Christina Websell wrote:
> " Jill" <news@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
> news:69shvoF34nap2U1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> Christina Websell wrote:
>>> So, what a pity it would be if my Sicilian Buttercups, Appenzellers,
>>> Lakenfelders and Barnvelder bantams will be gone because of the cost
>>> of food.
>>>
>> You are not alone, its happening already. ;(
>
> They won't go short of something to eat, but I do have to question now
if I
> can afford to keep them. Maybe I should buy a dozen eggs at the
supermarket
> instead.
> It's my own fault that I let my birds get old and unproductive. I don't
> want to kill them, hey I'll be old myself eventually, and they've given
> their best here. I want them to die of old age not because I can't
afford
> their food.
>
> Tina
>
The cost of our food (South Africa) seems to be the same as that of the
UK, and I'm struggling to keep mine fed. It's winter here now, and the
land I have them on is not giving them enough. From 15 hens I was
getting three eggs a day, and now the cold weather is going to make that
even less (fewer).
So after debating with myself for a good long time (all the while
di****ng out more food) I finally decided to sell some of the hens to the
local people - they prefer to buy them and slaughter them themselves. I
sold three of the 6 I want to sell, and the worst part was that the
catching was so easy as they are really tame, and each of those had
names. They don't all have names - it was just the luck of the draw. I
would really like to get to that point where I can slaughter a chicken
for home use as and when I want one, but of the last 6 chicks that
hatched, 3 were taken by predators and the other three are all hens. So
I am still eating (mostly) shop-bought chicken and extremely expensive
eggs.
Catherine
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