Sunshine Chicken Farm @ Kuala Lipis, Pahang

Road trip! Yay! (Rombongan Makan-makan sambil Belajar)....

Thanks to a kind invitation from Gerald and Mr Ong of the Sunshine Chicken Farm, and the great organising of our Babe In the City - KL and Cumi and Ciki, a big group of us foodies and bloggers got to visit the very special Sunshine Chicken Farm in Kuala Lipis - where they raise organic free range chickens as well as the capons (aka. yim kai or castrated/ eunuch chickens!).

Will explain more about the chickens later, first up: Some photos from our fun day out :)

1) We had very early start! =_= (Thanks for driving, Josen)
Watching the sunrise on a Saturday morning.....
2) It was a rainy day, but spirits were high:
"Singing in the rain...just singing in the raiiiiin".....
3) At Kuala Lipis, we had a 4WD adventure through the forest:
Vroom vroom.....
4) Arriving at the farm (Ah! Fresh air... Well, if you ignore the smell of the chickens that is.... Haha...):
Rolling hills and misty air.....
5) A special breakfast from Chef Marinus:
Gwailo breakfast.....
(Mmmmmm.... he brought us a simple but yummy selection of some crusty baguettes and his special terrines and pates - which he mentioned is available for sale in O Gourmet, BSC)

6) Carefully walking down to the coops (It was a slippery slope - very muddy):
Squishy, slippery slope!.....
7) A chicken! (Haha... This city girl is quite jakun)
Chook!.....
8) Inside the chicken coop:
Where the chickens sleep.....
9) Hello Sifu:
Castration Kung Fu Master.....
Another dying art - the master here has been passed the knowledge and performing this seemingly painless (the chickens seemed so relaxed!) precision procedure since he was 15, but his children are not carrying on his legacy.....
(4 generations of skill coming to an end?)

10) In the end (poor chook!):
In the end.....
The chickens at the Sunshine farm are (relatively) very lucky as compared to their mass farmed brethren:
- They get the best, organic feed,
- lots of space to run around, and
- (despite what looks to be a slightly scary surgery) a much longer lifespan.

There are actually 2 breeds of chicken at the farm Ma-lai Kai (Kampung Chicken) and the Fah-loh Kai (Color Chicken?) and they are raised in 1 of 2 ways:
1) Free Range Chicken (Ma Cho Kai) - fed only organic feed and given ample room to run around, they have both hens and roosters available, with roosters being slightly more heavier (generally between 1.3kg to 3.0kg).

2) Free Range Castrated Rooster or Capon Rooster (Yim Kai) - also raised on organic feed and given plenty of room to run around, they are given the "snip-snip" when they more or less fully matured, enabling them to grow even larger (quite massive actually - between 3.5kg to 6.5kg!) while maintaining a good texture. It is however, only available in limited numbers as it takes more then 20 weeks to mature...

Anyway, also, according to Gerald you can now buy these special free range and capon chickens at O Gourmet in Bangsar Shopping Complex and at The Meat Experts (TME) in Hartamas Shopping Centre.

You can get more info at their website, or alternatively call them at 03-9102 3950 or 016-662 0105.
(I know Thanksgiving/ Christmas is over, but Chinese New Year really isn't THAT far off so it may be good to make a booking now to avoid disappointment...)


Links to everyone else's posts on this (so far):
- A Whiff Of Lemongrass
- Cumi and Ciki
- A lil' Fat Monkey
- Babe In the City - KL


Hugs,
J

PS/ To everyone (A lil’ Fat Monkey, Cumi & Ciki, Babe KL, Cap’n Hooke & their cute boi-boi, Marian, AWOL & Bald Eagle, Alexandra of Friedchillies & driver (*lol*), Thule and Boo_licious and of course, our gracious hosts, Gerald and Mr. Ong, and Chef Marinus): It was really nice meeting you all/ going on such a fun yet educational road trip! :)

TAGS: Blog, Weblog, Travel,Malaysia, KL, Kuala Lumpur, Personal