We hope to (after our course on 27th Feb 2011) to buy our chickens...We have already purchased our equipment for feeding and watering from Hadleigh Pet Supplies and are just finishing off the last of the building work... This is our over view of how it will all work :)
We each purchase (from the same flock at the same time) a chicken..The club will purchase 2 extra (see below for details why). We are each individually responsible for the health costs (and maintenance ) of our chicken...This will ensure that all chickens are kept to a high standard of care and accountability...We have an isolation coop for any ill or broody chickens...We pay jointly for the costs of feeding (and bedding) all of the chickens - dividing the monthly cost between all of the members...
We are responsible for the feeding/letting in and out/cleaning of ALL of the chickens on our day (see rota for details).....On our rota'd day we collect and keep ALL eggs that are laid on that day..If a chicken appears to be unwell we notify the person who owns the chicken...Our individual care is to our chicken and any that are purchased by the club.(see rules).
We considered collectively paying for ill chickens BUT realised that the Treasurer would need to get ALL of the members to agree vets fees...Peoples opinion on when to consult a vet varies...Also if more than one chicken is unwell then the person whose day it is could spend all day sorting it out..If they don't manage to sort it out it then it could overspill onto the next day..Some people wouldn't deal with it (as it isn't on their rota'd day) whilst others would....Each looking after just the one chicken is easier, quicker and requires one agreement :>
The club will purchase 2 extra chickens (10 members plus 2 of the club making a total of 12)..This ensures that if any chickens unfortunately die then they can be bought from the club without the introduction of any new chickens...Also if some of the chickens don't lay..hopefully *fingers crossed* we will still have the possibility of 10 each day :)
Keeping the chickens (or should I say hens!) collectively means that if we are on holiday/away we can swap with another member on our feeding day..Instead of having to do this daily this will be approximately only about three times per month...We should get about 30 eggs per month (more than enough)...We can dispose of our greens from our allotments and the cost will be lower than shop bought eggs with more free range vitamins...YUMMMMMM :>
And the last reason...we meet friends and get to keep our chicken (our hen!) on our allotment :)
