Trex Andalucia Virtual Raffle
July 6, 2020
Trex Andalucia Eco Allotment
November 17, 2020
Being one of my hubby Dave’s childhood passions we decided to add free-range chickens to our family here at Trex Andalucia back in 2008. We had some spare time in between planning permission paperwork, so we decided to embark on another project for the farm.
We looked around the Finca at all the odd bricks, blocks, and other materials, that had been leftover from other jobs. Determined to use them, Dave done his magic and mixed in his building skills and created Cluckingham palace.
Dave built an airy, spacious coop where we can lock our feathery family away at night and keep them rainproof and safe. It’s beautiful… And now, as an added bonus, a fig tree decided to grow just outside the coop, possibly leftover fruit from one of the chickens scrummy meals.
It’s perfect for our hot summer days here in Spain and gives the chickens lots of shade. From time to time, you can often see our bantams perched high up in it.
Our family of free-range chickens to date amounts to 30, this includes 3 cockerels. They are a mixture of homebred, rescues, and shop-bought.
We have different breeds of speckled hens, Andalucian Blue, Rhode island reds/whites, Langshan, and Bantams. Dave’s most shocking find, was when we bought our very first chicks!
He happened to be shopping in Albox Market and came across a man selling aluminous colored one-day-old chicks for a Euro!! Sadly, they had been dipped in colored dye, to attract children to buy them. He bought all six of the chicks and explained to the man that it wasn’t right, thankfully we have never seen any since.
They soon grew their natural reddish colored feathers and lived happily in Cluckingham Palace. Our chickens forage around all day and are fed corn and grain morning and evening.
We also feed them a selection of special treats. If you want to pay us a visit at Trex Andalucia, we now offer a fruit and veg basket which can include a variety of what our chickens enjoy and help to keep them healthy and producing the best tasting free-range eggs. A favorite of theirs being melon. Why not book a treat feeding experience with us and really get to know them?
Each year chickens molt (they lose old feathers and new ones grow) and then they typically stop egg production until the molt has finished. This week we have had to separate five of our hens, as they have been ‘hen-pecked’! This is when one or more hens gang up on them.
We have another pen, where we can keep a close eye on them and give them the time they need to grow their feathers back. So watch this space, soon we will have them looking and feeling as good as new!
This brings us to our next project, we are really excited about building Albert our rescue Peacock a new home. We have just raised 338.21€ from our virtual raffle, and with the already 130€ donated through the website, we can now make a start on it! This is just one of our future planned projects for the Trex Andalucia Sanctuary.
We never planned to keep Peafowl in the Sanctuary, but when we got a call to say that two had been abandoned we just knew we had to rescue them. As funds were short and planning ahead wasn’t an option at the time, we accommodated our peacocks by building a temporary structure where they live happily with our two ducks and goose.
We plan to build a metal structure with height so that the birds can perch high and roost safely. This is what their house looks like at the moment.
As with all of our projects, we will keep you updated with posts and photos of our progress. Like our Facebook Page to make sure you do not miss anything! If you would like to volunteer, donate, or even have some materials that you think would benefit this project please contact us and let us know!
