01608 683912
aagoodlifeco@gmail.com
Chickens & the community
Are you a school, home or organisation that would benefit from having chickens in your environment?
Cotswold Chickens in partnership with our poultry supplier, Smallholder Range feeds, Life Guard and Net Tex products are getting together to offer a number of people/families/groups/schools/organisations etc the chance to get started in the wonderful world of chicken keeping.
Are you an organisation whose members would benefit from the responsibility of keeping a small number of hens? The Cotswold "Chickens in the community" project will provide you with some pullets, feed and accessories free for a year. You will be invited to our beginners and advanced courses and provide you with full back-up support from all the companies involved for the lifetime of the pullets.
All we ask in return is a monthly update to include some pictures of how the chickens are involved in your daily life or how they might have changed/helped those involved with their care. We’d also like to know the progress of the chickens and everyone’s highs and lows with them.
Reciprocal website links are required.
If you’d like to apply to become a memeber of chickens & the community please complete the application below.
Emmaus Oxfordshire
Emmaus Communities enable people to move on from homelessness, providing work and a home in a supportive, family environment. Companions, as residents are known, work full time collecting renovating and reselling donated furniture. This work supports the Community financially and enables residents to develop skills, rebuild their self-respect and help others in greater need.
Companions receive accommodation, food, clothing and a small weekly allowance, but for many, the greatest benefit is a fresh start. To join a Community, they sign off unemployment benefits and agree to participate in the life and work of the Community and abide by its rules, for example not bringing drugs or alcohol into the Community.
Emmaus Oxford were the first organisation to receive hens and goods from our "chickens in the community" project.
There’s some photos from this summer, one of the photos shows the run, constructed by Companions, where the chickens are locked in at night – and their coop. I asked how they manage to get them back in the run: easy, just walk that way with a bowl of corn and they’ll follow!
You’ll see that the chickens are enjoying being free range! Tristan demonstrated how excited they get when he starts digging: five of the six can be seen excitedly clucking around and looking for worms, which he says they go mad for! The rest of the time they happily peck anywhere in the garden. Apparently they’re laying well, 6 eggs a day coming in. Tristan told me the eggs are getting bigger as well, and the hens themselves clearly are. They each have their own personalities, and he can easily distinguish the individuals in the colour pairs.
Many thanks for all your help with the chickens. They are a real asset to the community, going way beyond the provision of free eggs.