Chook Heaven Ngatimoti

Riverfront Living

2011-04-06T18:43:00.000-07:00

It's been a year now and the chooks and I have moved to a delightful piece of land on the banks of the Motueka River in a small and friendly community called Ngatimoti.

The chooks are once again in chook heaven with ample room to stroll, scratch, roost, preen and peck.

We have had one or two issues, mainly with the opinion of a few, that it is their right to jump up into the bus and eat the cat food. I thought I had the culprit sorted after many uncomfortable days in solitary confinement, (the chook, not me!) but after a few weeks, she seems to have adopted the old behaviours again and the cat and I are becoming resigned to the fact that the cat food is now on the bench instead of the floor. The chook in question hasn't quite gotten around to glancing upwards yet to discover where her personal treats now reside.

The general population has expanded my another 14 in the last year. There are many and varied places for a chook to hide her stash of eggs from the humans that like to raid their nests regularly. The outcome is a parade of fluffy bundles of chickyness trailing behind a very proud, puffed up, purring chook.

Rusty Boy

2009-06-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

We recently discovered a new member of the "Chook Gang". A salubrious red rooster. We had no idea from whence he had come... He is a shining example of "Life On the Beach" and has quickly made himself at home with our gang. Although the resident roosters "Beckham" and "Croupier" are trying to ignore him. Our youngest male "Teenager" can see some competition in the not too distant future....

So as he struts defiantly around the Olive Grove, selecting morsels of food found uneaten, he is fast endearing himself into our hearts. And his gloriously red plumage would be a distinct advantage to the unofficial breeding program. Black is definitely a dominant gene.... and some rusty red chicks would be a delight.

Well a few phone calls to the neighbours and we discover he has wandered down the beach from two property's away. We have a box to put him in to take him back..... when we can catch him! : )

My Chook Heaven

2008-12-04T15:19:00.000-08:00

I have finally made the plunge into the world of blogging....
Well I'm about to, it appears.
You can stand at the edge of the cliff for only so long before someone, or something comes along and gently nudges you into a false sense of security and BLAM! you're out there swirling around in the cosmos of life.
Theoretically anyway...
I live with a bunch of chooks by the sea in New Zealand. For those of you from afar who don't use the word "chooks" at all, they are birds that lay the eggs we eat.... hens, chickens, chooks. A very newzild word. Their lives intertwine with mine on a daily basis as they roam freely among the Olive Trees and beach grass. I have studied them in depth, on and off, for about 35 years as we co-exist on this earthly planet.

They teach me about people........