The Good Life NZ

28/03/2022

Cohabitation : the state or fact of living or existing at the same time or in the same place.... "a harmonious cohabitation with other living creatures".

OK, so not always perfectly harmonious, but they do pretty well together 😂

The chooks do a great job of spreading the manure around, that's for sure.

29/01/2022

The chickens that live at the top of the steepest street in the world!

22/01/2022

When visiting Queenstown, a lesser known but must visit attraction is Deer Park Heights
- Only 15 mins drive from the centre of Queenstown, or 5 mins from Frankton.
- Take a car load of people to see spectacular views in every direction - quite different views than from the Skyline / gondola.
- Stunning filming locations from Lord of the Rings (The Two Towers).
- Pack a picnic for a meal with an amazing vista.
- Get up close and feed local livestock...... but those views! 📷

20/01/2022

Great crop of cos lettuce grown under our handy wee cloche frame from Country Cloches.
https://www.facebook.com/Country-Cloches-101592302256993/

18/01/2022

Some progress on the new chicken coop.

05/11/2021

22/10/2021

Lamb love 🐑❤️

(and bad breath, hence the facials)

11/10/2021

The art of keeping kids busy in the school holidays 🎨🪧
🍓🍅🥔🥕🌽🥦🥬🧄

03/10/2021

Lammie be like "What's up with all the pampering?"

27/09/2021

Cute Silkie chicks, a spring garden, and a creative 12 year old with a camera 🐣🌸📷

25/09/2021

Check out this amazing new backyard coop! Lee collected his new pullets this week and they have settled in well. Lee Cuthbertson

24/09/2021

🐣🐣 New hatch of Silkie chicks this week 🐣🐣

22/09/2021

Spring = pet lambs. Lockdown was a great opportunity for pet lambs with the kids home from school.

05/09/2021

Sunday lockdown walkies, and a visit to Peppy the alpaca. Last week in Level 4 Peppy was isolated away from visitors, but this week we had Peppy run up to see us.

28/08/2021

In March/April 2020, the word was used an unprecedented number of times. We went into a Level 4 lockdown, and promptly saw panic buying and short supply of essentials like flour and toilet paper!

My phone was running red hot with people in a desperate hurry to get hold of chickens. Were the supermarkets running out of eggs? No. It turned out that people who had been thinking about getting backyard chickens for some time, had decided that being locked down at home was a perfect time to finally get sorted.

If you have spent time over the last couple of weeks building a new coop or sorting out your old one and are looking for some pullets, we have some 12 week old Hyline pullets who are looking for a new home 🐔. Get in touch via Messenger or mobile 021 960 250.

28/08/2021

Tomato seed planting day. It's been a few years since we have grown our own from seed. I'm usually not organised enough and lazily just get seedlings. But with lockdown upon us, I decided it was a good activity to do with the kids. Something else to keep us occupied!

Six different varieties, sitting on top of seed raising mix with a little vermiculite on the top.

One of our favourite varieties is an heirloom called Brandywine Pink. Can't wait!

27/08/2021

Friday night lockdown goodness. Can't beat custard square.

21/08/2021

First hatch of Silkie chicks for the new season. 8 fluffy bums!

16/08/2021

Loving all the lambs up Mount Maunganui at this time of year

16/05/2021

I was thinking this beauty was a 💚 shape, but my side kick is sure it's a bum.

01/05/2021

Better dead than alive. What are these baby mustelids? Stoats? I once had what I think was a stoat kill over 100 x 6 week old chickens in one night. Chomped their neck, put them in a pile, and went back for the next one. They kill for fun. Hence 'better dead than alive'.

18/04/2021

Sunny autumn day, plenty of pasture to explore, and cow pats to scratch around.

10/04/2021

Cameo (short for Cameo Creme) is a fluffy Belted Galloway. She is slowly getting more friendly with the more people contact she has. Fingers crossed for a fluffy new calf in another few months 🐮

07/04/2021

Perfect score!
20 x 🐔
20 x 🥚
These Hylines have cultivated up a storm, fertilising in the process, and laying delicious eggs. The chicken tractor is gearing up for it's next location.

02/04/2021

Happy Easter from our farmyard to yours. Chickens and bunnies don't seem to be particularly willing to sit and pose for cute photos but we tried 😂

20/03/2021

Wascally wabbit. Had been digging holes without permission. The Trapworks Pukeko and Possum trip trap baited with apple and laced with some aniseed fixed that. Have caught a crazy amount of rabbits already this year, as well as other pesky critters.

05/03/2021

Hyline chicks, 4 weeks old and feathering up fast. Still a bit of baby fluff on their heads, but making their way through the teenager stage. Rich golden brown feathers thanks to quality NRM Chick Starter Crumbles.

05/03/2021

Orchard life 🐔🐓🍎

04/03/2021

My hens might not lay green eggs like some fancy hens do, but I often get big double yolkers and occasionally a massive torpedo! What's your weirdest egg?

01/03/2021

3 broody Silkies in the nest playing pyramids. We've tried putting them in separate nests, but no, they keep going back, resulting in a few cracked eggs underneath 🤦‍♂️

26/02/2021

If you have ever had trouble with chooks eating eggs, or are sick of having to clean eggs, a rollaway nesting box can be a good idea.
🥚
This one from Ezynest is available in single, double and triple options, with internal and external configurations.
🥚
It went together easier than expected, but I'm a little concerned about the lack of cushioning for the eggs. Time to test it out!

14/02/2021

New sign thanks to Roy and Dona at Print Big Ltd, Upper Hutt. Fast, efficient service at a great price

09/02/2021

I'm broody and I know it!

05/02/2021

Is there a noticeable difference between chicken feed? There are certainly a lot of options out there.
🐤🐤
I'm nearing the end of an experiment to answer my curiosity.
🐥🐥
I tried 4 different feeds from MainFeeds, NRM, Sharpes, and Coprice, and fed them to 4 lots of Hyline chickens. Started with their chick crumbles, moved on to grower feed at around 7 weeks, and then laying pellets at 16 weeks.
🐔🐔
Along the way, weighed the chickens to see if they gained weight at different rates, and now they are starting to lay, but some not as soon as others.
🥚🥚
Yes, the differences are definitely noticeable!
Watch this space for more 👍
.co.nz

14/01/2021

🥚 Egg Art 🥚

Some of the Silkies have started laying recently. Amazing to see the difference in size between new Silkie eggs and regular Hyline eggs 😊

11/01/2021

Meet Binky and Toru. Arapawa x Dorper lambs.

09/01/2021

There's nothing like a dust bath in fresh macrocarpa wood shavings. (Shame I can't share the delicious smell of the shavings too!)

These Hyline chickens are 10 days old and growing fast on their NRM Chick Crumbles from Rural Trading Post.

07/01/2021

Happy Fluffy Butt Friday!

03/01/2021

So many Feijoa flowers this summer. Always reminds me of Pohutukawa flowers. And even better will be the copious amounts of Feijoas to eat around Easter.

The birds are the chief pollinators, so an open habitat for Feijoas always helps the birds find all the flowers.

: remember to prune Feijoas once fruiting has finished this year.

.... You either love them or you hate them! 🙌 if you love a good Feijoa 🙂

01/01/2021

Happy new chicks for the Happy New Year. A new batch of day olds 🐣 arrived today. Destined to be egg machines for backyard chicken lovers.

Thanks to Air New Zealand Cargo for safely transporting the precious freight!