|
 We
are a small family farm located in Cedar, just south of Nanaimo, on Quennell Lake. Our conservation
efforts are currently focussed on Silver Grey Dorking, Minorca, Lakenvelder
and Welsumer chickens and Welsh Harlequin ducks. Our Ameraucana chickens are
not particularly rare, but we keep them because we like the blue and green
eggs!
Our wooded acreage is also home to a small breeding group of
endangered San Clemente Island goats.
 We
are always pleased to hear from people who want to keep some of "our"
breeds, or even become breeders themselves. We have hatching eggs, chicks
and ducklings and occasionally started birds and young adults available
for sale at different times through the year. Not everything is available
at all times, so if you have your heart set on a specific breed, contact
us early to make arrangements.
This year we are also expecting our first
goat kids!
 Farming
sustainably is very important to us. Our animals are selected for
hardiness, disease resistance and ability to thrive in our particular
situation. All are excellent foragers, which suits our free range
operation. In order to avoid the now ubiquitous GMO soybeans, canola and
corn, we have developed our own, whole grain poultry feed. As it turns
out, the birds like it much better than commercial layer pellets anyway!
We have never had to use medicated feeds or antibiotics. The goats browse
our woodland and get hay when there isn't much to eat for them off the
land.
 Surplus eggs are sold for eating, and our
customers just love their "variety packs" with the colourful mix of white,
cream, dark brown and green eggs.
Surplus cockerels end up on our dinner
table. Sorry - we don't have any of those for sale at the moment. But we
can assure you that the taste of, say, a young roast Dorking compares to
that of a supermarket broiler in about the same way a fine Camembert
compares to Cheese Whizz! We are working on making roasting chickens
available for sale at some point in the future, so watch this space.
Farming is always a challenge, but it is
an interesting one, and life around here never gets boring!
Maria Castro at
castrocowan@direct.ca
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Quennell Lake Poultry
