May is always a busy and hectic time for a chicken keeper. Your hens should be back in to full laying swing at this point, and I know that as I look at my over flowing egg basket I have to start getting creative with egg recipes. You can of course sell a few of your surplus eggs to friends and neighbours, although I tend to make gifts of mine because they have to live next door to me and my currently noisy flock. It's amazing how a half dozen eggs can soothe ruffled feathers. 

While we're on the subject of noisy flocks, the beginning of May is usually the time that I get rudely awoken by at least one gobby Pekin. As the mornings get lighter, my girls rise earlier for breakfast and start laying earlier. Which means earlier 'Wow! I'm brilliant! I laid an egg!' songs. If, like me, you are a suburban keeper, this is not a particularly welcome change.

The Poland is an old breed, although its ancestry is unclear due to many countries having laid claim to its making. Some books connect the type with the Paduan (Patavinian) fowl. What is clear is that this was originally a utility breed for both table and egg, with the bantam (or miniature) varieties coming along in the late 1800s due to several matings with different breeds to reduce size. A shame really as the bantam varieties that we see are probably more genetically mixed up than their large counterparts. First shown in London in 1845, the Poland was one of the first breeds to be standardised in 1865.
Did they originate in Poland? Possibly, but their name is more likely to be a result of the 'poll' or 'poland' sat on top of their head (the knob and crest), which them makes them Polands rather than Polish...... snobbery on my part perhaps, but perhaps a more fitting reason than simply a country that they at one time may have proliferated in.
In some parts of the world, Polands are referred to as 'Dutch' which does little to help with the naming of this magnificent breed.

I was fortunate enough to borrow one of the excellent RCOM King Suro incubators from Interhatch to write a review for a distributor when it first came onto the market at the end of 2009. This gave me an opportunity to put the Suro through its paces for a few months at home.

I frequently get asked about this incubator so I thought it was about time I shared some of my experiences and my views on it here with you.

If you are new to keeping chickens, have you ever wondered what others are doing with their hens this month? Well The Mad Chicken Lady (she's lovely really and not -really- mad at all) brings us her monthly account of henly experiences and plans her month as a new urban chicken keeper.

Well, it's been a long hard winter. After the cold and wet, it's wonderful to see hints of spring making their presence known. One of the surest signs for me is that the hens are in full song. Now that they have recommenced laying and earning their keep, they spend a lot of the day bokking off and generally making it known that they are full of fertile thoughts. Ahem. With no cockerel to make doe eyes at, my girls take to crouching directly in my path and generally getting under foot. Hanging out the washing becomes an assault course of hormonally challenged chickens. I have found that April is a peak for this sort of outrageous behaviour, so don't be surprised if your hens seem a little...frisky.

Ask anyone who already re-homes ex-batts about their ‘girls’ and you will be receive an enthusiastic, and probably very long, animated response extolling the virtues of their ladies. Whether you are new to chickens or already have a flock of ‘normal’ birds, offering a home to some ex-batts is a rewarding and life enhancing experience. And whilst they are just as easy to care for as any other chickens, these very special ladies do require some special consideration and treatment.

The Illustrated Guide to Chickens (Hardback)

How to choose them, How to keep them.

by Celia Lewis

Publisher: A & C Black Ltd. Edition Published: 2010 Hardback: 192 pages ISBN-10: 1408122294 ISBN-13: 978-1408122297 Available from: Amazon Some original watercolours with signed copies of the book are now available in the poultrykeeper shop!

One of the most common veterinary complaints of backyard chickens is snicking, sneezing and coughing.
Respiratory disease often presents itself with one or more birds sneezing / snicking. These birds can have a runny nose and foamy running eyes. In severe cases these birds can have swollen sinuses (presents as swelling around the eyes), stop eating and in extreme cases die.

There a number predisposing factors for respiratory disease in chickens: as with any animal stress can cause an underlying disease to show itself. This stress could be extremes of temperature and humidity, high stocking density, being transported, being taken to a poultry show and new animals being introduced to an existing/established flock.

Lets face it, most chickens look the same; they are either a brown or a speckled bird with little or no intelligence.  They lay eggs and you eat them on a Sunday.  OK, so perhaps for those of us who do actually have an interest in chickens this is not the case, but for your average city family this is about the limit of their knowledge of different breeds.

However, if you go to any poultry show one of the most instantly recognisable breeds, even to those unfamiliar with poultry, is that round powder puff of a chicken that looks like it’s covered in fur rather than feathers.  Anyone can spot this popular breed and even its name gives you an idea of what it looks like – the silkie.