Chook. The Podcast

For almost 40 years, Phil and Anne Westwood have run Freeranger Eggs in Grantville, 90 km south east of Melbourne. What’s super interesting about Phil and Anne’s operation is that growth has never been part of their business model. They have stayed deliberately small, deliberately avoiding automation including a total lack of autodoors and rollaway nest boxes. There were several motivations for this strategy. Firstly, the idea was to keep things small enough that a single person could run the entire business without the need for staff. Secondly, an intentionally smaller, truly free-range operation, as Phil describes it, is also able to maximise hen welfare sine the chickens are living in smaller groups. Thirdly, smaller flocks produce less manure with its associated impacts on the land, making the whole operation more environmentally sound. Topics covered include: What kind of living you can actually make with a one-person operation like Freeranger (listen to the end where Phil does share some figures) Environmental impacts of running 10 000 birds per hectare, the maximum allowed to still qualify as a "free range" egg farm What regenerative poultry farming looks like How native vegetation coexists with chickens on the Westwood's property ISA Browns — how many eggs they lay, and how long they can live when cared for the way the Westwoods do, without lights Whether you could run an economically-viable egg farm with heritage, coloured-egg laying breeds Egg production in free range vs. caged systems Use of lights with laying hens (Impacts on health and longevity) Mite and lice control Wormwood as a natural deterrent against parasites, internal and external Sawdust over straw as preferred nest box bedding Diotomaceous earth Managing wild birds, goannas, snakes around chook food and nest boxes Maremma dogs as livestock guardians Use of mobile sheds What it's like running an egg farm solo How to stay enthusiastic about hands-on egg farming after almost 40 years Use of the Kangaroo Apple shrub around chickens What trees Anne would plant around a home chicken coop Whether the egg industry is becoming more sustainable

Roosters can be tragic figures. The reality is, for every hen in a backyard flock, there is a rooster, her brother, that almost certainly didn’t live happily ever after. Lisa Short, from the Victorian-based Rooster Warriors Rehoming, tries to make a small dent in this unfortunate aspect of chicken keeping by helping find homes for hundreds of roosters. Most of those roosters, she says, come from kinder and school hatching programs, which she'd like to see banned. From rooster dumping to crow collars and night boxes that allow roosters to be kept where you otherwise probably couldn’t, Lisa ventures into some uncomfortable territory in this conversation, in hopes of raising awareness.

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 towards sustainability or even if you’re keeping just a few chickens in your backyard it’s an indispensable skill. It can be tricky though to know how to get started. For permaculture educator Joel Meadows, who’s been keeping chickens for 30 years, it was about taking responsibility for both where his food comes from, and for the birds in his care. This is an honest and practical discussion that spans the gamut from the ethical underpinnings to the detail of three specific methods for dispatching a chicken. Truly there is noone better to have this conversation with than Joel — respect for the bird is at the heart of his approach. We discuss: — Where chickens fit in permaculture systems from small, productive backyards to orchards and larger properties — Joel’s own first experience dispatching a chicken — Why he began offering workshops teaching others how to dispatch a chicken, how much demand there’s been and the range of people who’ve attended — The ethic and grounding in traditional cultures that underpins Joel’s perspective — The unavoidable truth that behind every laying hen there is a rooster that’s been killed — Benefits of knowing how to kill your own chickens versus eating chickens that have been factory-farmed and abattoir-slaughtered — The way in which chicken keepers are both carers and peak predators — The complicated calculation behind a decision to dispatch a chook — How the ability to dispatch your own chickens allows you to take control of where your food comes from, and extricate yourself from industrialised meat production — Grappling with the tension between loving your chickens and dispatching them — What might constitute “a good death” for a chicken — Why Joel asks participants in his workshops whether they’ve ever killed anything before — A description of 3 different methods for dispatching a chicken: 1. Axe 2. Neck break 3. Cone — Which method Joel prefers, which he thinks is fastest and best for the chicken and which is easiest for a beginner to successfully carry out — Downsides of each method — A fourth method using a broom handle for the neck break — What to expect including flapping, blood and convulsions and what is going on, to the best of our knowledge, when this happens — The cause of death associated with each method — Equipment needed for preparing a chicken for human consumption — How to pluck and eviscerate the carcass including water temperature and duration for dunking — How pasture-raised, heritage chicken meat compares to what you may be used to buying at the store e.g. red leg meat, yellow fat, flavour — Resting, brining and cooking heritage chicken meat — How to utilise all parts of the chicken’s body from blood to bones — Joel’s idea for a canvas/velcro device to hold a chicken, so a single person could swing the axe without needing a second pair of hands to hold the bird — Fasting chickens before dispatch — Skinning versus plucking — The value of dual-purpose breeds to provide both meat and eggs — Using chicken bones in compost — The insight dispatching your own birds provides into the health of your flock, what normal anatomy looks like and the influence of green pick and nutrition on body condition — The permaculture “oversell” of chickens vs the reality of keeping chickens in gardens as pest control — How Joel feeds and manages his birds including his feeding routine, rotation and the use of tree guards If this conversation helps you, please do leave us a review in your podcast app. In Apple Podcasts, just go to the show page, scroll to the bottom, look for the stars and you’ll see the option Write a Review. In Spotify too, you can leave us a comment. We really appreciate it.

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 years' experience raising foals, esteemed Australian stock horse breeder Jeanette Gower knows a thing or two about genetics and its practical application. I was keen to find out and find out what the horse breeding experience can teach us about how to approach poultry. In this conversation I pick Jeanette's brain on everything from inbreeding and inbreeding depression to outcrossing and hybrid vigour. Jeanette writes a fantastic blog on Substack which is where you can also find more information on her books about horse breeding. Be sure to like and follow the show to find out when new episodes drop. And, if you like what you hear, leave us a review on your podcast app.

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 the Cream Legbar’s home country of the UK where they were originally created at Cambridge University. There I found experienced Cream Legbar breeder Ethan Rivers who's been breeding the variety longer than it's even existed in Australia. In this conversation we discuss the faults found in the variety, how to work with them and mistakes that can trip up beginner breeders. The cream gene is denoted by the abbreviation Ig — you’ll hear Ethan refer to it that way in this conversation. Another term you’ll hear is “gold, split for cream” which means a bird that is gold but carries one copy of the cream gene, hidden because it’s recessive. Is there a topic you’d like Chook to look into? A guest you’d love to hear from? Let us know by sending a note to jane@chookjournal.com.au Loving the show? Ensure we continue by leaving a review on your podcast app.

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 story are well known to Australians. She burst into the public eye as a 19-year-old launching a crowdfunding campaign that raised 60 thousand dollars in 60 days to purchase an egg-grading machine. In this conversation, now 31, Madelaine opens up about the day-to-day realities of running a free-range, organic operation including: — The financial realities and how much she pockets in profit, relative to turnover — How to care for chickens without worming and spraying them with chemicals — Exactly what feed and which supplements she gives her flock — The daily workload involved in running her free-range operation — How many staff she now has and her role these days — The organic certification process — The prospect of H5N1 bird flu arriving in Australia and what it would mean for her operation — Vaccines for chickens — The phasing out of caged eggs in Australia — Diversifying into meat (turkeys, "spent" hens) as well as eggs — Plans for a micro-abattoir at Hollyburton Farm — The homesteader lifestyle You can check out Madelaine’s own chicken soup recipe in the Spring 2025 issue of Chook Journal, our fully digital, immersive magazine available now via the website chookjournal.com.au

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 than most people about the history of Marans in Australia. When he saw his first Marans, he says it was love. He went on to cofound the short-lived Australian Marans Club. Paul remains passionate about Marans but does worry that careless breeding or a failure to maintain the egg colour that defines the breed, could threaten its future in Australia. Just a heads up - you’ll notice a discussion about beetle green sheen. Please note that subsequent to this conversation I got in touch with the Marans Club in France, for clarification. To see the French response to the beetle green sheen confusion, check out the cover story on Black Copper Marans in the September 2025 issue of Chook Journal, a fully digital, immersive magazine, available now at chookjournal.com.au Long story short, Paul is on the money.

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 his birds to realise he knows what he’s doing. He’s also had success using a stacking technique to darken eggshell colour in his line. To see Shane appraise a Black Copper Marans cockerel, check out the Spring 2025 issue of Chook Journal which is live now at chookjournal.com.au

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 blue copper Marans. Fiona was lucky enough to obtain some birds from Avgen, the company that imported copper Marans and other rare breeds from the UK. In this interview Fiona shares: How she breeds them, as four families How she’s dealt with faults like bent toes and mossiness She also gives some sage advice on how to navigate the many and varied opinions you’ve probably received if you’ve ever posted a picture of one of your birds online for critique Fiona shares some home truths about egg colour too and what to expect when buying Marans eggs to hatch Fiona was generous enough to open her coop doors to Chook Journal and take us on a tour of her breeding pens. If you’d like to see inside her enviable coop set up, check out the Spring 2025 issue of Chook Journal, our magazine, which is entirely digital and available now on our website chookjournal.com.au

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 country from Belgium or Poland. In this conversation Heather discusses: Why she believes her black copper Marans were smuggled into Australia rather than being "Aussie line" recreations How she bred them and what faults she encountered including mossiness, loose feathering ("bustles") and lack of copper colouring on the females Her understanding of how the French achieve such dark eggshell colours The impact of Croad Langshan blood on some lines of Australian black coppers How she kept her line pure without introducing any outside blood for a decade How she ended up with 10 different varieties including blue coppers that emerged spontaneously from within her wheaten and black copper Marans How she created her own line of cuckoo Marans by using Barred Plymouth Rocks The resistance she encountered when first showing Marans The particular diet she feeds her Marans Who her influences and mentors have been What variety she's working on now

Meet your host, former foreign correspondent turned heritage chicken breeder Jane Cowan and get a first listen to highlights of season one of Chook. The Podcast, a show for backyard chicken keepers and serious breeders.