at the hatchery. By piggy-backing on existing practices, the technology would be easy to implement and cost-effective. The heart of the system is a method to silence the expression of genes that tell the growing embryo to become female or male, without having to genetically modify the chicken itself.
“We’ll be able to use existing processes in the developing embryo to produce more female than male birds," explained Lloyd Thomson, the Poultry CRC's Commercialisation and Technology Transfer Manager. "The approach is non-GM. Hatcheries, farmers and, most importantly, ethically-minded consumers will all benefit.”
Australians eat 175 eggs each year, up from 150 in 1999 (from more than 15 million hens or nearly 240 million dozen eggs per annum representing $400m gross value at the farm gate). Given that the Australian population will almost double by 2050, sustainable sources of high-quality protein will be crucial for maintaining food security. This CRC innovation will help the Australian egg industry continue to provide this vital staple food.

Looking after the environment and the farm

A federally funded program - the Future Food and Fibre Project ran across Gippsland region last year and the Freranger farm took part . The Project's focus was to increase the uptake of Environmental Management Systems and sustainable management practices in the region.
Thge case study relating to this farm can be downloaded at

http://www.wgcma.vic.gov.au/mediaLibrary/files/Sustainable_Ag/FFF_CaseStudy_Eggs.pdf

Over nine months, the Project:
held field days and workshops to explore different producers' views of sustainability, and how they implement EMS within their businesses; ran a leadership program for nineteen individuals who were already demonstrating a real commitment to EMS or sustainability.This program included the development of a strategic plan for sustainable agriculture in Gippsland;
held strategic meetings with CMAs and industry representatives (dairy, wine, seafood, vegetables, beef, eggs) for increasing the uptake of sustainable agricultural practices across the three CMA regions; offered EMS training, whole farm plan training and ISO14001 EMS peer auditor training.
Phil Westwood, of Freeranger eggs is already an environmental auditor as well as an auditor of the National Egg Quality Assurance Program

Massive demand from tourists

As usual at this time of year, we are being run off our feet by excess demand for eggs caused by the numbers of tourists in our area.
Restaurants which normally order 6 - 10 trays of eggs a week are now asking for 20 or 25 trays!
We are doing our best to meet those orders from our regular customers - but it's hard because the hens only lay one egg a day each.
We can't pluck extra eggs out of the air - like whipping up another batch of cakes of jam.
Fortunately a couple of members of the Free Range Farmers Association have some spare eggs at this time of year and we are able to buy them to make up some of the orders.
As members of the association, we are only allowed to trade amongst ourselves. Our audit trail has to show where all the eggs we sell have come from to ensure the integrity of our free range label and use of the FRFA logo.

What's an egg worth?

We had a great day at Churchill Island Farmers' Market on Saturday - selling out by 11.30. The highlight for me was when I had sold the last of our Megga Eggs (eggs over 80 grams and which usually have a total carton weight of more than 1 kg).
I had just sold the last one when a customer said "I'll have the same please" She wasn't happy when I told her that the last Meggas had just been sold and her immediate response was to turn to the young lady who had just bought them to say 'I'll give you $10 for them'.
Perhaps I'm selling the eggs too cheaply at $8?

Free Range Egg Forum

Dr Peter Scott made a great presentation at a free range egg industry forum in Brisbane last month. Details are on the Australian Egg Corporation website http://www.aecl.com.au/
He outlined some of the basic differences in husbandry between cage egg production and free range.

New pullets doubled production

Our new flock of pullets doubled their production today - two eggs!!! They should be in full swing over the next two or three weeks, ready for the big Christmas holiday rush.
We are hoping that throughout January we will be able to hold production at around 600 dozen a week to meet demand.
But it will largely depend on the weather because if it gets too hot, production will fall.
It was interesting that last night one of the sheds for the new girls was completely empty. All 300 birds were crowded into and under one shed while an identical one within two or three metres was shunned. Hard to understand because they spend time in it during the day.
Don't think I'll ever understand chooks!

What is free range?

Buyers of free range eggs are often confused by reports in the press about what a free range egg really is.
From consumer research carried out at Farmers' Markets, a definition that most buyers seem to accept is: 'Free-range chickens are able to spend most of their time outdoors. They should not be de-beaked. The hens should not be confined to small areas. True free-range flocks are generally fed and watered outside'.
This encourages the birds to spend most of their time outdoors and keeps the laying sheds cleaner and drier. If fences confine the birds to small areas, the farm shouldn't be described as free-range, and neither should those where feed and water is only provided in sheds to keep the birds inside.
The egg industry view is that the term 'free range' applies to any poultry with access to an outdoor area, no matter how few birds actually go outside and how uninviting their outdoor yard is.
What's the problem with a yard egg system?
It comes down to the amount of manure the land can handle, and the geometry of chicken yards. An acre of grass can handle about four tonnes of chicken manure per year. That's the output of up to 100 chickens. So, unless you want to kill off the grass and pollute the area with runoff, the limit is around 100 outdoor chickens per acre – unless you remove the manure.
What's worse is that the droppings are never evenly distributed across the yard. The manure is concentrated near the chicken house. This kills off all plant life near the chicken shed (if its a fixed shed) even if the chickens don't destroy the grass sod by scratching.
100 hens per acre equates to about 400 square feet per hen. Hens also don't like to travel long distances. They'll go 100 - 200 metres from the hen houses in good weather, if properly encouraged by outdoor feeders, waterers, vegetation and shade.

How the Europeans manage 400 hens per acre in their 'free-range' flocks.

EU regulations allow 400 hens per acre but require that the yards remain green. If that many hens actually went outdoors, the grass would be destroyed in no time. The manure load of 400 outdoor hens is unsustainable on one acre, killing the grass, producing high nutrient runoff levels, and a muddy yard unless the nutrients are removed from the ground. But as the hens spend most of their time indoors, the grass can remain green. It's similar in Australia where the Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals – Domestic Poultry sets out a maximum stocking density of 1500 birds per hectare. The Code doesn't limit flock sizes, so large farms have been established with sheds containing tens of thousands of birds – and they can be classified as 'free-range' as long as they have 'access' to an outdoor run.
Chickens eat and drink many times during a day, so their movements can be managed by careful placement of feeders and waterers. The basic scam in Australia (and in Europe) involves putting the feeders and waterers as far from the outside doors as possible, installing only a few small doors. A few hens will wander around outside, providing window dressing for gullible observers, but most hens stay indoors.
The reality is that most 'free-range' hens are really confined in barns surrounded by nice lawns. To produce the coloured yolks associated with free-range flocks, many producers add special colouring ingredients to the feed. Some of these additives are claimed to be 'natural' but nearly all are produced in laboratories by men in white coats. If the hens eat grass, other green vegetation and a corn-based ration, the yolks will be a vibrant golden colour. But yolk colour in eggs from real free range farms will vary depending on the time year and the availability of green feed. If yolk colour never varies, you can be sure that colouring additives are being fed to the hens. Another indicator that shows that the flocks aren't free range at all is if the hens are de-beaked. With true free-range flocks, feather-picking and cannibalism are rare. Those behavioral problems are caused by intensive farming, confinement, poor flock management or choice of birds. Which is why the majority of Australia's 'free-range' commercial flocks are beak-trimmed as a matter of course.
It's disappointing that the RSPCA encourages the de-beaking of birds by accepting royalty payments for the barn laid and 'free range' eggs which it accredits.
Some of the big producers even claim, after doing everything to discourage the hens from ever venturing outside, that 'chickens don't like to go outdoors.' Everyone who has ever had a small flock knows that chickens will spend most of their time outdoors if the weather isn't too bad and feed and water are provided outside.
The regulations have been written for major operators who want to transfer large-scale factory farming techniques to a version of 'free range' farming which maximises profits by allowing the businesses to charge a premium for eggs which should be classified as 'cage-free' rather than 'free range'.
So how do you do it right?
Traditional free-range egg production is just part of a diversified farm. It enables a farm to make full use of the nutrients from the chicken manure. And it adds to the sustainability of the farming operation.
Many free range farms use portable hen houses, either on wheels or on skids. They can be moved around with a tractor to prevent the ground around the houses becoming muddy. This is the traditional approach. There is a trend towards using mobile electric poultry netting combined with frequent shed moves probably every 1-3 days. Moving the sheds is labour intensive but it helps to maintain pasture growth. With low stocking density, even if the houses are left in place for several weeks at a time, a scattering of bare rectangles every now and then on the pasture is not significant. The grass will regrow over the season. By feeding the hens outdoors and moving the feeders regularly, it's possible to get most of the effect of moving the houses, but with less effort.
It's clearly much more labour-intensive than the pretend 'free-range' techniques most big operators use, so it's not worth doing unless prices are substantially higher than for eggs produced by other methods – which is why the big producers don't want a legal definition of 'free range' to prohibit de-beaking and limit flock sizes.
It's often possible to get away with infrequent house moves as the manure under a chicken house becomes drier and less obnoxious the longer the house sits in one place. For the first few days a house is in a new spot, the manure can be wet and smelly. If the house has been in one place for a month, the manure is quite dry and there is no smell. Moving the houses too frequently seems to maximize the wetness and smell. Some operators have trays under the sheds to catch the manure and allow it to be spread where it is required rather than simply dropping through to the ground under the chicken house.
On clay soil, the mud problem makes it important to keep a solid turf at all times. Permanent pasture is the simplest way of achieving this, though a crop rotation with grasses or clover as one phase will also work. On sandy or gravely soils, cultivating the soil does not lead to an instant mud problem, so keeping the chickens among growing crops is a viable alternative.
Chickens love shade. It keeps them cool, out of the wind, and protects them from eagles, hawks and owls. Plantings of things like Kangaroo Apples, corn, kale, and sunflowers are suitable in the range areas, and native grasses can help to boost protein levels (as well as being drought tolerant to maintain green feed for most of the year). Adding plants like purslane in the pasture can boost Omega 3 levels in the eggs.

Visitors from Papua New Guinea

Last Saturday we hosted a group of environmental lawyers from Papua New Guinea as well as a forest campaigner from Friends of the Earth, Melbourne and a staff member of Australian Conservation Foundation.
I had been at the Cardinia Ranges Farmers' Market selling eggs (to pay a few bills) and I rushed home to the farm to have a chat before they left to look at a forestry plantation being established alongside Candowie Reservoir (the regional water source), the site of the water desalination project near Wonthaggi and Phillip Island.
I found it hard to imagine why they wanted to look at Phillip Island as it hasn't lived up to its tag as 'the natural attraction' for a generation. But they wanted to see how planning laws can stuff a place up. Good start!

Eggs laid to order!

The demand for 'real' free range eggs produced on farms where the hens are free to roam on pasture all day, are kept in small flocks and are not de-beaked is not showing any signs of slowing down.
Some consumers recognise that the big players who claim their eggs are 'free range' are simply taking advantage of a brand image which has little to do with their production methods.
Small scale research among buyers of free range eggs at Farmers' Markets has shown a 100% response to two key questions - the hens must not be de-beaked and they must be allowed to graze on pasture for most of every day.
But to keep up with the ever-increasing demand for 'free range' eggs, the big producers cut corners and have been doing a very successful job.
It's not possible for a small farm like ours, producing only 450 dozen eggs each week to meet the requirements of a supermarket chain, or a major restaurant group.
All our eggs are virtually laid to order and delivered to regular customers within our region. We've had a food miles policy in place for some years which limits our deliveries to within one hour of the farm.
Unfortunately this means that the big operators with tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of hens have an opportunity to market their eggs as 'free range' because genuine producers are unable to meet the demands of a mass market.
If consumers are happy buying eggs laid by hens who are de-beaked and kept in huge barns with automatic egg collection systems - that's fine. But they shouldn't be duped into paying more for the eggs because they think the hens are running around grassy paddocks all day!

New flock settled in

Our new flock of 200 Isa Browns have settled in well. So far today they have laid 36 eggs so they will soon be up to a box a day (180 eggs).
That will certainly help to keep customers happy as the ratio of production to demand is a bit out of kilter at present.
Demand keeps going up - but of course each hen only lays one egg a day so we have to keep saying 'no' to new customers. It's still a battle keeping some of the existing customers supplied with all the eggs they want during a busy period like this weekend.
The Melbourne Cup is run on Tuesday and the numbers of terrorists (sorry tourists) staying on Phillip Island and surrounding areas has lifted orders from restaurants and retail outlets.
For the last two or three days eggs have been going off the farm as soon as they have been laid and packaged - they haven't even made it to the coolroom!
The next flock of 200 birds arrives in three weeks to help us get ready for the Christmas rush.

New chooks arriving in a couple of weeks

We are preparing for the arrival of a new flock of Isa Brown hens in the middle of October. I completed some repair work on one of the mobile sheds yesterday and I'll be fitting some new skids to another shed today.

This flock will be 200 birds and we have another 200 arriving in November. We don't normally get flocks that close together but we need to ensure we have maxium production for the Christmas holiday period.

Our normal level of production is around 400 dozen eggs a week but during peak holiday periods down here demand soars to over 1000 dozen. Everyone wants more eggs - the shops. restaurants, home delivery customers and shoppers at the Farmers' Markets.

Trying to keep that balance right between production and demand is the big trick.

Free Range hens don't need to be de-beaked

Claims by a staff member of the Australian Egg Corporation that flocks of free range hens needed to be de-beaked to prevent cannibalism have been met with derision in the industry.
The Victorian rural newspaper, The Weekly Times, ran the story on its front page this week. Have a look at http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2008/09/24/9555_latest-news.html
The reality is that if hens show aggressive and cannibalistic tendencies it's an indication that the flocks are too large, the wrong strains of birds have been selected or that the farm has poor management practices (or all of the above). Beak trimming or de-beaking is not necessary on a true free range farm where the hens are not confined.

New pump on our house

I finally got sick of trying to the fix up the electric pump on our home water system. I bought a new pump on ebay about five months ago and it has been nothing but trouble ever since. It would work for a week or two and then stop.
The place I bought it from were helpful in sending a new part which got it going for a week or two and then something else would go wrong.
So.... yesterday I went out and paid over $1200 for a Grundfos pump which is now working well and hopefully will keep going.
The advantage of paying for a decent pump is that the major parts are stainless steel - and not the plastic insides disguised by a stainless steel outer cover.
It's great finally being able to turn on the taps again and have water come out in a rush rather than a trickle! Made it hard to have a shower.

Food Miles

An evaluation of the environmental benefits of 'Food Miles' as a measure for determining the greenhouse impacts of the food we buy has been conducted by staff of the Victorian Government Department of Primary Industries. Their report is at http://www.agrifood.info/connections/2008/Food_Miles_Rama_Lawrence.pdf
It concludes that 'Food Miles' is not a valid indicator of environmental performance but carefully ignores that it can be a vital part of any farm's sustainability processes. We have a farm 'food miles' policy that limits our deliveries to within one hour of the farm. We don't claim that on its own, that makes our eggs and other products 'sustainable'. But combined with our production methods and the way we run our farm business, it is a part of our overall strategy to ensure we have minimal adverse environmental impacts.
It seems to be yet another example of bureaucrats locking themselves in a room and coming up with a document which ignores reality but which tries to push the economic imperitive and the god 'growth'

Demand still outstripping our ability to supply

We are still receiving enquiries for eggs even though all our production is fully committed for supplying our existing customers.
The latest enquiry is from La Trobe University at Bundoora, Melbourne, which wants to phase out cage eggs and introduce free range.
They only need around 60 dozen a week but it's hard for us to guarantee to supply that many when our order book is already full.
The other issue is the distance involved. We have a farm food miles policy which restricts our deliveries to within one hour of the farm.
That's why the only markets we do are Farmers' Markets in our region. Churchill Island is only 15 - 20 minutes away and Inverloch, Korumburra and Pakenham are only 30 - 35 minutes.
We have passed the La Trobe Uni request on to other members of the Free Range Farmers Association to see if anyone is able to supply. It's important to encourage the changeover to free range (especially from an accredited source rather than the pretend free range often seen in supermarkets)

New display for Farmers' Markets

Our new display for Farmers' Markets had its first outing on Saturday at Churchill Island. I had too many signs (as you can see) so I will reduce the numbers at future markets.

We have a couple of weeks to get ready as our next market is the Cardinia Ranges market at Pakenham Racecourse on Saturday September 13.

I think its important to promote the Free Range Farmers Association as well as our own business because it's the accreditation process which sets real free range farms apart from those who have tens of thousands of de-beaked birds in sheds with eggs collected by automatic conveyor belts rather than people.

Annual inspections ensure that accredited farms comply with all regulations, including stocking densities, hen welfare and food safety procedures.

Come and have a chat at Pakenham, Korumburra, Inverloch or the next Churchill Island market - or call at the farm any Sunday afternoon.

Demand still huge for our eggs

Demand for our eggs has never been greater! Since the Jamie Oliver TV show 'Jamie's Fowl Dinners' was screened here on Chanel 10 we have been receiving phone calls and emails almost every day enquiring about supplying eggs.
The reality is that our eggs are virtually laid to order. We have our regular sales each week which normally take up our entire production of 400 - 450 dozen eggs per week. We already supply four restaurants, two health food shops, two fruit and veggie shops and our local outlet at the BP service station in Grantville. On top of that we home deliver to regular customers and we sell at Farmers' Markets at Churchill Island, Inverloch, Pakenham and Korumburra.
We are in the process of setting up new display stands for the Farmers' Markets which we hope will strengthen the image of 'free range' and in particular the freeranger brand.

Jamies Fowl Dinners creates a stir

The Jamie Oliver TV show - Jamies Fowl Dinners - was recently broadcast in Melbourne and it created quite a stir.
We had our first enquiry for eggs at 11.20pm after the show. An email came through from a restaurant.
Since then we have received at least three enquiries a day (one wanting to source 5000 eggs).
As a very small egg producer (around 450 dozen each week) there is no way we can take on orders of that size.
Anyway, most of the enquiries were from Melbourne which is outside our delivery run. We have a farm rule which limits us to only delivering within an hour of the farm. The problem of food miles is something we have been very concerned about for years - and we have no intention of adding to the problem.

Chicca's happy

It was a bit traumatic for poor Chicca. After hauling her off to the vet and letting him stick needles and things in her, she's now spent a day or so confined to a shed!
She's used to running wild with the hens. I've spent around six hours with her today and she's whingeing and wailing. Hard to know if it's pain or just wanting to go outdoors.
She's great at taking her medication (as long as it's with meat) and I think we will put her back with her hens tomorrow.

Chicca's back home

Chicca's back home now after her operation. She'll be a bit groggy and sore for a few days so we're keeping her inside.
The other dogs will be a bit lively and the hens will jump all over her if we let her out now.
We shuffled some of Maremma's around so that Chicca's flock is protected from foxes and we don't expect any problems.

Operation on one of our chook protectors

Chicca, our Breton Pyrenean Mastiff, who protects one of our flocks of laying hens is at the vets now having an operation to remove a cyst on her neck.
There has been a bit of a swelling there for a while, but we were advised that it was unlikely to be a problem. It burst through the skin yesterday and needs to be removed.
Hopefully everything will be fine this afternoon and she will be back with her hens.

Run Your Car on Water

At the farm we are preparing to reduce our carbon emissions (and running costs) by converting our vehicles to run on hydrogen - effectively running them on water. It is expected to make a significant impact on our delivery and farm running costs. If anyone wants to talk about how this is done come and see me at one of the Farmers' Markets - Churchill Island, Inverloch, Cardinia Ranges or Korumburra - or come to the farm in Grantville. We can provide a manual which details the conversion process for $25.

Protecting native forest

A community forum will be held at Boolarra on Sunday July 27 to provide an opportunity for people to discuss the Victorian Government's $5.5 million 'deal' with logging company, Hancock Victorian Plantations.
A flier for this event can be downloaded from: http://www.fourthcrossingwildlife.com/stomp.pdf

A short video about the problems can be seen on You Tube at http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ICycJXAS-J8

At this stage the community has no idea what the Government is getting for $5.5 million of taxpayers' money because details have not been released. Even maps have been withheld showing where the loggers will be allowed to go and what areas will be 'protected'.

Great rain in South Gippsland

We've had a couple of days with great rain - not too heavy with around 25 mm on Sunday and Monday. Even though the nights are getting fairly cool we should still get some good grass growth because we don't get many frosts here in winter.
Some years we don't get frosts at all - and this may be one of those years. One of the plum trees near the old house on the property has decided to start flowering - so it obviously thinks it's Spring!
The dogs aren't too happy with the rain, preferring to sit around under cover. And some of the hens are wondering what the wet stuff is. The new flock is just 20 weeks old and they've never seen rain.

The chooks were extra glad to see me this morning!

It's always hard getting deliveries of feed exactly when we need them. We have a six tonne silo and we usually need to fill it every six weeks or so. The time it lasts depends on how many hens we have on the farm and the weather (hens eat less in warmer weather).
If we order the feed too early, and it arrives the next day (as has happened in the past) there may not be room for it in the silo.
So when I think there's just a couple of days feed left in the silo, I order a delivery. The difficulty then is that the feed mill understandably wants to minimise its fuel costs (don't we all) by waiting 'til it has a full truck load for the area - which may be three, four or even five days away.
That's what happened this time. I had to go to our local feed store to buy ten bags of mixed grains to get the chooks through - needless-to-say they didn't much care for the change in diet.
So after the truck delivered this morning, I went round the farm filling up the feed bins in each paddock and the chooks thought I was Father Christmas!

High winds cause chaos

Ours was one of 350,000 properties in Victoria knocked off the electricity grid by high winds in Victoria yesterday. We were without 'power' for 24 hours but did it have much impact? No!
The biggest problem was the havoc the wind caused with trees on the farm and the feeders for our hens.
But we still had solar power for our hot water, fences and mobile phones. Our small generator was brought into use to operate the egg grading machine and keep food OK in the freezers.
It's hard to understand why people go into panic mode when natural events happen .... but then I suppose they don't understand .......

No eggs for a soufle

It's a dreadful thing when a family running an egg farm can't have a soufle for dinner because there aren't enough eggs!
We were planning on a soufle tonight, but the demand for our eggs over Easter has taken every egg on the farm - and we have an order for 30 dozen first thing in the morning.
Oh well, we'll just have to make do with pasta. Just as well I love ravioli and we have heaps of tomatoes and chillies in the garden.

Churchill Island Farmers' Market

Well we knew we would not enough eggs for the Good Friday market as we were short of a day's production - but it was a good day even so.
The reason for bringing the market forward was that Churchill Island has a Working Horse Festival every Easter - starting on Saturday - and custromers wanting to go to the market understandably refuse to pay an entry fee to the festival.
We sold around 80 dozen eggs which was all we had available as all our restaurants and retail outlets wanted extra supplies during the week to cater for Easter demand.

Farmers' Market dilemma

This Easter weekend has presented a bit of a problem for us because we normally have a Farmers' Market at Churchill Island (just off Phillip Island) on the fourth Saturday every month.
Every Easter, Churchill Island - which was bought for the community by Trust for Nature - has a Working Horse Festival which starts on Saturday.
Market-goers won't pay the entry fee to a festival if they are just there to buy produce. So the market day was switched to Friday. GOOD FRIDAY!! Hmm
But in practical terms it has meant that bringing the market forward a day has deprived our customers of 60 dozen eggs (our average daily production). We have regular deliveries to restaurants, stores and homes which had to be met so we won't have many eggs at the market!

New flock of pullets settling in

The new flock of 200 Isa Brown pullets are settling in well. They arrived yesterday and at first they weren't too sure about Bella - the Maremma whose job it is to protect them from marauding foxes, dogs, humans (if you can call them that) and birds of prey.
But within 12 hours or so the young hens were happily playing with her and inspecting her kennel.
The birds are well grown and I'm sure will start laying in week or so.

Hot day today

It was a hot day at Grantville today - almost 40c - but thankfully we had no problems (other than a water leak caused by ground movement in the dry conditions. I was off at the Inverloch Farmers' Market and Annie found the leak at about 8.30.
When I got back it was just a matter of digging up the poly pipe and tightning up the joiners. Naturally she had turned the water off at the mains as soon as she discovered the leak so we didn't waste much water.
The market was pretty good with sales of nearly 100 dozen eggs.

Getting ready for a new flock

A new flock of 200 point of lay hens is arriving next week and we've been making sure everything is ready for them on the farm.
Their mobile shed has been cleaned out and the electric mesh fences moved to ensure they have new pasture to roam on.
We never lock our chooks up so it's important that we move the sheds and fences fairly often to maintain pasture growth.
The new flock will maintain our overall numbers at around 800 as we have been selling off a flock of older birds to people who want hens for their backyards.

161 gram egg laid this week

How's this for a big egg! The chooks must be enjoying themelves 'cause not only do they get to play with dogs every day but they have competitions to see who can lay the biggest egg.
This week Myrtle scooped the pool with an egg weighing in at a whopping 161 grams (the average egg is 60 - 65 grams).
The previous record on the farm was an egg (also laid by Myrtle) at 140 grams and there have been heaps of contenders with eggs between 120 and 135 grams.
The huge egg will be on display at the next Cardinia Ranges Farmers' Market at Pakenham Racecourse on Saturday (Feb 9)

Great Farmers' Markets

We had two great Farmers' Markets over the weekend - Churchill Island and Inverloch where we sold around 400 dozen eggs. It's the tourist season here in South Gippsland so basically we have wall-to-wall people and traffic like you wouldn't believe.
Tourism is not wonderful for our business because we can't dial-up production for a few weeks to take advantage of the terrorists (sorry tourists) but we do what we can to meet demand. As an accredited free range farm we have to maintain an audit trail, and we can only purchase eggs from another accredited farm. Thankfully we have been able to that this year from farms which are not in tourist locations.
We increased our flock size on the farm with an additional 400 birds in November and that helped us through the huge peak demand.
Hopefully within a week, we will be back to normal - whatever that is!!

Holiday Mayhem

We are right at the start of our peak holiday season. It seems like half of Melbourne comes down to Phillip Island for the Christmas/January holidays - which is great for all the tourist traps but is a pain for a business like ours.
We can only sell the eggs that the hens lay. We can't make any more! And we can't cater for a short term demand of four to six weeks because what do we do with the eggs when the terrorists (sorry tourists) go home?
We try to assist our regulars and our priority is always for our home delivery customers and the restaurants/hotels/stores which buy our eggs all year. But it can be hard when a regular rings up on delivery day to double (or even treble) the order. With a bit of time we can accommodate most requests by shuffling deliveries.
We have a normal operating target of around 400 dozen eggs each week, and we lift that to around 450 -500 dozen at this time of year. We supplement that by buying-in eggs from other accredited free range farms (we only get other eggs from two trusted farms). But even then we are always short of the 1000 to 1500 dozen eggs we need for these few weeks every year.
In a way it's a great position to be in. However I wish that some 0f our restaurant clients realised that we can't conjure up eggs with a few hours notice. If they give us a week's notice we can give them the world.
Glad I got that off my chest!!

Big jump in feed costs

The drought throughout Australia has seen the price of grains jump enormously in the past 12 months.
Our latest feed delivery has soared to over $500 a tonne which has a massive impact on production costs. Feed is the single biggest cost in egg production.

Direct sales and farm visits are booming

Our new foal is proving to be a hit with farm visitors. And he just loves people! He's less than a couple of weeks old and already thinks he owns the place.

We are now getting a steady stream of people who want to have a look at how we run the farm as well as buying eggs and hens for their backyards.

The old house on the property is being reorganised to cope with the number of visitors and we are looking at various options to offer people. We may even register our kitchen so we can prepare light lunches and snacks but for the moment we encourage people to bring a picnic.

Growing numbers of customers

This week was a record for us with sales of over 600 dozen eggs! The big boost was demand from our restaurants and other outlets on Phillip Island as a result of the Motor Cycle Grand Prix plus major demand at the Cardinia Ranges Farmers' Market on Saturday which included the fifth annual Asparagus Festival.
The market, always on the second Saturday each month, was packed and we sold just over 150 dozen in cartons and on trays, as well as packs of the dog treats which I baked on Friday.
Our production is going so well right now that we were also able to help out another free range farm with 90 dozen eggs to help satisfy their market requirements. (As members of the Free Range Farmers Association we are only allowed to buy eggs from other accredited members to ensure that audit trails are maintained). That's one of the main problems with non-accredited farms - if they need more eggs they buy them from anywhere and stick their own labels on!
We are getting ready for a new flock of birds which arrive at the end of this month so we are getting the mobile sheds ready and selling some of our current chooks to customers who want laying hens in their backyards.

Strange neighbour

This evening just after half past five a message was left on my wife's answering machine from our 'odd' neighbour, Peter Giles, telling us that two of our dogs were at his place and had just headed home. Why he thought they were our dogs is a puzzle - which wasn't resolved when I spoke to him a few hours later.
He's a man with a strange reputation and I don't know what this bloke's problem is (apart from what he might be smoking) because at that time all our dogs were being fed and they were all where they were supposed to be.
He's been a bit of a pain over the years making all sorts of outrageous allegations. Thankfully, most of the time he's left us alone, so I suppose it's our turn for a blast. For some reason he thinks he's normal and the rest of the world is out to get him!
Hopefully he'll feel better soon.

Farm visits proving popular

Visits to the Freeranger Farm on Sundays are going well. We now have a steady stream of people coming to look at how we do things. And it's much easier for us to keep the farm running smoothly if general visits are on one set day each week.

That doesn't mean we stop people coming on other days. We will have a group from French Island Landcare next Tuesday. They want to have a look at the practical application of farm sustainability.

What we do here is based on regenerative land management principles to ensure that our activities have little or no off-site impacts. Have a look at our page of regenerative agriculture on the Friends of Bass Valley Bush website at http://bassbush.htmlplanet.com/rich_text.html

With more than half our land maintained as remnant native vegetation (part of the only riparian forest left on the Bass River) we have always been very keen to ensure that making a living from the land doesn't destroy what's important.

New Maremma helps with fox control

We now have a brand new six month old Maremma, Abbey (in the middle of the picture with a short lead).

She has joined our pack to protect the hens on the farm from fox attacks.

They are simply the greatest dogs for this sort of work and there's no doubt that we would be out of business as a genuine 'free range' farm if we didn't have our flock protectors.

Abbey was a bit unsure of herself the first day and was snappy with us and the other dogs - but she quickly settled in. The picture was taken just two days after she arrived.

It shows how well they all accept each other. Let me introduce (from the left) Lexie, Berkley, Abbey, Ducati, Umberta and Daisy. Not in the picture (because they are off with their chooks, are Bella, Monte, Flora, Angus and Chicca.

It's a great pack of single-minded dogs whose mission is to protect the farm from intruders! (Apart from Angus who likes to spend a lot of his time bouncing) He's a Heeler/Border Collie X.

Booming egg production

At this time of year - just coming out of winter - our egg production is often down. But right now our hens are laying like crazy.
The mild winter (which is a real worry for later in the year) has seen our lay rate continue at over 90% for the past five months.
It has dipped slightly from 95% to 92.5% in the past couple of weeks but we are still well up with our target production level of 400 dozen per week.
Feed costs are likely to again have a big impact on us this year with predictions of shortages of a wide range of grains caused by crop failures in many parts of the world (and the crazy diversion of grain into ethanol production)
It's hard to understand the mental condition of any Government that would subsidise the production of ethanol at the expense of food.

Freeranger Farm visits and field trips

We have just begun encouraging visits to the Freeranger Farm on Sunday afternoons. Each week we have enquiries about how we do things and there are always individuals and groups from all over the place, including schools, wanting to look at our farming methods and the way the farm has been designed to promote biodiversity as well as produce income.
Often we can meet people's needs during the week but if we can encourage most to visit on Sundays it will leave the rest of the week free to do all the things that have to be done around the property.
Many people have a virtual visit first on our website at http://www.freeranger.com.au/ - and then come for the real thing!
The visit needn't take long, but for those who want to wander through the native bush and take a look at the last remaining riparian forest on the Bass River, it will take a couple of hours or more.

Half price eggs

One of our best markets is the Cardinia Ranges Farmers' Market at Pakenham Racecourse on the second Saturday every month.
As well as fresh veggies there a host of other great food - cheese, venison, beef, free range pork - and of coure Freeranger Eggs!
To encourage buyers to get there early, this Saturday (September 8) we are offering a half price deal on dozen cartons of 60 gram eggs until 8.30.
Hopefully it will help to increase sales as our hens are laying so well at the moment.
Often the lay rate is reduced once the cold weather hits, but this year our production has remained pretty constant at over 90%.

Dylan in Melbourne

Went to the Bob Dylan concert at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne last night and it was a blast! He's certainly a different performer from the old folk/protest song days but he has the ability to draw in people of all ages.
I reckon the ages in the audience ranged from around 15 to 80 - quite a spread.
With the farm, we don't get too many opportunities to get out to concerts or shows, but we must make more of an effort because it was magnificent.
It was our first time at the Rod Laver Arena, and if we go again we must take cushions 'cause the seats were that bloody hard!

MPA Williams meet fence repair costs

I'm pleased to say that MPA Williams has paid for the repairs to the fence which the company's staff cut to gain access for a water boring rig.
Given the company's reputation, I was rather disappointed when the initial response was complete denial. But reason has prevailed. Thanks MPA Williams.

Electricity Metering

We use quite an amount of solar power on the farm for our electric fences, lights and hot water but are connected to the grid for our main power requirements.
When we heard about a trial of 'Smart Meters' which enable power use to be monitored offsite, we thought it was a great idea. So two units have now been installed on the property which means that our power useage can be recorded by remote reading (no-one has to drive 2.5 kms up our road just to read our meter). Hopefully the same thing will happen with water (now that we have some water to use).

Farm inspections almost complete

This is always a hectic time of year with farm inspections undertaken throughout Victoria. I've been driving around various parts of the state looking at member farms of the Free Range Farmers Association as well as egg producers who want to be accredited to the Australian Egg Corporation's National Egg Quality Assurance Program.
There's now just one farm to inspect for the FRFA and then the job's done for a year!

Chasing Steers

For four days in a row I've had to entice five black steers out of my vegetable garden back to where they belong - on the neighbouring property. We've had various incursions of cattle in the past because the boundary fences on the land are not adequate for cattle. But that doesn't worry the landowner, the Barro Group - one of the largest privately owned sand and concrete companies in Australia. They expect to be extracting sand on the site shortly but for the past ten years or so they have leased the land for grazing (and growing high value illicit crops).
The guy who owns the cattle has got the message and they have been trucked away to another property.
But it's presumably only a matter of time before someone else puts cattle there and I have to spend a couple of hours a day to put them back.
It's a strange thing that I've never been to work out! If my cattle or horses stray onto someone else's land, I have to run around and get them out. If other people's livestock get into my place, everyone expects me to return them. Maybe I should have a big barbeque instead.

Bodgy 'Free Range' eggs at markets

There are still large numbers of eggs sold at markets throughout Australia as 'Free Range' , putting consumers at risk. Despite regulations in Australia requiring producers to have food safety programs in place and to sell eggs in new cartons, labelled with an address and use by date - the regulations are routinely ignored.
Eggs were openly sold at the Kongwak market today in South Gippsland by a stallholder who met none of the requirements imposed on genuine egg farmers.

Logging the Strzeleckis

There is a heap of information about the logging that is being undertaken in the Strzelecki Ranges in Gippsland. Those who want to help save the Strzeleckis and establish the sensitive areas known as the 'Cores and Links' as a reserve managed by Trust for Nature, take a look at http://my.ecoearth.info/Campaign.aspx?id=51 and sign the petition at http://my.ecoearth.info/petition.aspx?id=30
The petition is to SmartWood and the Rainforest Alliance who are the certifying body for the Forest Stewardship Council. Given Hancock's track record, it won't do the credibility of FSC any good if Hancock is able to retain its accreditation while it trashes native forest which is subject to the Heads of Agreement it signed with the Community and the Government.
Have a look at the Friends of the Earth website too at http://www.hancock.forests.org.au/docs/07jun.htm
The plans involving the 'Cores and Links' - important areas identified by Biosis Research - are almost certainly the most vital in terms of biodiversity conservation and impacts on water quality in South Gippsland. Nothing else stacks up.

Certified Organic Audits

As if I didn't have enough to do already, I have just taken part in a three day inspector training workshop with the the National Association of Sustainable Agriculture Australia ( NASAA). I already carry out environmental audits for small businesses including farms, inspect members of the Free Farmers Association for compliance with their regulations and audit farms for the Australian Egg Corporation's 'Egg Corp Assured' program.
It seemed to be a natural progression to add organic audits to the mix and I'm looking forward to it even though time is a precious commodity.
It's hard being away from the farm for three days because there is always so much that needs to be done. I had to take the baby wombat with me - she is the only animal in our wildlife shelter at the moment. She needs around four feeds a day (mostly at night) and by taking her with me it meant that Anne had one less thing to do while I was away.
Our farm is running well and we are getting ready for the arrival of a new point of lay flock.

MPA Williams cuts boundary fence

There's never a shortage of problems on the farm, but I can do without ones generated needlessly by other people. I had a phone call at 7.30 this morning while I was sitting at my computer getting ready for a busy day. A neighbour rang to say that five of our horses were on an adjoining property. My wife and I raced off to see what had happened and we found the 'herd' enjoying itself in new surroundings.
Needless to say, they were quite a handful to get back where they belonged and then we had to work out how they had 'escaped'. It soon became evident!
The fence had been cut by employees of a water monitoring consulting firm MPA Williams, to drill a bore to monitor ground water flows on the land we lease which is owned by a sand extraction company. They had 'repaired' the high tensile barbed wire fence with very fine wire, rather like something that might be used on an old fashioned fuse.
Four hours later, after having moved the horses to where they should be and repaired the fence with wire strainers and replacement wire more suited to the task, I emailed MPA Williams with an invoice for the work which had to be carried out because of their inability to do the job properly.
The response was from a Peter Reid, who presumably was in charge of the crew who undertook the drilling and cut the fence. He said 'When the installation was carried out we were not permitted to access the property through existing gates, and were therefore required to cut the fence to gain access. We were not happy with this.
Nevertheless we carried out our work and repairs were carried out to the fence to the best of our ability. It appears that the repair has been adequate up till now.'
Well the repair clearly was not adequate. We had not run cattle or horses on the property for some six months because of drought conditions, so the pathetic quality of the fence 'repair' was not obvious.
Why on earth the decision was made to cut the fence when the crew had no tools or equipment to repair it is a demonstration of poor judgement at the very least. Rejoining the barbed wire with baler twine would probably been more effective than the light gauge wire used - but that wouldn't have made the fence stock proof because the wires were not strained!
The company is fortunate that the fence cutting was not on a boundary adjoining a road. The implications of someone being killed by driving a car into a horse don't bear thinking about.
The principal of MPA Williams, Mr Paul Williams is reputed to be an honest and ethical man but he is not always aware of the actions of his staff.
Hopefully this matter can be resolved even though Mr Reid says 'We do not believe that we have been negligent in this instance.' and, at the moment, refuses to pay the invoice.

Logging in the Strzeleckis

The Gippsland community and Friends of the Earth are alarmed that Hancock Victorian Plantations, owned by the US John Hancock group has begun logging in a rainforest reserve in Victoria's Strzelecki Ranges. The reserve was announced by the State Government just before last year's election and involves a $7 million forest buyback currently under negotiation.Under the Memorandum of Understanding associated with the reserve, logging was allowed in certain parts of the reserve, on the proviso that sensitive rainforest areas would be protected. Two of the most sensitive areas were nominated with buffer widths of 100m and 60m.Now the company has been found to be logging a coupe within 10-20 metres of cool temperate rainforest. According to Friends of the Earth researcher Anthony Amis “The Heads of Agreement clearly states that none of this coupe should have been logged at all. This is the second breach of the Heads of the Agreement that we have witnessed within 8 months of Hancock signing the agreement.”Further details are at http://www.hancock.forests.org.au/docs/07jun.htm

Farmers' Market at Pakenham Racecourse

The Cardinia Ranges Farmers' Market held at Pakenham Racecourse on the second Saturday every month is one of the best places to buy fresh local produce - straight from the grower.
Whether it's free range eggs, cheese, meat (beef, rabbit, pork etc) fish, wine or a wide range of veggies, you can find it all at Pakenham.
So many markets have stalls from all over the place which can hardly be described at 'local' (although I suppose it's local somewhere).
We always do well at Pakenham and have built up a regular customer base - but it's great to see that there are always new faces.
The region is growing so quickly. It's one of the fastest growing areas in the State with houses being built on an unprecedented scale - so the future of the market looks pretty secure.
If you're planning to be at the market this Saturday, come and say hello!

Illegal eggs sold at markets

I had a reasonable day selling our free range eggs at the Kongwak market in South Gippsland today, but it was interesting that at least three other stalls were selling eggs.
It is potentially a real problem for consumers, as even though the number of bodgy eggs was small - probably around 15 dozen in total - consumers are at risk.
The eggs were packed in second hand cartons (which is illegal), they did not met labelling requirements and none of the sellers had food safety programs in place.
The biggest problem for us is that if consumers get sick from eating eggs and they say they bought them at one of the markets where we are the only 'official' egg sellers, we will have to convince health authorities that the eggs were not ours.
It is still a significant issue as the cost of compliance with food safety regulations (including labelling, using new cartons, candeling and grading requirements, refrigeration etc) all add to our costs. The backyard operators ignore all those regulations.
Given the number of markets held each week in Victoria, it's likely that at least 5000 dozen 'illegal' eggs are dumped on consumers at markets. That's around 260,000 dozen a year in the State of Victoria alone - probably more than a million dozen throughout Australia.

Climate Change Petition

On June 7th a petition on global warming will be presented to the G8+5 summit - the meeting of politicians who regard themselves as the most important in the world! Germany is chairing the summit, and is leading the many countries who support strong action on climate change. The German negotiators want an unprecedented global outcry from citizens to strengthen their ability to influence the others -- particularly the US.
If you feel like helping please sign up at: http://www.avaaz.org/en/climate_g8