Chook. The Podcast

If we could avoid it, we probably would but dispatching a chicken is something every chicken breeder really needs to know as an unavoidable part of their repertoire. If you’re building a homesteader lifestyle, working...

The second in our series of conversations about Cream Legbars, the increasingly popular blue egg laying chicken. This is a really illuminating conversation with the experienced British Cream Legbar breeder Emma...

Horse breeding and chicken breeding may seem like completely different endeavours but it turns out they have quite a bit in common… and of course they’re underpinned by the same genetic principles. With more than 50...

Worms are often the chief suspect when a backyard chicken gets sick. But how often are they to blame? This is the starting point for my conversation with poultry vet Grant Richards who has spent his 40-year career in...

Cream Legbars are one of the most sought-after chicken varieties among those of us who love coloured eggs. They’re also one of the more complicated chickens to breed well. That’s why I went straight to the source, to...

If you’ve ever needed help with or had a question about a Brinsea-brand incubator, Loi Truong is the man who will have come to your rescue. One of the loveliest and most helpful people working in chickens in Australia...

From 20 chickens as a homeschooling project at the age of 8 to a million dollar business with 5000 chickens, certified organic. As the brains and the brawn behind Madelaine's Eggs, the broad strokes of Madelaine Scott’s...

Alf Woods is a singular figure within the Australian poultry community and someone who, in show circles, truly needs no introduction. He went to his first show at the age of 7 and, now 98, he’s been a fixture at the...

As I was researching the cover story for the debut issue of Chook Journal, I kept uncovering question after question. It wasn’t until I met Paul Rodgers that the answers started to really flow. Paul knows probably more...

Jeff Mattocks deserves an award for services to the poultry community, worldwide. He's so much more than a poultry nutritionist. In this conversation, he describes the brooder trick the world’s best poultry keepers use...

US-based Black Copper Marans breeder Shane Hardy has been breeding the variety for ten years and what he knows is a mixture of experience and education — he’s been mentored by some of the best. You only have to look at...

What makes a good egg and how to get your hens to produce their best work is a major preoccupation for most of us chicken keepers. Peter Tisdell is one of Australia’s leading egg judges. We get down in the weeds a bit...

Fiona Barca is a recognised name in the Australian Marans community and a bit of a rare commodity. She’s one of the few people exclusively breeding not just a single breed of chicken, but a single variety: black and...

Jeff is a poultry nutritionist who’s spent three decades working with pastured poultry producers. He’s done more than anyone else to raise awareness about the need to feed your chickens digestive grit. Digestive grit is...

Heather Soane was the first person to show black copper Marans in Australia. She'd been breeding the birds for several years by the time they were officially imported, and believes her bloodline was smuggled into the...