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I got 3 Australian Langshan pullets a couple of months ago. They are great little birds - calm, friendly and lay about 5 eggs each per week, even now in late winter. One seems to have problems seeing things close up. She always pecks a few millimetres short of treats offered to her. She's worked...

A few days ago I noticed one of our pullets was breathing noisily (inhaling and exhaling). She was hungry but the other chickens were pecking her to keep her away. Thankfully I had some leftover Enrotril syrup that was only a month old, prescribed for a bird that died of a staph infection (as...

My son has been set Henry Lawson in his high school matriculation English course. I'd never read any Henry Lawson but as a rooster admirer I had to read this sketch - a gem of a tall story, though with a sad ending!

I recently had to put out poison to deal with an infestation of rats. I find they are too smart to trap - one gets caught and the others never go near the trap again. I placed 3 wax block baits totally out of reach of the chickens (or so I thought), but on Tuesday night last week I found and...

This morning I heard an unusual purring sound coming from behind the door of the hen house. It was a bit like the noise a hen makes when she settles down to lay, but louder and growlier. I looked in to see who was laying, and there was our Silkie cross rooster (pictured), sitting in a nest of...

I am pretty inexperienced with incubators. On my first attempt, I followed the instructions faithfully, only to battle excessive humidity and irregular temperatures, and I was disappointed to achieve only a 50% success rate on a batch of shipped fertile eggs - and one chick was disabled. We...

Neville hatched on October 6. Father is a pekin(cochin) cross, mother a black silkie. I’m hoping Neville needs a name change to something more feminine!

Does any BYC member have any experience or comments on dealing with the Australian paralysis tick (Ixodes holocyclus) in chickens? They are common on the east coast of Australia, and are a major killer of domestic and native animals, and a vector for rickettsia and Lyme's disease. I found one...

This chook has been broody for about 12 days, and started doing this head waving thing in the last 2 days. She holds her head back with beak pointing up into the sky and waves it back and forth. She is able to hold her head normally and move about. She has not been eating or drinking much, but...

We got Blondine from a friend. The red girl on the left is a New Hampshire (I think). Blondine is looking a bit rough because it was a very windy day and she's been broody for a few weeks.

The neighbour's enormous Rhodesian ridgeback cross Mastiff got in among our chooks yesterday afternoon when they were free-ranging. We managed to get there in time - no fatalities or injuries, apart from Jemima the australorp who was hiding under a bush panting. She was missing a few feathers...

If you're wondering about the name, our rooster used to say it to us and I wish I knew what it meant. Try saying it to young chickens and see the response! The emphasis falls on the "DEE", which should be about an octave in pitch above the "Bon", and the "roo" about a tone below the "Bon". Draw...