Step on to Fat Tui Farm and it’s easy to see it is a poultry paradise. Half a dozen different breeds of hen wander round happily amongst ducks and guinea fowl, and in the kitchen there are chooks on the calendar and hens on the hand towel.

Pukekawa poultry breeder, Erin Mills, loves chickens, particularly the heritage breeds, and has had them from infancy.

She describes her two Orpington hens, Tudie and Kitty, as “a nostalgic purchase”, even naming them after her grandmothers. A quiet breed, they take on a motherly role brooding the eggs of the Barred Plymouth Rocks and Araucanas Erin breeds. Naturally, Erin’s free-range eggs are in demand.

“The Araucanas lay bluish eggs, and customers love them. They’re a good kids’ size, and are reputedly low in cholesterol.”

The attractive Araucana hens are often blue in colour as well. The breed originated from Chile and matures faster than heavy breeds such as Plymouth Rocks.

Erin says heritage breeds are better suited to free range conditions than modern commercial hybrids as they are more robust and handle the moult better.

Her breeding programme is currently focused on building up Plymouth Rock numbers.

“I keep the nicest hens to breed from, and recycle the roosters every couple of years, bringing in outside bloodlines to ensure genetic diversity,” she says.

But only the lucky roosters have that privilege – the others end up in Erin’s freezer.

Roasted in an oven bag, the roosters make a tasty meal, and a substantial one.

“They dress out at four to five kilos and last at least a couple of meals,” says Erin.

The Mills family also dines on drakes from their Cayuga duck flock, and say guinea fowl are delicious. Erin raised her guinea fowl flock from keets (as the chicks are called) and the noisy birds live in their own area.

One, however, hatched from an egg brooded by a Buff Pekin bantam, has stayed with her adopted family.

Perennial favourites with children, bantams naturally have a place on Fat Tui Farm and are the special friends of Erin’s four-year-old daughter Eibhlin.

“The bantams bounce around the garden like little orange pumpkins,” Erin says.

Fat Tui Farm also provides a home for a small number of shaver hens retired from commercial laying.

“They arrive looking a bit rough, and they’re not as robust as the heritage birds,” says Erin. “However, I like to take a few to give them a nice last few months of life.”