Couldn't agree more all round. But we are an unusual bunch! (on the cutting edge of chicken welfare.) The numbers always send me reeling - 1 billion broilers in the supply chain, living for 10 weeks maybe? so something like 4 or 5 billion a year going through. What will be annoying is the inevitabl...

That's excellent news, Rick. A step on the way - but It's still better to buy organic chicken if possible, though, as standard are higher. Even the new minimum standards are pretty poor, compared with organic, let alone what we all provide for our lovely birds.

With that genetic mix, they should have amazing hybrid vigour.

They're called wind eggs, or in less polite circles, fart eggs.
See http://www.aviculture-europe.nl/nummers/07E03A06.pdf
-you'll learn a lot, most of which you'd rather not have known about!

Home-grown chicks are not usually vaccinated against anything, as you say, Rick, because the vaccine come in large batches to treat hundreds of chicks so less economic for just a few. However, the vaccine are not horrendously priced if you're a non-commercial 'pet' keeper who is willing to invest ag...

Well done, Sally! she was obviously happy in her eglu after all! Do let us know how they get on.

I'm afraid that the only answer if mycoplasma is inherent in the flock is an all-out policy, followed by very thorough disinfectation of the whole premises and equipment, and then re-stocking with vaccinated birds from a trusted source. Difficult if the flock are pets, as yours are, Sandrine, - whic...

Does the linseed oil have heavy fumes? That's always a problem with painting coops inside - the more effective the remedy, the harder on the birds when they're roosting. Has the coop got a felt roof? If so, the mites will have got between the layers and the only way to deal with them would be to rem...

The main change you've missed is that they're all a year older! From their second summer onwards they will slow down their lay whatever the weather, but particularly in hot conditions. They'll no doubt be thinking about a moult this year, and then they won't have any energy to produce eggs as well a...

Glad to hear it all sounds so positive. Chickens have an incredible immune system (they need it) but are also very high performance in the repository department. All birds are (well most) with their air sacs, pump through lungs, hollow bones etc. It means that a repository infection can spread almo...