Well, believe it or not, me and my partner have decided to invest in some chickens. What for? Simple...Eggs. What I decided was to start keeping a blog to let you know of the trials and tribulations of doing this from a person who willing to give it a go but has no idea what is in store.
We only have a small garden, and frankly its only just big enough to swing a cat (or our dog) in. We're not going on a self-sufficiency crusade, but if this blog helps sway anyone out there to get the courage to do this, then I've done my job.
First things first.... we needed housing for them. We considered trying to build a chicken coop, but as we seem to spend longer and longer working at the computer these days, we thought we'd cheat and buy something in. We're also not the "Smiths vs Jones" type either, but on this occasion we found something that made a pretty cool and trendy statement and even become a feature in the garden.
The product is called an Eglu Cube. Its made of plastic and comes with a chicken run of a couple of metres. And here's a picture of it:
So, where are we now?
We ordered the Eglu Cube along with 6 chickens. The company, if you're interested is Omlet, and can be found by Omlet Eglu Cube.
Here's the crunch.... the one we bought just cost us in the region of £600. So this is as much of a lifestyle choice as it is an economic decision. It will take us a while to recoup (pardon the pun) the monies invested by accumulating and even selling the eggs. But before you lose interest due to the pricing rememer this:
Our delivery date is 5th May 2009 so we are waiting in anticipation on our new fine feathered friends.
Hopefully in the next few weeks and months I'll have plenty to say on the trials and tribulations of a chicken farmer (Is there a technical term for someone that does that?). So please keep coming back, and give me your thoughts too.
My better half popped out to the local shop today, and whilst there decided to opt for a (lazy) bag of dumpling mix as we were having a stew.
When we looked at it... you wouldn't believe the packet was made from no less than 7 mixed plastics! Now I'm no expert but I can't see how, if they're mixed together, this packet will ever by recyclable.
The guilt I suppose is with us, since we can easliy check what the packaging is made of, but I am a little disappointed since it is a home brand of the COOP chain (uk). And they are normally very environmentally aware.
I suppose we should be thankfull that it wasn't wrapped in a cardboard box, wrapped in another layer of plastic as you see so often these days. In fact last sunday, when I picked up a small cardboard packet of chicken stuffing, I found there was yet another packet inside it. This was a bigger nown brand name, but again... the contents could have simply been the paper-based sachet inside with very little reduction in presentation.
These big companies do seem to be a little slow on the uptake of simple packaging reductions.
I would be interested if anyone knows if mixed plastivs are seperatable without using a rediculous amount of energy.Please let us know.