1. Learned to 'bark' (sound is not to be missed! )
2. Socializing well with chickens
3. Drinking from a bowl.

They definitely improved employment skills in the first four weeks of life
#puppies #Maremmasheepdog #learning #jobready #cute #freerange #firstthings #growingup

Could not believe where we found an egg today: on top of the fallen tree which is the chicken Disneyland playground, and beautifully nestled within the better bark fissures.   #freerange #eggs #hardtofind #hiddeneggs #pasturedeggs #findtheegg #trees #playground #chickenplayground #eggfinding

Raising Maremma puppies is easy.
Sleeping in a pile and shifting for a comfortable position: the tough life of a puppy on Hilltops Free Range eggs farm.

#cuteness #sleep #puppies #sleepinginapile #cutepuppies #cutenessoverload #freerange #Maremmasheepdog #farmlife #toughlife

"Sowin' things an' growin' things, an' watchin' of 'em grow;
That's the game," my father said, an' father ought to know."

With sowing done for the winter, we praise the rains and watch our oats grow. Not letting the chickens near that paddock now, but they have done the fertilizing bit well.

From the book "Backblock Ballads and Later Verses", Wheat by C. J. Dennis

Welcome to our three puppies, born and bred on Hilltops Free Range egg farm.
Mother and kids are all doing well.

Just beyond the sunset
Lies a home for me
Where the world is peaceful
Like a paradise should be
Just beyond the sunset
Someday is where you’ll find me”.       
-- “Just Beyond The Sunset” — poem by D. Harris

Just jump in the car and drive! Jack the Maremma dog thought he did enough walking today 😀

The GIANT egg found today: living proof that chickens are related to dinosaurs. 
An egg the size of my hand.

Looking out my window
In [May]'s golden light,
I see a beauty unsurpassed,
A truly lovely sight.
 
"Portrait Of Fall" -- By Alora M. Knight  

I’m on top of the world! 😎 says the bosslady chicken at Hilltops Free Range eggs farm

Introducing: NEW Super fancy layer house with hydraulic suspension! 
 
Not to worry of you don’t know what that is, we’ve marked it with a big white arrow in the video. It also helps that the thing is BRIGHT RED 😀
 
What this means is that our chickens will be traveling in even more comfort. 
 
We keep constantly innovating and experimenting with equipment. The standard off-the-shelf equipment assumes that the chickens stay in one place, and preferably that the eggs come through a hole in the wall of a barn or a cage.
 
Not much commercially ready equipment for pasture-raised, roaming, grass-fed chickens. 
 
So we have a massive welding shed and have welded every single piece of equipment here on the farm, starting with the design drawings, and borrowing bits and pieces from some commercial equipment builders.
 
Our additional challenge is that the terrain is beautiful but rather hilly - hence the ‘Hilltops’- and so all equipment needs to have high clearance, good car tyres, and —introducing — hydraulic suspension for the girls' comfort! 
 
Lots of lessons learned and fun times on the way.

If you’ve got the post-Easter blues, we have something to cheer you up! Our colorful Easter eggs keep the long weekend vibes alive. We've got the full rainbow to cheer you up, complete with a heart and farm leaf.

Sounds of Easter at Hilltops Free Range egg farm: social distancing for chickens. One can only hear chickens and not see them.

Post the autumn rain: the normality of flowers growing, and chickens out and about. Nature’s cycle is uninterrupted.

The new caravan we built is now fully occupied! New life, new eggs. Expanding our food production for Canberra and the NSW. Lots of hours of hard work coming up.

Hilltops free range is doing our best to produce more #food. A new caravan is ready, our own design and our own welding by the team in the shed. Welding for days!

If I were a chicken, I’d look up at the sky all day, every day.
Because our chickens are pastured, they roam around on the farm roads, and this is what they see: sky, beautiful clouds and freedom. A reminder for us all to stop, look up and breathe. Beautiful clouds today at Hilltops Free Range egg farm.