April Underhill 9/6/22 April Underhill 9/6/22

Understanding chook breeds

For the next few editions, we will be highlighting the best dual purpose breeds for our area.

April Underhill 7/20/22 April Underhill 7/20/22

Choosing a house for chooks

April Underhill 5/16/22 April Underhill 5/16/22

Preparing your nesting boxes

April Underhill 4/27/22 April Underhill 4/27/22

Growing your own chook food

April Underhill 1/10/22 April Underhill 1/10/22

Protect your chooks from pests this summer

Summer has definitely arrived, and now is the time to think about external parasites – mites, lice and scaly leg.

April Underhill 12/6/21 April Underhill 12/6/21

Worms!

Now is a great time of year to worm your chooks.

April Underhill 11/11/21 April Underhill 11/11/21

Rough stuff? Saddle up!

There comes a time in the henhouse when the girls get too much of a good thing. If you see your hens’ backs denuded of feathers, sometimes even scratched, what you’re observing is too much sex in the farmyard.

April Underhill 10/5/21 April Underhill 10/5/21

An egg a day…

A few years ago I gave up eating eggs. Living in another country, all I could buy were bland-tasting eggs with pale yolks, different from the tasty, orange-yolked Barnevelder eggs at home.

April Underhill 9/1/21 April Underhill 9/1/21

Feel the serenity, get some chooks

This is the best time of year to consider whether you want chooks. We’re heading into breeding season. There’s lots of sex happening in the farmyard and in a month or two chicks start hatching.

April Underhill 8/5/21 April Underhill 8/5/21

Eye for an eye

A cockfight can cause serious damage. My Old Faithful rooster is sitting in a large cat-carry container in my living room. He has a blood-encrusted comb and wattles and I’m not sure about his sight in one eye – all caused by Young Incumbent who thought his time had come to lead the flock.

April Underhill 7/13/21 April Underhill 7/13/21

Chook Chat with Henrietta

That cold snap in northern Tas a few weeks ago caused a funny sight in my chook pen. The morning after a night well below freezing, I watched a couple of chooks peck at the water in their container to no avail. It was frozen solid.