Currently there are six chickens who spend their days grazing and scratching around the paddock. Sparkles, Coco and Blossom are hybrid hens, bred for egg production. Then we have Ellie, Ginger and Rosie who are pure breeds; laying less eggs per year but living longer. The aim was always to create a free ranging flock that would ensure happy chickens who lay plenty of eggs with deep yellow yolks. Perfect for dunking into at breakfast. Secretly I also wanted baskets of rainbow coloured eggs too. This year I hope to be able to hatch some table birds too, providing us with slow reared but delicious meat.
The girls are housed in a plastic coop overnight to keep them safe from foxes and other predators. There is a run attached which protects them in the early morning when the automatic door lets them out at dawn. Throughout the day they free range behind an electric fence that I rotate to reduce the parasite build up and to allow the grass to rest.
They are fed on organic layers pellets, designed to give them the correct level of protein needed for optimum egg laying. They also get a handful of mixed corn in the late afternoon to fill their crops before bedtime. During winter the digestion of the corn helps to keep them warm overnight. On top of that they eat the grass and go ever so slightly crazy for slugs and worms. This balance of diet ensures that they lay eggs which are an appropriate size for them, and which have the most beautiful deep yellow yolks.
Over on my blog I will be adding a series of information pages covering all the basic aspects of chicken keeping.
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