Summit Hill Poultry

01/10/2026

Man I need me some of those white dogs! My big boy is good but there is no way in hell he would jump that fence like that!

27/09/2026

10L of yummy, organic homemade chicken stock made today from our chicken frames! 🐔🥕🧅

Nothing beats turning what would otherwise be waste into beautiful, wholesome homemade goodness. ❤️ And the smell through the house while it was simmering… AMAZING!

AND… the next lot of little chicken nuggets have arrived freshly collected from WA Poultry - Thanks Stu and Tess!!🐥🐥🐥 I may not be breeding this year but boy these are keeping me busy!

100 this time! 😂😂😂

Before anyone thinks I’ve completely lost the plot — worry not! Only 20 are mine… the other 80 are already sold to friends. 🤣

So begins another round of raising our own beautiful, home-grown chicken here at Summit Hill Farm. 🌿🐔

From tiny fluffy nuggets ➡️ healthy free-ranging chickens ➡️ nourishing food for the freezer… and even the frames get put to good use! From cute yellow fluffies to plump chicken goodness in 8wks!

Nothing wasted, and you really can’t beat home-grown goodness. ❤️

22/09/2026

FOX ALERT — courtesy of Betty! 🦚🦊

We had our first young fox visit the farm a few mornings ago… and I’m very happy to say our resident security guard Betty, our adult but still young peacock, was straight onto it from his look out on top of the shed where he chooses to roost!

I heard Betty absolutely SCREAMING from down near the pens — definitely not his usual carry-on. It was very much a “MUM… COME NOW!!” kind of call and all the chooks going mad in their coops😂

Such a good boy!

By the time I got down to the pens, the young fox was already making a hasty retreat down the paddock… and our dogs had well and truly clocked it too!

Needless to say, it’s time to get the electric boundary fence around the poultry area sorted. That’s officially this weekend’s job!

I did a little Googling afterwards to see whether Betty really was deliberately sounding the alarm — and apparently he absolutely was!

Peacocks have incredibly sharp eyesight and hearing and are well known for giving loud, distinctive alarm calls when they spot a potential threat. Their calls can also alert other animals nearby that something isn’t right.

So while I may occasionally question why we own a bird capable of producing THAT MUCH NOISE… apparently Betty has appointed himself Head of Farm Security.

And after this little episode?

Betty can scream as much as he likes, I’m not even mad that he woke me up at 5am in the morning! BUT he needs to stay off my car - now that would be a good idea!

20/09/2026

🐔 PHEW… 16 Cornish Cross meat chickens prepped all by myself in just under 4hrs! 🐔

These guys were 8 weeks old, with dressed weights ranging from 2.1 kg through to 3.2 kg — so definitely not bad results at all!

This batch was another feeding experiment, I still trying to find the right combination of optimal feed. I fed them T&R Chick Grower plus mixed grains, along with free-ranging and plenty of kitchen scraps.

While the weights are still good, I’m actually not as happy with the overall consistency of this batch. There was quite a variation between the smallest and biggest birds and they had A LOT of fat around organs.

My last batch was raised on layer pellets plus grain, and from memory they were much more even in size across the whole group and far less cavity fat.

So… time for experiment number THREE! 😂🐔

My next batch of meat chicks lands Saturday 26/9, and this time I’m going to feed a meat-chicken-specific feed and see how they perform.

That means I’ll have three different feeding methods to compare:

🐥 Layer pellets + grain
🐥 Chick grower + mixed grain/free range/scraps
🐥 Meat chicken-specific feed

I’m really interested to see which gives me the best combination of growth, consistency, feed efficiency and a good finished carcass at processing.

Nothing like a bit of backyard farm research! 😂 I’m learning something from every batch. 🐔🌾

19/09/2026

Today’s meat chickens got another day - processing today put on hold due to this extreme weather! Crikey it’s windy!… I wouldn’t keep the scalder alight to boil the water in this wind, so tomorrow it is!

07/09/2026

Poultry producers, especially free-range farmers, fear what will ha...

31/08/2026

The nuggets on legs are growing daily! 😀it’s grass time yay

25/08/2026

Chicken nuggets on legs! This is called living - living their best life before becoming roasts, butter chicken and nuggets😀

18/08/2026

😔 WARNING — DISTRESSING CONTENT 😔

Sorry to bring the mood down this early in the morning, I cried my way through this video. It is absolutely heartbreaking to watch.

Sadly, there is so little we can do other than protect our own birds as best we can, ride this wave and hope that it runs its course quickly without devastating too many of our beautiful bird species.

I’m desperately hoping the weather warms up soon and helps slow the spread. The alternative — widespread losses across both our poultry and native bird and potentially mammal populations — is something I don’t even want to contemplate.

For those of us who love, breed and care for birds, this is incredibly difficult to watch. All we can do is remain vigilant, practise the best biosecurity we can, follow the factual updates and hope for the best. 🙏🏼

Please be aware that the video below may be upsetting to watch.

14/08/2026

😔

Warning: This story contains vision that some viewers may find dist...