Happy
Healthy
Hens
Supplying quality point-of-lay Brown Shaver pullets to commercial egg producers, and household customers throughout Canterbury and Otago.
"Our pullets are reared on our farm in South Canterbury, where they have ample space to roam, scratch ... even run around flapping their wings and chasing bugs at dusk if they like!"
Our Pullets
We pride ourselves on raising happy, healthy laying hens which are allowed to roam freely in our pastures on the farm as soon as they are fully feathered.
Our breed of choice is the Brown Shaver – a high performing hen which has been bred specifically to produce quality brown eggs. Shavers are one of the two main commercial laying breeds in New Zealand. Unlike some heritage breeds, they will continue to lay throughout the winter, and produce an average of 300 eggs in their first year!
We work very hard to make sure we rear each batch of chicks in small flocks as to ensure optimum growth rates and minimise any pecking order problems. Liveweight gain is key to laying performance, so we focus on growing our pullets as well as possible to ensure optimum egg production after they go to their new homes.
All pullets are fully vaccinated against salmonella and meet all the requirements for supply to commercial egg farms.
About 'The Chicken Lady'
We’re Natalie and Adam – a husband and wife team who pride ourselves on producing quality laying hens which free range as soon as possible during the rearing process.
Our pullets aren’t fenced in and have access to fresh water and mixed sward pastures year-round. Their sheds are relocatable, and we ensure they are placed close to trees, allowing the chickens shade, shelter and safety. The young chickens soon learn how much fun it is to explore along the treelines, dustbathing in the dry soil at their base, and hopping between low-lying branches during the day.
“The Chicken Lady” business name came from when we first started out and delivered all of our pullets to individual customers’ coops. Often Natalie would knock on a customer’s door, and someone would call out “it’s the Chicken Lady!” We’ve decided to embrace that name, and while we can’t manage deliveries direct to your coop anymore, we do our best to transport our pullets safely to a number of locations in Canterbury and Otago.
While running a sheep and beef operation with family, we are spreading our wings in the business of chicken rearing…
Our birds' biggest stress is deciding if they will sunbathe in front of their shed, or dustbathe under treelines!
Some of your Chicken Related Questions
We supply point-of-lay pullets to our household customers at 18 weeks of age. Our commercial customers will take them a couple of weeks younger in order to get them settled in before the beginning of lay.
We have just begun to offer limited numbers of day-old chicks to help ease the shortage of quality laying birds available currently. These are sexed (guaranteed female), and have been vaccinated against Mareks disease, and had their first salmonella vaccination. We are happy to provide support for you to rear your own chickens at home.
Biosecurity is very important to us, and our commercial customers. For this reason, we do not allow pick ups.
We offer delivery of our point of lay pullets throughout South Canterbury and Otago, with batches available approximately every six weeks, year-round.
To help cover our travel costs, we now have delivery charges to central collection points in the following locations:
- Waimate – Free Delivery
- Other South Canterbury/North Otago locations (including Geraldine, Temuka, Timaru, Pleasant Point, Oamaru, Kurow $10
- Otago – Omarama, Maheno, Waikouaiti, Dunedin, Mosgiel $15
- Central Otago –Tarras, Cromwell, Wanaka, Roxburgh $20
Day-old chicks are only available for collection from central locations in Waimate, Oamaru or Timaru locations at this stage.
Yes please!
As we transport our pullets in poultry crates, we ask our customers to bring a box/crate/cage when they meet us on collection day. Please ensure your box has good ventilation and is a suitable size for the number of pullets you have purchased.
As a guide, a banana box will hold 5-6 pullets, and a cat cage 2-3.
Sacks, plastic tubs and buckets with lids are not a suitable way to take your new hens home, and we’d rather refund you on the spot than send our ladies home in these.
Our day-old chicks have been vaccinated for salmonella and Mareks disease before they come to us. We do another two salmonella vaccinations for our point of lay pullets before they leave us for their new homes.
No, we will choose them for you, but don’t worry… all of our hens are amazing!
They sure are. We pride ourselves on producing happy, healthy laying hens which are allowed to roam freely in our pastures on the farm as soon as they are fully feathered and no longer require a heat source.
I’m pretty sure chickens are part labrador when it comes to food, but no they won’t be used to a treadle/step-on feeder as we use much larger feeders where the chickens have easy, all-day access to feed.
In the first few days after they get home, consider leaving the feeder partially open until they learn to step up and use it (a clothes peg works well to hold the lid up on some versions), and minimise any noise the feeder makes when shutting so they don’t become scared by it.
Ensure manure/soil does not build up under the step over time and observe to ensure all hens are using it and feed level is dropping – poorly fed hens will be poor performers.
While we are a small operation, we’d love to be able to supply you with happy, healthy point of lay pullets to produce free range eggs on your farm if possible. Please get in touch regarding future availability of commercial quantities.
The majority of our pullets perch on arrival at their new homes – that’s our point of difference! We currently manually perch (yes, that’s lift each one onto their perch at night…sometimes more than once…) our chicks until they learn to perch themselves at night. This saves you from doing this once delivered, and also means better welfare for the hens.
No, we don’t have any egg production at our place, so all chickens are sold as either day-olds, or point-of-lay pullets. For end-of-lay hens, you might be best to try a local free range egg farm.
Point-of-lay pullets are defined as hens which are just about to begin laying for the first time. While there are a number of factors which help determine the start of lay, daylength is a contributing factor.
As a guide, Brown Shaver pullets will begin laying between 18-22 weeks of age, with the latter usually being in the middle of winter when days are shortest.
If your hens aren’t laying on arrival, give them a week or two to settle in – it’s a big adjustment to go to a new home, often with different feed, noises and views!
We don’t sell eggs, we just focus on rearing the best pullets we possibly can.
There’s a fair bit that goes into raising a happy, healthy and high performing chicken! After buying the chicks, they need to be kept warm in clean and regularly sanitised sheds. Once they are old enough to begin exploring outside, we move them to modern insulated sheds.
Pest control keeps us on our toes, not only with mustelids and rodents but feral cats can make a significant dent in chicken numbers in a free-range environment.
All of our point of lay pullets have been fully vaccinated against salmonella – a further two treatments after they leave the hatchery to ensure our customers can supply eggs to commercial eateries if they choose to. We also undertake regular salmonella testing to ensure we meet the requirements of the MPI Salmonella Enteritidis control scheme.
Our rearing facility is audited by Asure Quality (the last one cost us $3,700!). And as with any small business, we need to cover our ACC, GST and tax obligations.