Zero Waste

Oh my goodness! That is hugely expensive. I can't kill my chickens, either. When my husband does, I can't eat them. They are my babies.

That's for only SIX! That's the price of organic free range eggs in Spinneys! It's almost enough to make you want a chicken! :-P Don't think I could have a chicken anyway even if DH agreed as I saw one having its head chopped off when I was 5 and I have a thing about them now. They make me shudder. :D

24AED for 12 eggs?!?!?!?!??? Where do you shop? that seems very expensive.

Mrsb I am sure you are right but DH almost had a fit :-P . I did think about it again when paying 24 AED for a carton of eggs earlier today!!!!

Thanks a lot Mrsb for taking the time to write all that out! It sounds like a lot of work and not sure it would work. Think I'll stick to cartons!... :-P Chickens are not that much work. You could always fence off a section of your garden for them so they don't poop over your verandah area. They just need basic food and water daily. A bit of dirt to scratch about in - dust bathe in and some grass for some fresh green pick. That is all. Even a couple of my chickens don't lay in the little house but rather behind one of the younger date palms. So, providing a house isn't even really necessary. They will build their own "nests" if you don't give them one. Chickens are quite funny, cute personalities, and I am sure once you start, you will, like me, become addicted to them.

MrsB, where do you get the chickens from in the first place please? I've heard the markets are not the best of places to go as they're not very nice? I'd be really interested in keeping chickens, we're in Barsha currently & there's a couple of roosters around here too, so I'm guessing it's ok to have them here. i like the idea of fresh eggs & it'll be good practise for our future life when we plan to be much more self sufficient. I just got my chooks from the animal market - the girls and the rooster. I don't know where there is one in Dubai, but I am sure there would be. There is a good animal market in Sharjah. Maybe I was lucky but I just chose my chickens from a big cage and took them home in a paper bag. They thrived, Alhamdulillah. When you see how chickens are "farmed" for meat and eggs - it is appalling. I just felt I could not contribute to this abuse by buy eggs. I still am buying chickens, unfortunately, because I don't have the room in my yard to breed enough chickens to keep us in meat. But, producing my own eggs is my humble attempt to start a more morally acceptable lifestyle.

MrsB, where do you get the chickens from in the first place please? I've heard the markets are not the best of places to go as they're not very nice? I'd be really interested in keeping chickens, we're in Barsha currently & there's a couple of roosters around here too, so I'm guessing it's ok to have them here. i like the idea of fresh eggs & it'll be good practise for our future life when we plan to be much more self sufficient.

Thanks a lot Mrsb for taking the time to write all that out! It sounds like a lot of work and not sure it would work. Think I'll stick to cartons!... :-P

Neither does ours, but someone has a rooster :(

Mrsb I hope you don't mind but i have some chicken related questions! 1. Where does it live and does it not mind being too hot, do you have to worry about that? 2. How many eggs would you say you get a week? 3. What do you feed it? 4. Are they noisy? 5. Do they need company or is it fine just having one? 6. How messy is it? 7. Would it be a problem having a small dog in the vicinity?! Thanks :) My chickens live in my walled garden - not large and they have a small brick "house", which I built where they lay. I have 4 chickens and a rooster at the moment. I get 3-4 eggs daily. For the heat, I freeze water in water bottles and lie them in their favourite spots in the morning (collect them in the evening and refreeze) - this cools them down during the heat of the day - they sometimes actually sit on them. They also like to dig little depressions into the sand under my trees and have sand baths. I also hose them in the afternoon when I am watering my plants. I don't know if they really like it or not but I think it might cool them down. Chickens are "group" birds and do like to have a couple of friends. They are also territorial and don't like any new bird joining their already established social group so you need to get your chickens at the same time. They can be quite mean to any new-comers and are bullies. I buy their food from the animal market - just a grain mixture but I think you can buy food from any animal store. I don't feed them processed chicken food (pellets) as I don't know what is in it. I also give them the vegetable peelings, food scraps daily - they like a bit of meat. They also like any fresh green pick so you have to be prepared to have your garden dug up a bit while they eat fresh leaves and any lawn grubs or worms they can find. They drink a lot of water, too. You can squeeze a bit of lemon juice into their water - they seem to like that - maybe refreshing. They will eat your herb garden. The rooster is noisy so if you live in a predominately western expat area, then perhaps your neighbours will not be accustomed to the early crowing (just in time for morning prayer) and not be too happy. Chickens do sing their "egg song" when they lay and often the rooster will join in. But that is usually mid to late morning so isn't much of a problem. If you only are interested in getting eggs, you don't actually need a rooster, of course. They are a bit messy - they poop anywhere (good fertiliser for the grass) but I love them so don't mind cleaning up if they poop on my tiles. I don't find they smell at all because they a free to run around and have space. I have a toy poodle (14 years old) who enjoys chasing them every morning - just once around the garden, then she ignores them for the rest of the day so I don't think a dog is a problem. I don't keep rabbits, but my husband says that rabbits live well with chickens in the garden. If you have young children, they may like this.

We always try to do our bit here at home. Haven't gone as far as zero waste though. I think the food packaging over here is terrible. So much! I ordered in the other day. Just for myself. There were three bags of bits and pieces for a burger and a drink!! Not to mention the foam trays in the supermarket. Congratulations on your efforts to be green in a city where it's quite challenging to do so!

Mrsb I hope you don't mind but i have some chicken related questions! 1. Where does it live and does it not mind being too hot, do you have to worry about that? 2. How many eggs would you say you get a week? 3. What do you feed it? 4. Are they noisy? 5. Do they need company or is it fine just having one? 6. How messy is it? 7. Would it be a problem having a small dog in the vicinity?! Thanks :)

I thought that was taking it a bit too far as well. I would rather go without bronzer (which I do almost always anyway). It is the plastic waste that is annoying me most. At The Change Initiative you can refill Ecover bottles. They have clothes washing liquid and dish washing liquid. One of my friends had a water filter system installed in her home. It means they can drink the tap water which saves a lot of wastage on plastic bottles. She is really happy with it, I think this is the one she got: http://www.aquapureuae.com/index.html

I am unhappy about the amount of waste we create in our household. Has anyone here tried to go zero (or near-zero) waste? Any tips? Cocoa powder as bronzer???? I think not.

I think zero-waste is impossible to achieve. I like to think I do my best to "reduce, reuse, recycle". I save all the off cuts from veges, food waste etc and feed to my chickens or compost it for my garden. I try never to use plastic wraps, disposable bottles, cups etc. When we do use sofrahs, I buy the biodegradable ones from Lulu. Unwanted clothing etc is given away and unwanted children's books, games etc are donated to one of the poorer schools (e.g. Pakistani schools) here in the UAE. I also never buy farmed eggs etc because of the cruelty to the chickens. I grow my own. It takes more energy, time, and effort to live a sustainable lifestyle but I think it is worthwhile - every little effort helps. <em>edited by mrsb. on 19/08/2014</em>