Chooks at CERES
As the unofficial mascot of CERES and a common emblem of permaculture, the chickens of CERES are one of our most-loved features. Our chooks have certainly taken on one of our many faces, and they are in multiple parts of our 4.5 hectare site. Often a little more free ranging than they really should be, the chooks constantly provide for our community through providing eggs, manure, relationships and entertainment.
The Break Down
Honey Lane Chickens
CERES Farm is home to over 200 Isa Browns which are split in two flocks called either the Hazels or the LouLous. Our lovely chooks provide us with hundreds of delicious organic eggs each week and they are available to purchase at the CERES Grocery.
The second flock belongs to the Chook Group, a community group who has 14 members each assigned to a day of looking after the hens per fortnight. There are 50 hens in the Chook Group, across 1 acre in the middle of CERES in between the community gardens and the Honey Lane Market Garden. The members of the Chook Group tend to the needs of the chickens and take home the bounty of eggs for the day.
The third lot of chickens is a group of 5 led by Barry White the rooster, a Pekin x Silky. His 5 lady friends are; Dutch Bantams Hazel & Dot and Belgian d’Uccles Frankie, Otto & Edith. So cute!
The final chook is called “The Chook”. It’s our free app for smartphones, that was designed to better inform our 450,000 annual visitors about features of CERES, history and stories embedded in the park over our long history.