POULTRYPoultry - The word describes domesticated birds that are farmed or kept for what they can provide humans. Eggs and Meat are the most obvious products, but poultry also provides us with a valuable source for insulation, for comfort and and for fertilizer.
In addition to what they provide, the Poultry are very much part of the workforce on the Farm. Together and with some management, they scarify, fertlize, strim and eat the bugs, which all helps to develop the land. We currently manage flocks of about 1200 Chickens primarily for their eggs and the manure. From late July through to December we rear 100 bronze Turkeys. In between these two types of poultry we have an assortment of Geese and Ducks. In line with our policy for providing a natural environment we suffer the threat of the Poultry Farmers' greatest predator - The Fox. Annually we lose many chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys to this hunter and killer, despite best endeavours to provide them all with safe houses and secure surroundings. |
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Free Range Chickens
The definition and requirements for a Free Range Chicken is set out in both European and UK Agriculture legislation, together with the requirements for selling an Egg that has been produced Free Range. In response to requests for more of our eggs, 2012 saw us achieve registration and increase our flock from 50 to 250 hens. This was our first bespoke designed hen house, modified in 2014 to include automated feeding and a rollaway egg collection system. Subsequently, we have increased our flocks to 600 with the addition of another hen house and in 2017 we are planning to add bulk feed towers to allow us to grow our egg production further.
Bronze Turkeys
For most of history, turkeys were primarily raised on small family farms for meat and as a form of pest control (turkeys are prodigious eaters of insects as well as being excellent strimmers). But with the advent of factory farming of poultry, turkeys began to be selectively bred for increasingly larger size, focusing especially on the production of breast meat.
Keen to buck this trend and to stick with the principle of having a breed that can be naturally reared, we were fortunate in meeting Jim Monk, one of the most successful free range Turkey breeders in Scotland. To use his mantra, our birds are born and reared to be wild. The sight of them working their way along 1.5 acres of woodland covered burn is one to behold, that is until it comes time to gather them for the night and prise them from various roosts or bug infested thickets of bramble and nettle. To make the most of their good life, we like to pay attention to the process of slaughter, plucking and eviceration and have put in place arrangements that are both compliant and as humane as we can achieve. Hand plucking is hard work, but well worth the effort and one that seems to collect more volunteers each year.
Keen to buck this trend and to stick with the principle of having a breed that can be naturally reared, we were fortunate in meeting Jim Monk, one of the most successful free range Turkey breeders in Scotland. To use his mantra, our birds are born and reared to be wild. The sight of them working their way along 1.5 acres of woodland covered burn is one to behold, that is until it comes time to gather them for the night and prise them from various roosts or bug infested thickets of bramble and nettle. To make the most of their good life, we like to pay attention to the process of slaughter, plucking and eviceration and have put in place arrangements that are both compliant and as humane as we can achieve. Hand plucking is hard work, but well worth the effort and one that seems to collect more volunteers each year.