Glorious Googies

EMMA Brown has created a hen haven on her Korumburra property, producing free range eggs for a burgeoning market, under trading name Glorious Googies.
Raised on the property next door, Emma remembers there were always cattle on the farm; it had no trees and soil erosion was an issue.
When the property became available for purchase, she and husband Aaron jumped at the chance.
“We leased the farm out for three years and then had to think a lot about what to do with it. We thought about continuing to lease it, but we decided we couldn’t have a place like this and not utilise it,” Emma said.
“I looked in to free ranging pigs and goats and then I thought about chooks. I really liked the idea of having lots of hens in caravans.
“It was also because I was finding it hard to find proper free range eggs myself.”
Emma said the idea to have chickens in caravans running free range on the property came from a desire to work with the land.
“The hens have done a great job at helping to remove the weeds and I rotate the paddocks as needed; it is almost like a miniature version of a dairy farm,” she said.
“We had to investigate fencing, which is expensive but it keeps the foxes out and keeps the hens in.”
Emma uses old caravans as chicken nesting houses, which she said were appealing because of their moveability.
After removing all of the insides of a van, Emma replaced the floor with wire mesh and installed perches and roll away nesting boxes.
When ready, the vans are towed into the paddocks and moved around as needed.
The hens are in rather large paddocks but tend not to wander too far from home, so moving the caravans around is important.
“As I move the caravans around, it fertilises the paddocks and helps the chooks to find fresh grass,” she said.
The chickens are also fed cracked grain to ensure they have enough protein in their diets.
“I don’t feed any colouring or meat meal, so the colour of my yolks is completely natural.”
Emma currently has around 1200 hens, which produce around 800 to 900 eggs per day. All eggs are collected, cleaned, graded and packed by hand.
“It does take a lot of time and is very labour intensive, which is why they tend to cost a bit more than caged eggs,” she said.
“It is a full time job, seven days a week.”
Emma travels to seven markets a month to sell her products and also has several wholesale customers who take her eggs.
“It does take up a lot of time, and sometimes we sell out and sometimes we don’t, but I don’t keep my eggs longer than a week and a half,” she said.
Emma sells her eggs at the Coal Creek, Inverloch Community and Koonwarra farmers markets, as well as some Melbourne markets.
The hens are Isa Browns, which Emma purchases when they are 15 weeks old from Euroa. She could get them cheaper closer, but will only buy non de-beaked chickens.
Some start laying straight away, but most will be laying by the time they reach 20 weeks old. Emma provides one nest box for every four to five hens.
By the time the chickens reach 12 months old Emma usually moves them on to new homes, primarily because the eggs they lay become too large for her market.
“They are friendly, robust chickens and are good layers which make them perfect for free range,” she said.
The chickens are protected by two Maremma sheepdogs, Sampson and Sonya. They are in with the chickens 24 hours a day, and do a great job protecting them from harm.
“I rescued them from Maremma Rescue in December last year. They weren’t poultry dogs and were pretty shy and timid when they first came,” Emma said.
“They are lovely dogs and are friendly and adaptable. I just move them through the paddocks with the chickens.”
Emma currently has around five acres fenced off for her hens but has plans to extend her business in the future.
People are more than welcome to drop out to the farm to purchase eggs straight from the source. Emma will occasionally have chickens for sale as well.

Hounds and hens: Emma Brown has two Maremma sheepdogs, Sonya and Sampson, to help protect her flock.

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Posted by Sarah Vella on Nov 4 2014. Filed under Rural News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry