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MJ's little flock

I see it contains no corn and the sojabeans are without labelling it for GMO. Does that mean it’s GMO free?
I don'n know. After speaking to a few experts, I stopped worrying about eating GMO so I don't share your fears (or I have different fears about GMO) and have never bothered to enquire.
In Europe its obliged to mention it if GMO (poisoned) grains/beans are being used. All not organic chicken/chick feed here contains GMO soy and corn.

They also have to put the ingredients in the right sequence (from most to little).

I wonder how much these things are the same/ different in Australia.
I'm sure there's plenty of info available for anyone interested.
 
Regarding helping chicks get the hang of going up the ramp (down is a doddle here, as for ManueB), I have found this sort of arrangement useful.
where's mum gone.JPG

The log to left offers staging posts both for up and down, and extension platforms for any 'veer off left on the way up'-inclined chicks, while the green plastic things (actually 'big hands' for leaf collecting) help direct the 'disappear to the right of the ramp, before getting on it, or while part way up it'- inclined chicks. The broody is liable to walk straight up and go into a nestbox, whence she calls, and without being funnelled onto the ramp, the chicks are liable to get as close as they can to the sound, which is directly beneath her, whence they are bemused that they can hear her but not see her, and they don't want to move away from the sound, even if that is the only way actually to reach it.

[To avoid confusion I should add that the photo shows some 2 day old chicks (4 of Gwynedd, Llandeilo, Oxwich, Rhondda and Tintern) venturing out for the first time, not chicks who've actually navigated up and in yet.]
 
How far? Taking highways sounds quite far.
Do you need to make such a trip for all your chicken supplies?

Sometimes I feel so lucky to have everything so near here where i live. Most things are just 1 - 1.5 km away.
Only the factory for the affordable organic feed is 15 km. It’s not meant for small BYC keepers and you have to buy 5 bags (100 kg). Therefore it needs a little planning. But a neighbour who buys the feed there can combine it with her work and always brings 1 or 2 bags for me if I ask her. Plenty of choice to buy hatching eggs too within 15 km. ;)

Unfortunately having everything close also means I have a very small garden compared to most BYC keepers. Only about ⅛ of an acre. 400 m2 of my own + 200m2 municipality wilderness. For Dutch standards this is a luxery. Our first house (rental) had s garden under 50m2 which is common in any town in the Netherlands.
I am now on the central Queensland coast. All the yards are about 3/4 of an acre. Mine is just over that. Anything that is available is only a few minutes away- only there's not much available. 😄 which means travelling an hour into our biggest centre for pretty much everything. Some people do it daily for work. Where something is several hours away [ like a chicken buy] people will agree on a midway point & meet there, thus halving the distance travelled. I have friends house sitting 2 hours away. They travel home each weekend. My drive up here was 9 hours- with 3 cats & 8 chickens! Outside of our big cities many Australians travel quite big distances as a matter of course. We have several who travel a couple of hours to attend church. Distances round here are so vast there are warning signs about fuel, rest stops, accident zones. I remember when I was in Europe everything seemed so tiny & many Europeans were shocked @ the distances we were prepared to travel in a day.
 
Regarding helping chicks get the hang of going up the ramp (down is a doddle here, as for ManueB), I have found this sort of arrangement useful.
View attachment 3971214
The log to left offers staging posts both for up and down, and extension platforms for any 'veer off left on the way up'-inclined chicks, while the green plastic things (actually 'big hands' for leaf collecting) help direct the 'disappear to the right of the ramp, before getting on it, or while part way up it'- inclined chicks. The broody is liable to walk straight up and go into a nestbox, whence she calls, and without being funnelled onto the ramp, the chicks are liable to get as close as they can to the sound, which is directly beneath her, whence they are bemused that they can hear her but not see her, and they don't want to move away from the sound, even if that is the only way actually to reach it.

[To avoid confusion I should add that the photo shows some 2 day old chicks (4 of Gwynedd, Llandeilo, Oxwich, Rhondda and Tintern) venturing out for the first time, not chicks who've actually navigated up and in yet.]
I can open the side door and make a wide ramp for it, with sides that keep chicks from jumping off. I can also close off the other entrances to the coop so they can't get 'under' Mary once she's gone up. I have plenty of logs around the place and will use one or two the same way you have so the babies can rest half way up.
 

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