Kallie's Happy Hens
Kallie Laubscher first started keeping hens in the 1980s, and has continued to do so ever since. His present flock of sixty girls and one very happy, competent but fatigued rooster, consisting mainly of Koekoeks, Plymouth Rocks , a couple of Venda crosses and one purebred Venda, completely useless as a layer but Kallie adores her, calling her his 'kykhoender'. In other words, purely decorative.
The best broeihoenders - brooding hens, all good mothers are crossbred Venda / Orpingtons. Fierce and protective mothers, they spend 21 day patiently sitting on a clutch of eggs before these hatch, then spend weeks bringing up the chicks. These mothers have produced the bulk of his present laying flock, all being offspring of the lone rooster, who now has to move on to another chicken keeper in order to avoid inbreeding.
Kallie's chickens live a wonderful life, roaming around the garden, returning to their coop at night, a far cry from the battery hens producing supermarket eggs. The lives they lead, with no artificial cycles introduced, means that they produce eggs according to the seasons and daylight hours; less in winter, abundance in summer.
We have undertaken to sell Kallie's surplus eggs at Ibis Gallery during summer, not putting any markup on his price, simply because we love the humane way he treats his flock and his obvious affection for them.
These are free-range eggs with deep yellow yolks, varying in size and tasting as eggs should taste. Eggs will be available at Ibis from Thursday 16th July at R30 per dozen. If you have any egg boxes lying around, please bring them along rather than discarding, much appreciated by Kallie. Standing orders can be arranged, discuss this with us when you pop into Ibis.