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.

A henhouse with a number of chooks scratching in a sandbox. One chook, a barnevelder, is sitting on the edge of the sandbox.
Build your garden

How to maximise your hens’ egg production with a balanced diet

If you are dreaming of an achievable and rewarding way to supply some of your own food, you can’t go past keeping laying hens, such as the barnevelder.

How to hold a hen
Bees, poultry & livestock

How to hold a chook

There are all sorts of reasons you may need to hold your hens, such as checking for parasites; Jessamy Miller explains how do it safely for your chooks and you.

Chooks provide much more than fresh eggs and fertiliser.
Build your garden

Feathered friends

Chooks provide many things from fresh eggs to fertiliser for your garden, and they can even become feathered friends to the family, writes Jessamy Miller.

Eggs contain everything required to support a chick’s development in the shell, which takes effort and resources.
Build your garden

Why is my hen not laying?

A question chook owners often ask is: why aren't my hens laying? Read on for possible solutions.

Australorp
Bees, poultry & livestock

Heritage hens

The top performers of yesteryear, heritage poultry breeds are slow-growing, long-laying and one of the keys to our long-term food security.

Spring is a busy time in the chookyard
Build your garden

Spring poultry care

Spring is a delightful time in the poultry yard with hens back on the lay and, for those who keep a rooster, perhaps even chicks to enjoy. These tips will help you make the most of this time.

nesting hen
Organic solutions

Off the lay?

Chooks laying yet? It’s the question on everyone’s lips as spring approaches, writes JESSAMY MILLER.

travelling with chooks
Bees, poultry & livestock

Travelling with chooks

When travelling with chooks take care packing, writes JESSAMY MILLER.

Jane and Lizzie feeding on microgreens
Bees, poultry & livestock

Micro meals for chooks

Microgreens may be small on size but they are big on benefits for chooks, writes PENNY WOODWARD.

chook pen, barnyard
Bees, poultry & livestock

Poultry planning

Want to get the most out of your feathered friends? JUSTIN RUSSELL gives you tips for managing chooks in an organic backyard.