Shabden Park Farm is home to a small flock of laying hens, which you will see along the farm entrance drive. The hens have an open area of around three acres in which to
scratch around. This is surrounded by electric fencing to protect
them from predators, which are primarily foxes. |
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| In the
evening, the hens roost in the chicken house, safe from predators
and protected from the elements. |
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Our traditional breed geese are bought as day-old goslings in May and are naturally reared for the Christmas dinners of our farm shop customers.The goslings are kept indoors under a heat lamp
for the first few weeks, although after the first week or so we
start to take them out into the garden for a couple of hours per
day, when the weather is warm. During the night they huddle together
under the lamps to keep themselves warm. The goslings are fed non-GM chick crumbs, and like our other animals, have unrestricted access to clean drinking water. Small goslings like these are easy prey for foxes so they are kept in a high-sided pen and supervised when they are taken out. |
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| When the
goslings are very small, we use an old sandpit for them to splash
around in. The water helps them to preen their feathers, especially
as they begin to shed their yellow down and grow white feathers.
The goslings start to show patches of white and grey at around two
to three weeks old. |
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| As Christmas
approaches, we start feeding ad-lib a non-GM poultry finishing feed
containing protein and fibre from wheat, barley or maize, omega
3 oils from soya or linseed, and vitamins and minerals; all of which
are again derived from the natural raw materials. This gives the
geese plenty of food during the autumn and winter months, when short,
succulent grass is not available, and ensures that they have enough
energy in their ration to keep growing and putting on weight right
up until Christmas. As the weather gets colder, we keep the geese indoors on straw bedding so that they put all their efforts into achieving a good size and weight, and not just keeping warm. Mark hand-plucks all our geese on the farm to minimise stress and the birds are dressed by our butchers in the farm shop to keep them at their freshest. |
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Shabden Park Farm turkeys come to us at six weeks old in June and are reared, free range, on grass pasture in time for Christmas.The breeders select and sex the chicks, and then
put together the birds according to their orders. Most farms want
only hen birds so that they can rear them together without distractions
or fighting. Stag birds are much bigger and can be very aggressive.
We order our poults in groups of breed strains according to the
finished carcass weight they will achieve. In other words, we may
order thirty poults which come from a strain which achieves a carcass
weight of 10-12lbs, thirty more which will achieve 12-14lbs, and
so on. We order a mix of Norfolk white and bronze birds. |
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Approximately six
to eight weeks before Christmas, as the weather becomes colder,
the birds are housed during the day and night, and we change the
feed to a specially formulated non-GM cereal-based fattening ration.
This enables the birds to put all their efforts into fattening rather
than trying to keep warm. Mark hand-plucks all our turkeys on the farm to minimise stress and they are dressed by our butchers in the farm shop to keep them at their freshest. |
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Links
British Goose Producers Association Recipes, cooking tips and informationGarin Harvester feeds Our livestock feed company with information on manufacture and ingredients
The Poultry Site News and info for the poultry industry
British Poultry Council Facts, news and information for producers and consumers
