Lucky Rooster

Pitcairn Chickens

If you want to be assured of an egg supply on Pitcairn you need to keep some chickens.  You can order 4 dozen eggs to arrive on the supply ship but after 3 months you may find that they are not as fresh as you would like.

There is an art to keeping healthy chickens here and it is quite unlike poultry raising in New Zealand.  Firstly you go into the jungle and find some nice coconuts and some ripe bananas. Then using the large axe you break the coconuts open. You need to be careful doing this as they tend to roll around when you strike them. Don’t do it on your back door step as the juice inside the coconuts will run out all over the show and attract heaps of ants. I learnt the hard way.

Get your large lidded bucket of scraps from the kitchen.  You will find that you have a full one most days.  In it will be the skin of pawpaw, breadfruit scraps, passionfruit casings, banana peels and numerous other fruit and vegetable scraps. You will not find apple cores, pineapple skins or orange peel in it as they are not readily available here.

Add one cup of Peck’nLay Pellets from the 25kg sack that you ordered from New Zealand at a cost of over $50.  Tuck the sack down tight so the rats cannot get in.

When you get to the hen run, check to see if there are any large soldier crabs lurking in the corners of the run waiting to steal the food.  If there are, whack them with the axe too so the chickens can eat them. Scatter the ripe open bananas, the coconuts and food scraps in the run. Collect the eggs and top up the water.

Observe the rooster strutting around his little kingdom and wonder once again whether the early morning crowing is worth the contented happy little flock or whether a good casserole might be a better option.  Leave the decision for another day.