Introduction This article was revised on 11 Mar 2015 Keeping poultry, like chickens, ducks, and quail etc is great fun but sometimes we need to control where these animals go for the safety of the animals and for our peace of mind. That's where a good quail/chicken run can become a handy semi or fully
Is feeding chickens as simple as feeding a pet cat or dog? Well, yes, and no. When people first start researching about what to feed their chooks they soon realise there are many answers. And, most of what I have read (and heard) is completely fine; however, there are some areas worth exploring more when
Introduction This post on chicken feed test is a short supplementary article to complement my YouTube video “Chicken Feed Test”. I wanted to further explain the test and results for the benefit of anyone who is just visiting and hasn't yet seen the video and for those who are just interested in the reasoning
Several months prior to this article I wrote a two part “How to” article on how to build a quail or chicken run. The interest in this article has been exciting to see and I'm glad this particular project is grabbing peoples curiosity as I wasn't sure if our readers would enjoy my DIY building
Introduction Article updated 30 Sep 2019 Provide a spot or box with some straw and your hens will happily lay eggs it's that simple, jobs done – sad to say it isn't quite that simple. After much trial and error, open-eyed surprises, shaking head disappointments, wasted money, wasted eggs, and lost time, I have evolved
Introduction When you think about great moments in time, human achievement, or an event which changed the world, most people would consider the wheel, electricity, war, medicine, moon landing, internet, Jesus, or Michael Jackson, but very few people give any credit to the domesticated fowl. Therefore, in this article I would like to be the
Article updated April 2015 Some people struggle with the thought of owning a rooster and wonder if they should keep one with their flock. Others, wish they hadn’t got a rooster and now want to get rid of him. I can’t make the decision to get, keep, or remove a rooster for anyone; however, I
(This article was reviewed on 30 Mar 2013) I recently wrote about keeping roostersand what they taste like if a person decides to get rid of their rooster and eat him. However, I didn’t elaborate on the slaughtering process and just what steps actually need to be taken to get the chicken from the
This article was updated on 28 Nov 2015 I‘ve known people who have given up and given away their chickens simply because they felt chickens were too much trouble to look after. In fact, we’ve even benefited from people asking us if we could take their birds off their hands for free because they were
The death of my American Hovabator incubator Updated on 12 Dec 2015 When my American Hovabator incubator died, it put me into a bit of a spin because I essentially wasted about 60 quail eggs due to the thermostat packing it in. Basically, the temperature soared overnight to past 120 F and the developing embryos
Keeping chickens isn’t a difficult thing to do but you do have to get some of the fundamentals right and one of those areas is flooring. In particular, the flooring areas within the coop itself and any areas you (or the kids) have to regularly walk over to gather eggs or maintain the pen. Large
Article updated on 7 May 2015 As a follow-up to my article on “Different types of chicken feeders” I thought I would write about what I consider to be the best drinkers for chickens and indeed other poultry. At the same time, this article will also cover some simple rules for chicken drinkers, various types
This article was updated on 27 Oct 2015 Summer in Queensland, Australia (where I live) means snake season and it’s the same for many other places around the world. Snakes are fine in the wild but around the home they are not so welcome and if you keep chickens you can be rest assured snakes
There’s a power struggle happening in the chicken feeder business between two emerging chicken feeder backyard manufacturing “giants” called Royal Rooster and Dine-a-Chook. Both chicken feeder manufacturers have a large presence on eBay because there’s no better place to test out a home-made idea or invention and see if a market can be created. If
My DIY dog proof fence for my free-range chicken area is about 6 weeks old now and I am extremely happy with how it turned out. I could have paid several thousand dollars to have a fencing contractor come and do this job but I did it myself for a fraction of the cost that
If you are looking to buy chickens or other poultry in the Brisbane and surrounding areas it’s hard to go past Heritage Hatching & Hens as the place to go. Brisbane based chicken breeder Heritage Hatching & Hens has turned a hobby into a growing small business in selling purebred chickens and in my
So as the New Year hits us square in the face like the rising sun of a new day, I wonder how many people are considering self-sufficiency as their New Year’s resolution. Last night I cooked up a sensational meal for the family (even if I do say so myself) I named it Rooster soup
Yes, you can keep ducks and chickens together is the short answer but there are some special considerations to be made if you plan to keep both of these beautiful poultry breeds side-by-side. Therefore, in this short article I’ve selected the most important areas to consider when keeping ducks and chickens together pointing out where
We all know the benefits of keeping chickens and producing your own eggs but how about being really different and producing a carton of eggs with several different colours like: white, chocolate, brown, speckled, and even blue! Yes that’s right, chicken eggs can come in a variety of different colours and even multi-coloured so what
This article sets out easy and simple tips or steps to take in preparing your chickens so they stay safe and well for when you go away on holidays or as they say in the USA, vacation. Everyone needs a break sometimes and no matter how much you love being around your chickens there comes
Self Sufficient Me is a blog about self-sustainment by growing our own produce (plant/animal), and self-fulfilment by looking after our health (physical/mental) through exercise and slowing life down a little.
