Chicken farmer learns the tricks of the trade from Southampton to run own farm

With mentorship from Jeff Pow, Southampton Homestead, Southampton, 21-year-old Emily Johnson turned her varied farming background into managing her own chicken business.

Chickens were the choice as they were small enough to manage on her own and she could take the business with her in future.

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In July and August of 2022, Ms Johnson completed an internship at Southampton Homestead where she not only learned the ins and outs of running a chicken farm, but also the skills and confidence in managing it independently.

"It was very good to see how it's all done, and knowing what to expect," Ms Johnson said.

"And seeing how other people did it and then putting my own spin on it."

Ms Johnson's mum, Raquel, said Mr Pow was very generous in sharing his knowledge.

"Jeff's made all the mistakes with feeding, so now Emily is starting off with 10 years worth of feeding knowledge and research," Raquel said.

Ms Johnson also works at an abattoir, and processes her own chickens.

Her chickens are bred specifically for their meat, and are a cross between a white Leghorn and a white Plymouth.

Ms Johnson said this type of bird would keep growing, and if left too long, the weight could be uncomfortable for the bird.

To ensure the birds don't grow too big, too fast, she carefully manages their feed, and uses a fermented grain practice she learned from Southampton Homestead.

Every month a new batch of 270, 24-hour-old chicks come into her care, starting out in a homemade brooder, and then moving to pasture.

The brooder is a shipping container repurposed with heat lamps to sit at a cozy and humid 33C where the chicks will grow for three to four weeks.

They then move into a 'chicken tractor' which gets moved daily to a different portion of the pasture, protecting the chickens and allowing Ms Johnson to have control over feed amounts.

Once the chickens are between 9-11 weeks old, she will process them.

All up, caring for her chickens takes a few hours per day, which gives Ms Johnson time to work at the abattoir or assist on other local farms.

Processing her own birds gives this young gun a strong connection in looking after the animals in the best possible way.

"You come to realise that you need to look after the animals for them to have a good life, and then that good life turns into good meat," she said.

"I love caring for my little chickens, I'll hold them and talk to them.

"Once they go out to pasture it's not so personal anymore, but knowing you've given them a good life helps you let go."

Ms Johnson said she was never really an animal lover until her family moved to their Bridgetown farm seven years ago.

Through her high school years she wanted to be a nurse.

Ms Johnson supplies the meat to Dirty Clean Food and is in the process of partnering with a local cafe owner.

"A local lady had a cafe that's just closed down and she's offering to do marinated pieces," she said.

"In some of our discussions with Dirty Clean Food, some pieces were not selling as quickly as others, so we needed to address those market needs."

Like her parent's farming practice, Ms Johnson wants to keep things circular.

"The marinades are actually going to be made with produce from our farm," Raquel said.

With no current plans to expand the scale, Ms Johnson wants to ensure she can get as much out of her chickens as possible.

"And the chicken frames, we're having a conversation with pet food people about maybe doing bone broths, so value adding to the whole bird."

Ms Johnson said she wanted more people to understand where their food came from and the processes behind it.

"It's about cost too, our chickens cost $19/kg, which can scare people off," she said.

"But knowing how much time and how much food, and everything that goes into these chickens is going to cost more than what 25,000 chickens in a shed is going to cost."

Ms Johnson said she wanted people to question why the price of their supermarket chicken was so low.

"What are they feeding those chickens to get such a low cost?"