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All cooped up in Wrigley Despite setback of marten attack,
resident hopes remaining chickens produce eggs soon
Jeanne Gagnon
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, October 3, 2013
PEHDZEH KI/WRIGLEY
Tamarah Pellissey of Wrigley dealt with her fair share of hurdles to get the hang of raising chickens in her backyard this summer. A marten ate 25 of her 33 chickens and the rest are still too young to lay eggs but, all in all, Pellissey said her first summer raising the birds was easier than anticipated.
Seikiah Pellissey, 10, plays with one of the chicken her mother Tamarah raises in Wrigley. - photo courtesy of Tamarah Pellissey
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The project was part of the territorial Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment's Agriculture Development Infrastructure Program that assists residents to get involved raising chickens or other types of livestock.
Pellissey has eight of the 33 chickens she originally bought this spring with the goal of raising them for both the meat and the eggs.
"I got three kinds of chickens. I got feed chicken. They just get fat really fast and you eat them. And I got dual purpose, where they lay eggs and you can also eat them," she said.
"And then I got specific egg-laying chickens that can lay up to two eggs a day when they're happy. But the marten ate all my feed chickens, so I only have my egg chickens left."
Next year, she will get more feed chickens because of their size, she said.
The original idea was to get laying chickens to get eggs all summer. However, Pellissey said it proved harder to get her hands on those and much easier to get newborn chicks, so she opted for the latter option. She is now waiting for the end of the four-month maturing period for the chickens.
The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment has been promoting self-sustainable lifestyles, so Pellissey decided to try raising chickens as she had time to do it. One of the priorities of the GNWT is the promotion of healthy lifestyles, which has encouraged some people to garden again or raise livestock, said Michael Mageean, regional superintendent with the department.
"It's promoting a healthy lifestyle and also reducing the cost of living for residents in the Northwest Territories," he said.
As for obtaining the know-how to raise the chickens, Pellissey said workshops from the Northern Farming Training Institute, based in Hay River, helped her, as was obtaining information from books.
"For now, I'm just learning how to take care of chickens," she said.
"It's been easier than I thought. It's kind of learn as you go."
Rooster are not needed for her chickens to lay eggs, so Pellissey said other people in the Deh Cho could try to raise chickens, without bothering the neighbours with a lot of noise.
"It's not hard. I think anybody could have a few chickens if they have a small backyard and an insulated pen. It doesn't require that much work," she said.
"If you keep on top of it, there is not a strong smell if you just have four or five chickens."
Chickens are not the only animals Pellissey is attempting to use for food. She recently travelled to Hay River to take part in a workshop with the Northern Farming Training Institute on animal husbandry, bringing back a pregnant rabbit to the Deh Cho community.
She plans to keep the mother rabbit for breeding, but raise the litter of rabbits she will have in a month for food. As her family cannot eat all the rabbits, she will sell or trade them.
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