I have fond memories of growing up in rural Somerset where we had a few ducks and bantams in the garden. Once my first daughter came along I thought it time to start keeping chickens again. I think it’s important for kids to grow up with animals; it teaches them respect for the animals and gives an appreciation of where their food comes from. Also, it is just enjoyable. It was great to watch my daughter help a stuck new born chick out of its shell using a cocktail stick. She was so happy when the chick survived and joined the rest of the clutch.

 I started my flock a few years ago with a jungle fowl cock and a handful of the red egg laying hens which I think are called warren hens. The wild jungle fowl of SE Asia is said to be the ancestor of all world-wide domesticated chickens, so it was like going full circle to put together a jungle fowl cock with probably the most linebred/interbred chickens of all. These warren hens have even lost the instinct to go broody, such is the demand on them to keep producing eggs. I guess a human analogy could be to pair up a bushman from the Kalahari desert with an inbred royal from the English monarchy. Mind you, at least the jungle fowl/warren hen progeny are useful (good egg layers producing small eggs which are great in salads or pickled with a beer) which is more than can probably be said for our future English royals.

The challenges of keeping hens in Korat are many and it has mostly been a process of trial and error. I am constantly amazed at how little the Thais seem to know about caring for animals (and about almost anything to do with nature to be honest). Their attitude seems to be one of live and let live, or live and let die, as unfortunately everything they touch seems to die prematurely. I have had to learn most stuff on my own.

I started by building a large chicken run which is more to keep the dogs out than to keep the chickens in. This underwent several stages of extension and development until the finished product today which I am happy with. After a few disasters I am now relatively happy with the way things are going with the chickens in general, and amongst the stuff I want to cover in this thread are:


  • Dealing with the heat
  • Food; to keep the chickens happy and healthy and to keep their eggs with strong shells
  • Dealing with snakes (did you know it is thought that snakes can smell the odour an egg gives off when it is due to hatch and to back this up we often get a snake take up residence in the chicken run just before a clutch of eggs hatch in the hopes of an easy meal)
  • My experience with breeding chickens
  • Disease; we lost nearly a whole flock a few years ago to fowl cholera before I started vaccinating every three months. Also, my own remedy/prevention against bumblefoot
  • Keeping them clean (not easy with a largish flock in a confined area) and using the waste
  • What to do with 20 or so eggs every day (and keep your cholesterol level manageable)


So, to kick this off, a picture of My Splendid Cock, which is the title of this thread. He was named Robin Hood by my daughter. Apparently, the few white feathers at the base his tail are a sign of a genuine jungle fowl.


I will be absolutely buggered if I can get a picture to attach to this post. Dillinger, you offered before... please could you post a picture of my cock in this thread and then I can carry on. Its Photo1 in my Chicken album. Or any help from anyone else would be gratefully appreciated.