Articles by HEChicken

I grew up keeping poultry. Mum took us kids to a local market every spring and each of us got to pick out a chick or duckling to raise. In the back of our acre of backyard were a duck coop and a chicken coop, but the birds free-ranged the whole property during the day. It was the kids' job to...

July 3rd, 2012 Devastation here tonight. At 3pm I went to do a welfare check and refill water bowls. At 6:30pm, I headed back down there with a bowl of kitchen scraps. Upon approaching the yard I saw JB, my silkie roo lying in the sun in the middle of the yard and something didn't look...

When I interrupted a fox attacking for the second consecutive day, my Cuckoo Marans came running across the yard towards me. There was no sign of injury although her feathers looked ruffled. In any case, my focus was on getting rid of the problem so I didn't have time to examine her. After...

My flock runs together during the day and sleeps in a main coop at night, which works out surprisingly well. However, as spring drew closer, I started to worry about safety as birds start thinking about brooding and raising their young. A friend had a terrible experience last year when her...

Growing up we always kept chooks and I'm sure it wasn't something my parents gave much thought to. Periodically we went to market and each kid got to choose a day old chick to take home and raise. They ended up in the garden foraging all day and were locked into a little coop at night for...