Chicken Coach

06/03/2026

Today my Silkies had the pleasure of visiting one of the aged care places here in Colac🤗.
It was such a lovely reminder that birds (and all animals) have such an amazing ability to build compassion, empathy, patience (and that gorgeous human ✨spark!)✨and all of the core values that bring out the best in people, and just create GOOD!
Have a beautiful weekend! ~Elise

17/02/2026

👋Hello! Elise here from Chicken Coach.
For anyone new to Chicken Coach, WELCOME!

I’m Elise McNamara, and I’m a chicken consultant, author, writer, and speaker. I work with backyard chicken owners, schools, and egg farmers in person and online, through consults, incursions, workshops, and courses. I also have my own natural🐓 product range over at chickencoach.com.

👋And for those I’ve met before, HELLO!

News on my end: I’m now a mum to two boys (2 and 4, where did that go?) and I’m back on the home farm, in SW Victoria - “Where roosters can crow and no one complains!” I’m looking forward to sharing more of my birds, how I do things (which is not as perfect as it was before kids!), what I’ve been building here on the farm, and the plans to come.

About me and what I teach: Chooks/chickens have been my love since I was a toddler in gumboots on my family’s dairy farm. I’ve kept pure bred fowl as show birds and commercial layers for organic egg production in a chicken caravan.

But in 2010, I bought birds that introduced respiratory diseases to my flock. I spent thousands on vet bills trying to eradicate the problem. This began my obsession with how we can use prevention to keep thriving, healthy birds that are free of disease. This has evolved into my approach of using natural solutions where possible (more on this to come!). Commercial management methods such as “All In All Out” don’t apply to pets or breeding birds. And there are so many natural ‘2%’ things you can do to improve or maintain their health.

Respiratory diseases (especially mycoplasma and secondary infections), vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and chick gut health are my absolute favourite topics.

And I truly believe preventative care through natural nutrition, excellent husbandry, and reducing stress is key; this is what I teach in my workshops, courses, and on my blog.

And I always say keeping chickens should be fun. It should be easy. And if it’s not, reach out, because I can help you get back on track!

If you’ve read this to the end, thank you. And please send me your chook questions! A DM is fine. I can point you to free resources or options to work with me directly. Talk soon, Elise

03/09/2025

“Can you bring a chook into the studio?”
Omg YES!! No scripts or pre-questions 😅 - these guys are amazing!🐓✨ Thanks to Tom, Lingy & Loggy (esp. Loggy☺️) for having me this morning to talk chooks!
The next Geelong workshop is set for 18 October 2025, details on my website. ~Elise

21/08/2025

Special thanks to Geelong Advertiser for the story 🐓💕. If you’re in Geelong, I’m running a Backyard Chickens Beyond The Basics workshop on Saturday 18 October at Eastern Hub and online 🌏 Sunday 21 September. ~Elise

19/08/2025

👋🏻Elise here.

🐓🌱🌻I’ve finally opened the doors to A-Z Natural Chicken Care online course & coaching program!

If you’ve had chicken problems (health, parasites, behaviour etc) or you’re new to chooks, I’ve got you.

For experienced owners wanting to advance their knowledge of modern and natural ways of doing things, I’ll be revealing the secrets of old-school natural poultry keepers and breaking everything down so that it’s practical and easy.

And the best part? You get access to me for 12 months through our online community and group Zoom calls.

Natural preventative health, reducing stress and excellent husbandry is critical for healthy, happy chickens.

🐓👉LIVE 8-week round of the course starts on Wednesday September 2025! 7pm Wednesday night for 8 weeks. Recordings available for 12 months.

So join me for A-Z Natural Chicken Care and let me help you to improve the health and happiness of your flock, naturally!

🐓👉🏻 Details and bonuses at https://chickencoach.com/course

20/03/2025

✨🐓Workshops are back, both in-person and online!🐓✨📣GEELONG! I’m running Backyard Chickens Beyond The Basics on at 10:00am Saturday 29 March 2025 at Eastern Hub. 🌏Then, I’m hosting the same workshop LIVE, ONLINE via Zoom at 10:00am Sunday 30 March 2025. All the details are at https://chickencoach.com/workshop Hope to see you there! ~Elise

20/01/2024

✨🐓Looking to buy, build or upgrade your next chicken house? This masterclass is a MUST!

I’ll be sharing the essential must-haves for chicken housing, budget-friendly design tweaks that will save you time every day, and ways to avoid common design mistakes so you can create a simple and easily maintainable environment for your backyard chickens.

7:30pm Tuesday 23 January 2024.
Register for FREE at
https://chickencoach.com/housing 🐓✨

Intro to Planning Your Next Chicken House - An online masterclass by expert Chicken Coach, Elise McNamara

24/10/2022

Wondering how some people make chicken keeping look easy?

Get started on the right foot and be confident in the care and health of your flock, with expert Chicken Coach, Elise McNamara.

Chooks From Scratch - Naturally.

WHAT: A 90-minute live online workshop, followed by 30 minutes Q&A.

WHEN: 10:30 am - 12:30 pm Sunday 30 October 2022

A limited time recording will be available if you’re unable to join me live.

WHO IS THIS WORKSHOP FOR?
🐔Beginners or those new-ish to chooks
🐔You want to feel confident in your own ability to observe your chooks’ health and behaviour
🐔You’re looking to get started with backyard chickens and you want to start with healthy chooks and an easy set-up
🐔You want an easy list of things to do, when and how
🐔You want to know you’re feeding the right feed for your flock and you’re not attracting every wild bird and rodent in the district!

Questions? Send me a PM and I’ll get you sorted 🙌

I look forward to meeting some new faces! Elise

19/10/2022

Nesting box herbs are back in stock!
This mix helps to repel lice, mites, and insects in your chickens’ nesting boxes, as well as having a calming effect on your birds.
How to use - Simply sprinkle 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the herbal mix per nesting box. Replace when refreshing their nest litter. Available on the chickencoach.com. Elise 🐔

16/10/2022

👏🏡🐔THANK YOU Annie for opening up your home and garden (and amazing chook house) for everyone to enjoy as part of Geelong Sustainable House Day 2022. This is a great example of what you can do any backyard. When I help people design chicken coops/ houses/ runs for small spaces, Annie’s place comes to mind. It uses a lot of Permaculture principles and is incredibly functional for a busy person who wants to maximise their space and make things easy. Plus, have happy chooks! 🐓👏

If you want help creating or retrofitting a beautiful chook space, send me a message and I’ll send you some options to get started 🙂🐓Elise

12/10/2022

GEELONG and surrounds📣There is so much happening this weekend!🥳 Sustainable House Day is running over Saturday and Sunday. Don’t miss your chance to see some beautiful properties in Geelong, Torquay and the Bellarine, plus expert talks on retrofitting and building. I’ll be at Annie’s incredible garden in Highton from 10-2pm Sunday to answer any of your chook🐔 questions. I’m bringing some hens that work in small spaces, too! Details in bio/comments.

Then we also have the Royal Geelong Show, Thursday to Sunday. Don’t miss the poultry pavilion. See hundreds of beautiful breeds, including some rare breeds and even a Guinea fowl and turkey! 🦃 Chicks will be hatching all weekend🐣 and many other activities.

If we cross paths, be sure to say hi! 😊👋 Elise