RHUBARB, Rhubarb, rhubarb

IS there anything better than yummy old rhubarb?

I simply love chopping it up, adding a tiny sprinkle of brown sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice before heating and eating.

Or baking in a pie.

Even adding stewed rhubarb on top of porridge!

Today's Weekly Times carries a great article by Peter Cundall on growing this divine vegetable.

GLOW IN THE DARK EGGS

THE ABC has reported that researchers in southern NSW are attempting to develop a new chicken that produces green eggs.

 

They want to genetically modify chickens with a gene that glows, so layer hen operations can tell if there's a female embryo inside the egg before it's incubated.

Each year, millions of male chicks in Australia are culled because it's unviable to keep them.

Read more here...

MAKE HAY

THIS heatwave means mulching is essential.

Last night I collected two bales of straw and this morning, one was put in the chook run.

After cleaning out the hutch, all the lovely old straw was placed in the garden and the feather riot were cackling with excitement with their new clean hay.

The second bale is on the hutch's corrugated iron roof so it is both out of harm's way from the gals and will act as a good insulator in this heat.

And languid the chooks are not!

The hot weather does not appear to be stopping them from dashing about eating unwary insects.

 

Although we are down to three eggs a day so two of them are holding out.

But in this weather, who can blame them?

Cool chooks

KEEPING my hens cool and watered during the heat this week will be an additional challenge.

 

Along with their usual deep water bowl I'll be adding two more into their enclosed pen.

 

Plus positioning the market umbrella to keep them in the shade.

 

If you kave any backyard chooks, be sure to check they have constant access to fresh, clean, cool water.

 

Also look out for snakes and other reptiles who may be attracted to the chooks water supply.

 

Hilda enjoys prime position on the bird bath

Tasmanian backyard egg sellers could be fined

TASSIE'S backyard chook breeders have until tonight to register their feelings on new regulations that will introduce heavy fines for the sale of unstamped eggs from unregistered flocks. 
  
Under draft food standard regulations, anyone who sells eggs – no matter the size of their flock – will be required to register their name and address and the number and location of their birds and stamp each egg with a unique identity mark, The Mercury reports.

Those who fail to comply face a $650 fine.

 

 

Information about egg producers in Victoria can be seen here.

New year's eggs

SEEING the first eggs of the new year is always exciting.

 

It's a nice way to start off with fresh eggs for breakfast. So on January 1, I made pancakes and gave the hens the left-overs as a reward.

 

 

 

The little devils tried to get into the  basil posts growing seedlings and the cherry and rouge marmalade tomato beds yesterday and I was just in time to stop Hilda from tearing down some cherry tomato branches.

 

I've been a bit lax in staking them up enough so must get into it.

 

Coincidentally, Peter Cundell addresses staking tomatoes in the Weekly Times today.  



Free range debate

THOSE of us lucky enough to have chooks in the back yard know the joys of enjoying delicious, free range eggs.

However, labelling laws in Australia are all over the shop - pretty much any egg producer can call their eggs free-range.

On Monday January 6, ABC Radio ran a story about a group of Australian egg producers are urging state and federal governments to create a legal, enforceable definition of free range eggs. Listen here...

Meanwhile, the feather riot continue to produce the best darn eggs this side of Geelong. 

 

Friends say I'm fortunate to be able to keep chooks and I have to agree.

 

So if you have a spare patch of garden, think seriously about giving a couple of former cage-hens a loving home.

 

They will reward you with more than just lovely eggs.