Category Archives: Take Action

Backyard chicken keeping course kicks off in the City of Swan

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Transition Town Guildford | Leave a comment

Did you know that one backyard hen can recycle 150 kg of kitchen waste per year AND give you up to 200+ wholesome yummy eggs per year in exchange? Wow!

This is just a taste of what folks in the city of Swan are learning about reviving the art of backyard hen keeping.

Sunny Side Up tours Erica’s in Lockridge

Last week, Transition Town Guildford was very excited to start our pilot training project, ‘Sunny Side Up: Reducing household waste with backyard chooks’ with the support of the WA Waste Authority and Men of the Trees.

25 novice households from the City of Swan are in the process of learning about What Hens Really Want. Our first workshop focused on the welfare aspects of pen space and design, and how to use recycled materials for construction. Participants learned the difference between commercial ‘cage laid’, ‘barn laid’ and ‘free range’ space allowances, and how this translated into options for welfare-friendly backyard enclosures. Last weekend, we toured the backyards of 4 generous locals with a range of housing types all constructed simply and inexpensively from recycled parts. Everyone is now busy building their own hen houses and pens ready to receive their clutch of 3 project hens next month.

Our next workshop in June will focus on feeding, health and husbandry. In the meanwhile, we have a growing brood of hens and pullets agisting and adjusting at Peter’s place awaiting rehoming with our course participants. Each household will receive a retired ex-battery hen (plenty of life and future egg-laying yet to be enjoyed), a young commercial pullet about to begin laying eggs for the first time, and a heritage breed hen. Course participants are sure to enjoy getting to know the personalities and foibles of their new pets in due course. Stay tuned for more updates from Sunny Side Up in the City of Swan

Retired commercial cage laying hens getting used to the outdoor life at Peter’s

Sunny Side Up project launches

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Transition Town Guildford | 1 comment

Registration is open for Transition Town Guildford’s Sunny Side Up Project. There was an article on page 7 of the Midland Reporter the other month about our success in receiving a grant from the Waste Authority (see below). You can see the announcement from the Minister for the Environment here.

The grant will enable us to run a series of workshops on everything you need to know about keeping chooks in the backyard. At the end of the program, participants will receive three chooks. The idea is based on a successful program in Belgium, where local authorities were able to reduce tonnes of organic waste going to landfill by giving away chickens to local residents. Apparently each chook can consume 150 kg of kitchen waste a year!

The workshops are aimed at City of Swan residents who don’t have chooks and will be starting on May 20th. If you live outside the City of Swan, please email us to register your interest ttguildford@gmail.com

For more information and to register, see the Eventbrite page here: http://ttgchooks.eventbrite.com.au/

This project is supported by the Waste Authority through the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Account. We also acknowledge the generous support of Men of the Trees for auspicing our grant.

1 Comment

Posted in Food, Media, Take Action, Waste & Recycling

Tagged City of Swan, Community grant, keeping chooks, Midland Reporter, WA Environment minister, Waste Authority WA, Waste avoidance and resource recovery account

Jetto’s Patch visit in March

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Transition Town Guildford | 1 comment

If you were ever looking for inspiration, or just wondering what might be possible on an average suburban block, Jetto’s Patch in Maida Vale has much to make you think.

Dario in the front yard, which they converted from lawn only 18 months ago!

Starting in 1989, but with the newest parts only 18 months old, Dario and Michelle grow something in the region of 500 edible species on their 1482 sq m block.

The Kitchen Gardeners were delighted to accept an invitation from Dario and Michelle to hold their March workshop at Jetto’s Patch. Some of us opted for the advertised potting seeds workshop, where we used some of our collected and donated pots, and made some out of newspaper following Debra’s expert instructions.

Most of us wandered about the verdant paradise admiring just how many plants and the amazing variety of edible plants it is possible to grow in Perth. There are the obvious ones like figs and grapes along with some very interesting ones that you would not expect to find thriving in Perth: arabica coffee, pineapples, cherries, raspberries.