Keeping happy, healthy chooks. This one-day workshop will cover the basics of all things ‘keeping chickens’ – housing, breeds, health, common ailments, nutrition – essentially all you need to know to start and maintain a healthy contented flock. A hands-on, interactive course designed to meet the needs of those thinking of starting a flock or…
Nesting Boxes Egg laying is a private affair so our nesting boxes must be in an isolated area and offer a safe and comfortable spot for our chooks to lay their eggs. The nesting boxes should also allow ease of collection and importantly, be simple to clean out. How big should nesting boxes be?…
A roosting perch is where our chooks tuck up with their flock mates on these long nights so it needs to be well suited and provide a safe, comfortable and cosy sleep. Well that’s the plan…. Renegade chooks can determinedly opt to roost in a tree, on top of the coop, in a nesting…
ISA Brown – the Ups & Downs ISA Brown are an incredibly popular backyard layer choice, most probably because they are readily available through many stock feed stores across Australia. They are also popular mainly because of the big brown eggs they produce, just like the ones on supermarket shelves. ISA Brown are also famous…
New look, same great product Super Mash – a specially formulated chicken feed supplement that provides nutrients and probiotics to boost and vitalise chooks, help reduce parasites and keep your chooks healthy, naturally. Now available in Eco Sustainable, fully compostable bag and best value 5kg reusable bucket. Great value – good for our planet…
Some egg yolks are so orange aren’t they? Eggs are nature’s original superfood I’m sure you’d agree, but does egg yolk colour matter or indicate nutritional value? Do eggs with darker yolks taste better? For as long as I can remember we have kept chooks. On our farm in Gippsland, Victoria our flock brought a…
In our slightly mad modern life keeping backyard chickens can give us simple pleasures with the added benefits of home grown eggs and useful manure. For many people, the gentle clucking and scratching of chooks at home is domestic bliss. Chooks are also a great way to teach children about caring for animals, after all…
Chickens are such important critters in our lives. Whether you live in rural, urban or suburban Australia the greatest threat facing your flock are predators. It’s up to you to protect your chickens and it all starts with the physical chicken coop security. But who are the predators? Snakes, goannas, quolls, hawks and eagles are…
Chickens give us a host of useful services and it’s clear the more we care for our chickens, the more services they happily provide! One of their endless gifts is chook poo. A single chook produces about 1kg of manure each week. We can make very good use of that! Keeping backyard chickens and growing…
With Spring in the air our chooks turn broody. If you are raising backyard chickens then a broody hen is nature’s best incubator. Getting Started To get started, select 6-12 fertile eggs depending on the size of the broody hen. Eggs can be stored up to 7 days after lay, before you start incubating them,…