Poultry highs and lows

Be aware these pictures are both cute and the other is quite graphic....

Well came home to the most welcome site of 6 fluffy ducklings following mum and auntie chook.
This was especially joyous as this is this mumma ducks second attempt.

Unfortunately this joy was short lived. As we are now monitoring a young rooster who had been attacked by another young rooster. This is evidence of how brutal chickens can be.
Will keep you updated on his condition.

What's in a name?

I was complemented yesterday on the Name of our house, by the workfriend who's son fed our animals over the weekend. But he wanted to know how to say it and what it meant.

Well, we bought 'Maes-y-Delyn' last year, moving in on 30th June. But we put in our offer a few months earlier, with an long settlement term as we were heading home for a holiday.
I say a long settlement term, for those not in Queensland, you may find is strange but most house sales have a 30 day settlement. Meaning from offer to exchange of keys can be as little as a month. Now to us this was an eye opener- as those I know who have bought back in the UK, it takes at least 3 months. So a 'long settlement' in Queensland terms, was average to us...anyway back on topic.

Having fallen in love with this beautiful place and having our offer accepted, we excitedly headed over seas for a month. Usually I find returning from a visit quite hard, but on this occasion we had much to return to. But we still wanted to make it or own. To put our stamp on it.

So we began discussing farms, and places at home that had inspired us and our choice of lifestyle and the answer seemed simple... we needed a name.

We begun with names of places we liked or had some personal meaning or story. But none of them seemed appropriate. So in true Welsh tradition we begun listing discriptions and features of the block and house. We had considered and English laguage name, given many of our visitors would be and most of our neighbours are, Australian. But it just didn't seem right... it just didn't have the same feel and we felt it woul be something unique to us; there are not that many Welsh people in this town (although there are a few).

Eventually we agreed on Maes-y-Delyn. And for the none welsh speakers, literal translates as is harp-shaped field/meadow.  It seemed appropriate given the unusual almost triangluar shape the overall land forms. And the boundary nearest the road does bow in a harp-like shape.

All Welsh place names have a literal translation. I am sure once upon a time they were drections ;)

So before we had set off on our holidays I had contacted a few plaque makers/ engravers. Enquiring as to costs of an authentic Welsh slate name plaque. Many were expensive, only used 'Celtic slate'; so no guarentee it was Welsh. Or could not guarentee production within the month we were home- I didn't think it was alot to ask, they had a whole month! And delivery to Australia for something of this size, weight and fragile was expensive. 

And then I found http://www.celtichousenameplates.co.uk/ that turned out to be in Pencoed, not that far from my home town.
Jonathan comes from a long line of Masons in the Brecon area and his hand crafted work is gorgeous! And he couldn't be more helpful.

And his craftmanship is still creating a talking point and is mounted with pride. Representing our touch of Wales in Oz.

And the name I use for this blog too. I think it will stick, am thinking of labelling some of my home made goods with it. Not in a commercial sense, but as a mark of what we have achieved. 

I hope there are other readers, bloggers out there with unusual or interesting names; either they have given thier patch or maybe inherted with a place. Or maybe how you named your blog? And what this name means to you. I'd love to hear from you.

Lovely weekend away, but first from puppies

This weekend we took a trip to Long Island with some friends. We spent the weekend relaxing, swimming (even if I did find the water cold), playing mini golf, walking, animal feeding of different species, feeding ourselves...far too much and enjoying a few drinks in the gorgeous Whitsundays.

The Whitsunday Islands are less than an hour away for us and we've tripped to a few since moving here, but you do becme complacent as to what is on your door step.

Long Island is a resort island. It could possibly benefit from a lick of paint here and there. And some new boardwalk planks on the way in. Though I can't say we noticed as we disembarked the ferry, as we were too busy admiring the crystal clear waters and sea life below us. Along with the picturesque beach scapes and national park (that make up the majority of the island)

The ferry crossing is just 15 minutes from Shute harbour- so alot closer than some of the other islands. So close in fact that some sea kayakers stopped off briefly and then set off again.

The main thing (for me at least) this weekend, in terms of Maes-y-Delyn; was it was our first trip away leaving the puppies at home. 

We have had the odd late night out and we have each been away separately, since moving here. And whilst we have been on holidays since having Ffion, that was at our old house. When we had her brother Griff and friends took care of them. But it was a first for here and for Madog. 

It may seem as if I was over reacting, as it was only for 2 nights, but I guess this weekend woudl set a president for any future trips. 

Now we could have placed the dogs in kennels, but A, I would still have had to find someone to feed the chooks (chickens, ducks & turkeys) and pigs, as there are not so many keenels for livestock. And B, Madog's a whinger and I was unsure how he would react to a strange environment. So the solution seemed to be someone feeding them too. So I arranged for a friend (from work, who lives close by) and his son to feed eveything for us. Now I wasn't 100% sure how the dogs would react to our feeding visitors. But all went pretty well.

We made she all the animals had a good feed before we left early on Friday and labelled all the feed bins with relevant instructions for them on the Saturday.

When we arrived home Sunday afternoon, all animals were delighted to see us (or more interested in being fed)... dogs included.

Once they had made their inital fuss and then been walked and fed both cwtched up in their beds. Only moving when absolutely necessary! Am guessing they missed thier 'creature comforts' :)

The biggest issue from our few days of rest is the work we'll have to do to get the herb patch back under control!

A not so happy feathery start to the day

Went to feed the animals this morning (as per normal, before I head off to work). Only to find a trail of black feathers from one of the shed dorrs to the water tank. Follwed by the appearance of two very pleased looking dogs!

We have recently introduced 4 of our 5 Old English Game cross pullets to the 'normal' chicken run, along with 3 (slightly younger, but now larger) Rhode Island Red crosses. We hatched these ladies (along with 4 males- still separated) from the Old English Game rooster I accidently bought at auction back in May.
Having happily incubated the eggs and raised the chicks. I had completely forgotten how athletic and agile (and completely frustrating) thier father had been. We had hoped that they would have inherited some of the size from thier various mothers (Australorp, Sussex, though I think some maybe Wellsumer- not a big bird)... but no such luck.
As a breed Old English Games are fantastic free range birds, if you want them to scratch for food, roost in trees and generally fend for themselves.
Personally I have 2 "poultry loving" dogs (as dinner, that is). Therefore whilst my birds, happily have free run of the rear garden when we are home (as the dogs a out the front, or inside) and have a large run during the day. Unfortunately these young pullets feel the area for the general population is not good enough for them, and continuously seek the free run of the front yard.
To date the dogs have been relatively good with them. The birds have been calm and have even followed them around. Ffion (our staffy) generally only get excited when they flap or run.
But this morning appeared to have been the massacre we had thoght inevitable. Matt had threatened to eat them himself, rather than them see the fate of becoming the dogs dinner- though neither would be pleasant, I know which would be worse.

Anyway our 'pup' seemed very interested in the far corner. So I investigated further, to find one of the colourful EOG birds trapped between the 2 layers of fencing. Clearly distressed and a few ruffled feathers, but seemingly OK. Now I would have thought the dogs could have gotten her from there, instead he proudly showed me wht they had done?
I freed the bird and returned her to the rest of the flock; checking her over (just in case). She immediately spreang to her feet and followed to the enclosure for thier normal feed.

I ten counted 2 or the 4 birds, both black ones were missing... I now feared the trail may have been 2 different crime sites.

Returning to my duties, with a heavy heart. I secured the dogs out, without thier usual treat. And set about feeding my remaining flock and pigs. As I left the shed to tend to the younger chicks (in the totally inclosed run) there was a ruffled looking black OEG pullet, happily helping herself through the fence.... So they only had one!

To my surprise, as I set off, reversing my car out to head off to work, there was the last bird; wandering around the yard, looking to return to the main (feeding) flock. Not a feather out of place!

So I assisted her over the high fence and happily left for the office. Feeling slightly guilty for thinking so badly of my gorgeous puppies. Who had obviously had some fun with then birds, but not actually committed the crimes I instantly assumed they were guilty of.

Hopefully now the young birds will have learned thier lesson, and stay with the main flock, and realise that the fences are their for thier own protection.

Weekend of bikes, chicken poop, bean poles, cider and roast duck

Saturday was our local charity bike ride. It's in its 3rd year now and was great to see 1100 riders dust of the bikes and tackle 4 different distances all for a good cause.
We also when about sourcing another bed. Not for ourselves, but in preparation of our visitors in December. So I am pleased to say, no one should be sleeping on the floor in our house this Christmas... except maybe the dogs.

Sunday was a little more farm orientated. I had a list of chores- cleaning out all the chickens was top of my list. So all old bedding and manure collected and placed in the composter. All fresh hay, shredded paper and saw dust laid for comfy roosts. Even if our young Old English Game cross hens (recently introduced to the chicken run) insist on trying to roost upon the fences or in the garden. To which I have persisted with taking them to the hen house, in the hope they will learn.
We had hoped that crossing the Old English Game with a heavy layer (like our Australorps or Light Sussex) would have made them a little heavier- less agile and possibly more docile… Definitely not the case. We have 5 beautifully marked, lean and athletic pullets, determined to do their own thing.
I regularly find 2 in the front garden, around the small enclosed run; that I usually house the young chicks (before they are big enough to join the rest of the flock). Where they were initially housed, and where their rooster siblings are still. I am hoping once we move them out, they will not want to return there. Luckily the dogs have not been particularly bothered by them (so far). Matt even called the dogs in yesterday, so that we could catch the bird; only for the birds to follow quite happily behind.

So whilst I up to my elbows in poultry poop, Matt strimmed the edges and fence lines and then begun turning my pallets into an extra garden bed-  Something I had intended to do whilst he was away. However (as difficult as it is for me to admit) I just couldn’t get the boards off the pallets. So was grateful he did, so we filled them and begun transferring some of my quicker growing/producing veg over. Allowing more space in the other beds.

I weeded (for hours), flowing the few days of showers and constructed a few bean/ bean supports from bamboo and twine- In what will now be the bean bed. They look the part, so hopefully they work. As I also transplanted out the last of my snow peas, bortotti and butter beans and interplaced some strawberries and spinach. It sounds like an odd combination, but apparently they make good companion plants and should grow quite nicely on the ground, whilst the beans and peas grow up. So saves on space and hopefully less ground coverage should equal fewer weeds (fingers crossed).

So this week I will progressively reorganise my garden beds (again). I pulled out the over bearing coriander and mint plants ( as they had gone into flower and we now have some in the herb patch) along with the rocket; as it had also gone to flower and both Matt and myself decided that neither of us are actually fans. If you pick the young leaves they’re great, but these were established, mature plants (and quite bitter), but the pigs were grateful.

Matt also began his first batch of cider (well a blend of cider and perry). Now we have made cider from one of those tins, but this time he had use apple and pear juice.  Now we haven’t gone as far as crushing and pressing the fruit ourselves… especially being in the tropics as soft fruits do not grow too well. But this is a step closer, so I’ll let you know how it goes.

And for dinner last night we roasted or first hatched and raised duck. I have to admit I was wary, as we had skinned them and duck is renowned for being greasy. So I admit I had concerns as to whether it would be dry (without the fat). But it was delicious… well worth last weekend’s efforts.

D day for our 1st hatchlings

**Some of the images toward the end maybe disturbing to some, so use your discretion**

Sunday was D-day for the roosters and ducks (drakes). Having advertised them for sale and successfully selling one pure Sussex rooster and 1 drake and one hen from the ducks, it was time to deal with our excess birds. Now this is never a pleasant process, but I do stand by our decision to raise our own food. This, as meat-eaters includes our poultry. As a matter of hatching and raising chicks for layers, we accumulate roosters.  We also (as we keep and raise ducks) have an ongoing source of ducks. However this does mean we have to deal with the excess livestock to fulfil their purpose and fill our freezer.

These however were our first batch of poultry, hatched and raised here.  The 3 roosters were now 20 weeks old and the now 10 week old ducks (males at least) were growing rapidly, as was their appetite.  So whilst we have reared and culled our own chooks in the past, these were the first we had hatched and our first ducks full stop.

As with our previous birds, we set up our temporary station, cleaned and set up the table, knives, poultry scissors and bucket of water.

Our station consists of a stand and 2 cones. I have seen/read a number of ‘effective’ and ‘humane’ methods of killing poultry. But a number include the use of a ‘cone’ shaped item and either cutting the throat or in some cases the head off and bleeding the bird. The cone helps minimise the movement and (hopefully) stress.  We do try to keep the kill as clean as possible, as we do not want to put the birds through any more than we have too. And stress itself affects the meat, which in turn defies the point in doing this.
We had in the past, attempted a technique from a Butchery book that involved piercing the brain/nervous system through the beak, before bleeding. It is supposed to be instant, however we were unconvinced. As it was awkward and if you were to do it incorrectly, then surely you were putting the bird through more pain/stress. So we have since opted for the more direct approach.

I guess regardless of how it is done this is the part of the process I struggle with the most. Once they are dead I can process the bird; skin and gut, I guess as it becomes a matter of wanting to respect the life you’ve taken and not wanting  to waste it. I know many would view my stuggle to be over sensitiveity, and other would question why do it then? And more so why document it? But I guess I will always struggle with my meat eating philosophy and my animal loving instincts... I hope I never change. As I don't hink (or hope) I will never be complacement about taking a life. And will therefore want to respect and make the most of any meat, all meat, but especially those we rear.

Some may also question our method of feathering. As I have documented in the past that we choose to skin our birds, for time and health reasons. It's more time efficient and whilst many argue that the skin is the tasty part, I remove it whilst or after cooking anyway. So might as well save ourselves the extra work.

I will admit skinnin the ducks was far more work than the chickens. As without going into too much detail, the skin was alot tighter to the meat and I needed to gentally coax it way with the knive, also the layer of fat under the skin was initially baffling. But persistance was key.

Result a stocked freezer-3 chickens weighing 1.3kg, 1.6kg and 1.9kg and 6 ducks, the smallest being 1.1kg, all the others being 1.4-1.6kg, some duck livers for making pate. And some very well fed dogs for some day to come.

The smallest bird was the larger of the younger birds we were raising.  We still have another, which was much smaller, 2 that are still in that awkward yellow fuzzy stage- one I believe is a boy, the other could be a girl as ‘she’ is smaller. However this could purely be down to her lameness and ability to complete for food. We also kept the only other hen (other than the one we sold). Matt decided as they were our first ducklings he wanted to keep one and as she was the only girl it wouldn’t be as if we were increasing our resident numbers too much. His reasoning being the females are drastically small and he was worried she wouldn’t be carrying a lot of meat. To be honest I would have to agree, as she would have been smaller than the youngest male. So a reprieve for her at least.

Madogs first Boat trip

So this weekend we had a bonus long weekend- for the Queens jubilee we had a seconds Queens birthday holiday. Though next year the Queensland government are looking into exchanging this date for either the other Queens birthday (usually in June) or Labour Day, as this is held in May in Qld but on the first Monday of October in many other states. So to make the most of the weekend we hooked up the tinny, packed up the swag and camping gear and headed off to Kinchant dam with the dogs.

 Intention was to try and catch 'red claw' and work out the logistics of having the dog with us onboard. The red claw are a fresh water crayfish. Very tasty and something Matt had tried whilst on his bush trip. He had read of people catching them there, but mostly this dam is used by waterski and jetski enthusiasts. though you do get the odd angler who nabs a Barra. So we sorted ourselvs ot with a fresh water permit and some pots. To give it a try.

 It was Madogs first boat trip. Ffion has been out to sea a few times, both on a camping trip as a pup and on our ‘old’ boat (though it was quite a bit larger). So she is quite familiar with the water and is quite happy as a sea-dog. I think introducing Madog to this process on smoother waters was a good idea; as he’s a pretty big dog for a not so large vessel! Though he did like the wind in his face, and took quite a liking to the crab pot floats, though he resisted the temptation to jump overboard.

Hopefully on our next outing we will actually catch some dinner. But all in all a lovely day on the water, followed by a camp dinner, a sleepless night (due to others on the campsite)  and an early morning dog walk around the deserted dam a dawn. Least this way the dogs could have a run and a paddle.