Husband and I are sixty odd but have daughter and granddaughters with us on 5 acres just north of Matakana. I grew up on a poultry farm and spent holidays at a cousins dairy farm, but husband is from London and the last two and a half years are a totally new experience for him. He's loving it and is just taken away by the surprise hatching of 12 chicks recently. Granddaughter (16mths) is delighted by it all and now learning to feed the cat before graduating on to chickens and goats. Have three doe goats that will all be put to stud during the year and it is hoped that we will milk and make cheese and meat and compliment other family that have cows and sheep. Have only been here for 5 mths and been hard work getting shelter for stock sorted before getting a vege garden done but that's next on the list although going to be a late start for summer. have been experimenting with self watering containers in the meantime and having a lot of fun and success with those.
Hi and welcome Jimminette, sounds like you have found your little bit of paradise. We look forward to following your story as you build up your 5 acres.
Where, and how big was the poultry farm ?
Sue
Labrador lover for yonks, breeder of pedigree Murray Grey cattle for almost as long, and passionate poultry person for more years than I care to count.
Thank Sue - Poultry farm was in Blockhouse Bay which is now a suburb of Central Auckland but was all farmland and country when I was a kid. It was before caged hens arrived on the scene and i remember feeding and collecting eggs as a kid. We used to hatch our own chickens and had two huge big incubators. The lights of these were positioned so that they could be seen from the house and many the meal was interrupted because "the lights are on" and we had to all scurry up and turn the eggs. Was great fun to catch up with the chicks as they hatched and put them under the lamps. We used to treat them for fowl pox every so often and I remember graduating from carrying 1 chook to 1 in each hand. We used to dress our own chooks for sale and I remember being on the gutting end of things at the ripe old age of 4. Remember the roosters as being HUGE!.
Well that is going back a few years to the days of when poultry farms did everything on the one site. I wonder what breeds you/your parents had-Australorps, Leghorns?
Sue
Labrador lover for yonks, breeder of pedigree Murray Grey cattle for almost as long, and passionate poultry person for more years than I care to count.
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