Just like us, chickens need a range of vitamins and minerals to stay healthy and in peak performance. Metabolic processes, growing muscle or feathers, producing eggs, staying healthy or running around the backyard all require essential vitamins and minerals. One of the many advantages of a complete feed, whether it is a pellet, crumble or mash, is that there are essential vitamins and minerals included in it.  While your chickens love grain, feed scraps, bugs and insects in the garden, these won’t contain the vitamins and minerals at the levels that they need to stay healthy and for goo ..read more

Chickens love scratching around the backyard and finding tasty plants, bugs and worms to eat. They are also beneficial for the garden as well with their manure. However, there are a few things to know before allowing your chickens to roam freely around your vegie patch and garden. Firstly, chickens are destructive to vegie patches and gardens as they are full of plants that they love to eat and freshly tilled soil to dust bathe in. Particularly when you have just planted seedlings or have seedlings sprouting. Chickens are entirely selfish and really don’t care that you are growing vegies for ..read more

Winter Feeding Caring for your chooks this winter   A change of breeze is setting in and our wardrobes are seeing more coats and scarves being worn – it’s a sign of the cooler months. As we keep ourselves rugged up this season, it’s important to consider how we can help our girls keep their hengines warm this winter too. Use this article as a handy checklist to ensure you’ve got everything covered when it comes to caring for your chickens this season. A warm coop Chickens handle winter quite well as they do have a natural form of insulation in the form of their feathers, which they can f ..read more

Moulting in Chickens Manage the moult: how to care for your chooks during colder months Autumn is the season where poultry owners begin noticing their hens losing feathers as egg production declines or stops completely. This is known as moulting and it is a natural phenomenon that all laying poultry go through. Moulting is characterised by a reduction in feed intake and body weight, loss of feathers, cessation of lay, regrowth of feather and resumption of lay. It is your hen’s rest and rejuvenation after giving you eggs throughout the year. It is also her way of preparing for winter and her n ..read more

Protein for Laying Hens Pump up the protein for your hens this winter. Here’s why. Protein is an important nutrient for hens and other poultry. It is needed for egg production, immunity, maintaining body weight, growing feathers and general body functions. Proteins that the hen consumes (including bugs, worms and insects) are made up of different types and amounts of amino acids and these amino acids are the building blocks for eggs, immune response, muscles, feather and bodily processes. There has been a lot of scientific research that goes into understanding how much of each amino acid, and ..read more

Poultry Feed Formats Choosing the right poultry feed format for your chooks Pellets? Mash or crumbles? When it comes to choosing the right poultry feed format for your hens, it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Learn more about each format here and which one might be best for your chooks. Crumble feed A crumble is feed that has been pelleted and then broken down into a smaller size for small beaks. As the process uses heat treatment, this increases the digestibility of nutrients for younger birds. Feeds such as the Barastoc Chick Starter and Pullet Grower are crumbles. A crumble also helps to e ..read more

  KEEPING COOL, NO SWEAT   The fact that chickens don’t have sweat glands means that we have to ensure we take steps to help them to keep cool during summer. This is even more important in regions that experience high humidity. So, what can you do to keep your chooks cool?   CHILLED WATER We all need water to survive, and chooks are no different. One way to help them deal with the heat is to ensure a constant supply of cool, clean water. When the water warms up, it increases the risk of fungi, mold, bacteria and other microbes growing in the water, which is particularly problema ..read more