Recent articles by Jessamy Miller

Your spring chick-list: get your henhouse ready
Build your garden

Your spring chick-list: get your henhouse ready

Here's our chook expert's handy spring chicklist for chicken keepers: coop care, bedding and feeding tips to keep hens healthy and laying well.

A silver spangled hamburg chook being trained using a handful of chook food.
Build your garden

How to train your chickens

Chooks are smarter than many people realise. Jessamy Miller shares practical techniques to train your flock, improving handling, behaviour and everyday enjoyment.

A girl hand-feeding two black hens inside a secure chicken run
Build your garden

Poultry protection: how to secure your henhouse

Chooks do a lot for us, providing eggs, manure and garden help, but they’re vulnerable to predators. Jessamy Miller shows how to lock up the coop, outsmart common pests, and keep your hens calm, safe and thriving.

Ducks at a water trough.
Build your garden

How to keep ducks

A delightful and sustainable addition to your backyard, ducks help with pest control and egg production. Whether for eggs or as pets, they work well in larger gardens.

Hen pecking at hard grit, such as stones and pebbles, on the ground near a rock.
Build your garden

Why chooks need hard grit

Hard grit, such as rocks and pebbles, is essential for healthy hen digestion. Here's why.

A quail poking its head out of its hutch to eat green leaves.
Build your garden

Why quails are a winning choice

If you are short on space, coturnix quail are cheap to keep, produce lots of yummy eggs and will even help out in the garden.

Long-term wet weather poses a threat to fowls’ health.
Bees, poultry & livestock

Care for poultry in the wet

Backyard poultry aren't built to cope with rainy weather. These tips will help you keep your chooks happy and healthy.

Chooks in a backyard, eating greens from a raised garden bed.
Build your garden

How to prepare for bird flu

Bird flu is a highly infectious virus that can harm backyard poultry. Not yet in Australia, it's still important to be aware of its impact.

A container of hemp milk next to hemp seeds.
Organic life

Real-world uses for eco-friendly hemp

When it comes to sustainability, it's hard to beat hemp, especially as it has so many practical uses.

Two chooks eating seeds scattered n their henhouse.
Build your garden

Jessamy Miller’s special warming mash recipe for chooks

Try this recipe for warming chook mash from our chook expert. It will help keep your chooks happy and healthy.

Remove any wet or clumped patches of litter on floors and in nest boxes with fresh material to keep odour free.
Build your garden

Keeping your henhouse tidy

When the hot weather starts to wane, it's a good time to set your chooks up for a safe, healthy and cosy cool season.

Dugald Jellie builds henhouses for schools using recycled material.
Organic life

Introducing master henhouse builder, Dugald Jellie

Everything Dugald Jellie creates, from cubbies to fences to sheds, is made by hand using recycled materials saved from landfill.