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Examining a chickens Health

June 12, 2011 By ChickenGirl Leave a Comment

Experienced poultry keepers develop a ‘sixth sense’ and are able to tell if their birds are behaving normally with so little as a glance. Experienced or not, it is important to learn how to tell if your birds are in good shape. Signs to look out for include comb, feathers, vent, eyes etc. Comb; This can serve as a good indicator, if its red in cockerels, then the cockerel is generally healthy. If it is red in hens, the hen is healthy and in lay. If a hens comb is pink she is not in lay but is still healthy. If the comb is blue tinged, then circulation is poor. The wattles should be red and the earlobes should be red/white according to breed standard.

Head; This is also a good indicator, the nostrils should be clear and free of fluid. If they have runny discharge, the birds could be trying to fight off bacterial or viral infection, otherwise they may be suffering from respiratory disease. Listening to their breathing should determine if they have difficulty breathing, if they wheeze or their breath rattles, they may be suffering from respiratory disease.                                                                                                                                                                   Eyes should be bright and alert, with no discharge or frothy mucus. the beak should lie normally, it should be brown/black/yellow/blue as breed standard will determine.

Legs, feathers and feet; Legs should be smooth, the scales should lie flat. They should be ‘clean’ both in terms of cleanliness and featherless (unless the breed standard calls for it). Their feet should have four toes, no more no less (unless by breed standard they have five toes eg. silkies).                    Feathers  should be smooth, colourful and shiny. They should have appropriate markings for the breed. Some breeds are referred to as ‘soft feathered’ while others are ‘hard feathered’. This refers to feather texture, for example Brahmas feathers are soft and they are classified as soft feathered. Chickens feathers and markings should agree with their breed classification.                                      The vent should be clean and muck free, the base of the feathers should be regularly checked for the buildup of lice, because, along with the wing feathers, the vent feathers are a prime place for lice. It is very important to bear all of this information into account when buying new birds.

It is extremely important to keep your chickens healthy, and if you do, you will be rewarded with eggs and cute chicks.

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Chicken Housing

May 24, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Chickens like to live a life of freedom and range where they choose, but in the modern day people interefere with this, and put them in cages to lay. People now also put them into there garden for a fresh supply of eggs, but for them to remain healthy and happy they have imporant requirements including good food, a foraging area, nutrient rich greens, space and good housing.

Runs and paddocks

Chickens like to range wherever they choose, but mostly this is not an option because people don’t like to have their flower beds in disarray, so an enclosure in the garden will do. They prefer to have a place with trees because they dont like to stand in a place where they are vulnerable to the hot sun. Our paddocks have apple trees so they shade the birds, and also give us a summer treat!
Fencing should be strong post and rail with chicken mesh, which should be checked regularly for holes.
Runs should contain a sand bath, which the chickens can use at will. It should contain sand, diatomous earth or both.
The term Free range is different to free to range, the latter refers to chickens which are not cooped up while the former is where each hen has a minimum of 4 metres square to roam.
The standard is 4sq ft in the coop and 10sq ft in the run in mainstream production.

Housing requirements
There must be at least 10in perch space for each hen and there must be at least 1 nest box per 5/6 hens. There must be at least 1 drinker per ten hens and, by DEFRAs regulations, 15cm of feeder per bird.
There must be sufficient ventilation, birds must be warm enough, but must also have fresh air available to avoid respiratory problems.
Contrary to what some people think, chickens only lay in their nestboxes, they dont sleep in them. Therefore several birds can share a nestbox, the box must be in a quiet, dark and fairly secluded corner.
Naturally, the place where droppings are at greatest density is in the chicken coop, where they poop in the same place every night. As a result of this, coop cleaning needs to be done at least once a week. A few small bantams in a fairly large coop need to be cleaned out once a week, while larger birds need cleaning out every two or three days.

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Chickens month by month

February 22, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

A DAY ON THE CHICKENS LAND

AM: let the chickens out, feed them (with layers pellet or mash), check grit, change their water and check for eggs.  Clean out the chicken houses if necessary. Dust with mite powder (red mite is a potentially deadly pest and can kill a full grown hen) and replace straw.

PM: check eggs ( essential if not done in morning) and feed chickens (with a handfull of grain) or (a top up of mash or pellets).

At dusk (or the earliest when the chickens go to bed) close their houses and count them.

CHICKENS MONTH BY MONTH

AM: let the chickens out,feed them (with layers pellet or mash), check grit, change their water and check for eggs. Depending on what day it is , clean out the chicken houses. Dust with mite powder (red mite is a potentially deadly pest and can kill a full grown hen) and replace straw.

PM: check eggs( essential if not done in morning) and feed chickens (with a handful of grain.
At dusk (or the earliest when the chickens go to bed) close their houses and count them.

February
If you are purchasing more chickens, now is the time to consider the breed you would like. Why do you want them? Eggs? For showing? Just for appearance? rare and traditional breeds often produce all these traits in one.

March
If you are purchasing more birds, you need to select a suitable house, with dark nestboxes, suitable perches, good ventilation and it must be large enough to accommodate all the bird comfortably.

April
Now is the perfect time to acquire your youngsters. Take a look all around the yard /farm /paddock where the birds are kept.
Do they look stressed? Have they got pale faces? Is the environment suitable?
If you think any hens look in poor condition do not go ahead with the purchase. If they all look good, you can make further considerations.

May
Make sure your new birds travel properly, make sure they don’t get stressed.

June
It is important to supply good food to boost summer production. Feed layers pellets, or mash and give grit. Greens are also important, they supply vitamins and minerals and cause egg yolk to be a rich yellow. Corn can be fed as a treat but do not overfeed as it can lead to overweight birds.

July
During the summer it is extra important that your hens have lots of clean fresh water AT ALL TIMES
During a hot summer hens can become overheated. Symptoms include panting, increased drinking, listlessness and lying on the ground panting.
If a chicken becomes overheated splash cold water on his or her comb and under his or her wings.

August
Look out for red mite (should be done at every time of the year) if you notice these grey (red after their first meal) pests then you need to buy red mite powder A.S.A.P as these mites can kill a fully grown hen (luckily I have never experienced this through routine dusting of the hens, and the house.

September
Now the chickens are moulting, and replacing the old feathers with new winter ones.

October
If point of lay hens are still not laying they will begin in spring, or late autumn.
Reddening combs and wattles are signs to look out for when a hen is due to start laying.

November
Now is the time to prepare for winter using a suitable bedding as litter for the paddock. Shavings are absorbent but messy, straw is even easier and does not absorb well, hemp is expensive and hard to find, but absorbent and not too messy and it deodorises .

December and January
You may need extra warmth in the house, and ice needs cracking twice a day.
Keep feeding grit.
Throughout the year remember to close in the hens every night and count them. Check all ends of the hen house.

When I was a young girl, aged about six my job was to put the hens in and let them out, but eventually my dad started double checking because I once closed the front of the house, while leaving the back open and in the morning one hen was dead in the garden, one had been deposited in front of the door and the last had lost its head but was still half alive, and walked around with only a bloody, bent neck.

That taught me a valuable lesson.

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Laying

November 24, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment


Even as a chick a hen has all the eggs she will ever lay in her ovaries, in an immature form called  rudimentary egg cells (yolks- to- be ).
How quickly this supply is used up depends on breed, feeding, housing and hygiene.
If you use an artificial light to keep your hens laying through the winter their store of rudimentary cells will be used up faster. In her first year, a hen lays the largest amount of eggs that she will ever lay in one year, although the total weight of the eggs she lays stays roughly in her first and second year because in her second year, although the individual number decreases, the size of the eggs increases.

The size of the hen barely affects that of her egg. Take Wyandottes and Dutch
bantams for an example. In the picture the egg above is that of a Wyandotte
while the one below is from a Dutch bantam and Wyandottes are many times
the size of a Dutch bantam.

Colour also varies greatly from white to dark brown with beige, cream blueish
Greenish and pinkish in between.
In the formation of the egg the pigment is added last.
A yolk is released from the ovary and the albumen (egg white)
Forms around it, covered with a membrane.
The egg rotates through the body, giving it its form and then the shell is formed.
Last but not least the pigment is added.

There is a time in the year when hens will take a break from laying. some people switch to cheeper  food because  the hens arent laying, but that is the wrong thing to do. by taking a break, the hens are recharging their batteries, so if anything, they should be fed better food!

You must have an adequate nestbox, or the hens will go and find their own place to lay, sometimes in a bush, or in a hedge or, more frustratingly, under the shed! Nestboxes should have a ‘lip’ at the front to stop the litter spilling out. They should be about 30cm wide and 40cm long. they should have 40cm walls to give the hen privacy, because, hens like quiet, peaceful, dark places to lay.

If you collect eggs daily, your hens shouldn’t get a chance to taste an egg but if they do they will probably start pecking open freshly laid eggs. A dark nestbox helps to prevent this behavior. Once they acquire this habit they are unlikely to stop unless you interfere, you can (most of the time) stop this behaviour by making a hole in an egg, spilling its contents on the nest box floor and adding non-toxic foul tasting liquid like mustard and chilli pepper.

Reduce stress, dont have bright lights around the nestbox. Chickens may also eat eggs because they are not getting enough calcium, so it is worth providing a calcium supplement, in liquid form to add to water, or as oyster shell grit. If this doesn’t work you can make a double bottomed nest box with sloping floor where the egg rolls down a crack to the bottom floor where soft material breaks its fall, so that it is out of the chickens reach.

To find out more about eggs and their anatomy and science, look at http://enisrarebreedchickens.wura.co.uk/the-science-and-anatomy-of-an-egg/ .

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Feeding Chickens

August 5, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

As with all other animals it is important to feed chickens balanced diet.
Many people think of chickens as vegetarian, but i have seen chickens eating insects, worms, slugs, frogs and even pecking at a dead dove. Despite this,chickens should not be fed scraps containing meat.
Scraps and leftovers will not suffice, as although chickens are low maintenance animals they need good food. I disapprove of scraps because they can unbalance the nutrient content of the birds feed. It is often advised not to feed scraps.
When a chicken eats food it fills the crop and in here the food is moistened and then passed into the stomach where the process of digestion is started by digestive juices.
A part called the gizzard then grinds up the food, and does the work teeth would usually do, with the help of grit (this is why grit is such an important part of the diet).
Chickens eat their food to fill their crops, and then graze all day to keep the crop topped up and digestion in motion.
A hen has a maximum capacity of what she can eat so if she fills up on corn and treats all day se will not get her necessary daily nutrition.
Layers pellet has its advantages and disadvantages for although it promotes good laying with strong egg shells, it is not good for breeding chickens as it does not allow good fertility.
Maize improves yolk colour, making it a rich golden color but overfeeding it can also cause problems,
Mixed corn can be fed as part of a healthy diet but should not be fed alone.
Breeders diet this diet is essential for breeding chickens as it contains all they need for fertility, health and good strong,well formed eggs, as well as the nutrients the chick needs in the egg.
Greens these are absolutely essential. They add nutrients and make the egg yolk yellower, the hens stronger and healthier.
If your hens have no access to fresh grass you can feed cabbage, lettuce, apple peal etc.
Chicks should be fed Chick crumb which contain the nutrients they need to grow and strengthen.
Growers should be fed Growers pellets for a similar purpose.

If you abide the rules of feeding, avoid letting your birds get stressed, give them shelter and space to roam and ALWAYS let them have access to FRESH, CLEAN water you should have healthy, happy birds.

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Chicken Breeding- a guide to breeding chickens

January 5, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

Breeding flocks

If you want your chickens to have chicks you need to choose a good, healthy breeding flock.
You should choose birds that are 100% healthy. Their feathers should be shiny and smooth, they should have clear eyes and nostrils.
The maximum number of hens you can have with one cock depends on the breed. With big placid breeds like Brahmas you can normally keep two to five hens with one cock, while with a light, slender, very active cock you can keep up to ten to twelve hens.

Fertilization
All hens that are to be used for breeding should be at least one year old as when they are one year of age they reach full maturity and have generally got better hatching and laying rates.
If your cock is infertile, don’t worry, as infertility whether in old or young is normally temporary. It could be that he is too fat and therefore not in good breeding condition. Also, it could have something to do with the time of year. Some cocks are active all year round and others only in the breeding season.
Mating in chickens is called treading. An active cock is one who mates his hens a lot; a non-active cock is one who doesn’t mate them at all.
To tread a hen the cock mounts her and grips her neck feathers. To pass sperm from cock to hen they join sex openings and the hen can then receives the sperm. Many eggs can be fertilized by just one treading, as it is possible for the sperm to stay alive for more than ten days. Frequently trodden hens often have bare patches on their neck and back. This can be remedied by moving the cock to a seperate run for a while, or adding more hens to his flock.
HATCHING CHICKS
Egg hatching can be done with a broody hen or with an incubator. The latter is an option for mass production, or for people who dont have a broody, while the former is natural and is done by people who keep hens as a hobby.
ARTIFICIAL HATCHING
Some incubators only need water added to keep the embryos moist as they automatically turn the eggs, regulate the temperature and do everything else for you whereas with a more basic incubator you need to turn the eggs and set temperature yourself. It is helpful to mark the eggs with a cross on one side and a circle on the other so that you know which side to tun them onto.
Eggs should be turned over the pointed end three times a day so that the embryos don’t stick to the shell. This should be done to all eggs that are intended for hatching, even if they are just being stored in boxes. It is best to place the eggs with the tip pointing inwards. Once the eggs have been put in leave the incubator lid on all the time unless you are turning the eggs. There should be two water compartments in the middle. Fill one of them up but leave the other.
Eight days into the incubation period it is useful to find out if an egg is fertilized. So you can find out using a candling lamp, a specialist lamp that you can buy either from incubator specialists or an animal feeds merchant. Candling lamps should be used in a dark spot. Hold the lamp against the egg. If you see a dark spot that moves away from the light, you’ve got a live embryo. Sometimes all you see is a dark spot but other times you see a maze of blood vessels. If you see a spot of blood it could either be a dead embryo or an infertile egg (in which case the spot of blood is probably the ‘meat spot’ which is caused by the rupture of a blood vessel during the eggs formation in the hen.) All infertile (clear) or dead (blood ring, blood spot, dark ‘thing’ sticking to the shell*,) eggs should be disposed of (best on the compost where they will be broken down).

*There is an exception to this. sometimes these can be live embryos, the dark thing being the vitelline membrane ( full of veins and arteries), which resembles the placenta in humans. If this is the case you will see a dark spot move away from the light within the dark thing.

Two days before the chicks are due, stop moving the eggs and fill the second compartment with water to aid hatching.
Be patient, as hatching can take as long as two days, so if they are a day too early or too late don’t worry.
There are two membranes in an egg, one inside the shell and the other around the chick.
When hatching, the chick rolls around and takes the yolk sacks and blood vessels inside it. Some people help the chicks that have difficulty while others are strongly against it, for they say if the chick is weak it should be left to destiny.
If you think any of your chicks are weak do not try to help them out by cracking the shell in any place because if they have not done their rolling antics, it makes it all even harder.
For twenty-four hours after hatching chicks can live without food. This does not mean that you should not give them food, once they are dry and in a box they should have access to food!!! It is best to leave the chicks in the incubator until they are totally dry.
Your chicks may start lying around in strange positions because they need to rest and they don’t know immediately how to lie properly. Once they are totally dry, carefully put them into a box with shallow sawdust, a very shallow bowl of water and a shallow rimmed food tray. They should have an infra red lamp and a shelter under the lamp where they can get warmth and shade.
Eventually the chicks will get the hang of standing and grooming.
Broodiness
Having a broody hen has many advantages.
Whereas, among other things, a hen can teach her chicks how to survive an incubator is just a humming machine. The temperature in an incubator can fluctuate or there could be a powercut, ending the embryos life. Despite this incubators have their own advantages, chicks can be hatched without a broody hen and through lots of handling, the chicks also become tamer.
How to recognise Broodiness
* A broody hen sits on the nest for long periods of time sometimes refusing to leave it
* Being aggressive to other hens or her handler
* Certain parts of the abdomen and breast become featherless (‘brood patches’)
* She makes ‘clucking’ noises.

NATURAL HATCHING
Using a broody hen to hatch eggs is an easy option, for all you have to do is wait (and of course, tend to the hen).
It is best to separate a broody hen from the rest as otherwise other hens will come and lay more and more eggs and they will get mixed up and your hen will sit on far too many eggs.
Keeping two or more broodies in the same cage is no good either as they will steal each other’s eggs.
Broody hens should have access to food and water at all times.
Have fun with your chickens, whether it is to breed, for eggs or for exhibition.

Why not take a look at our other chicken care pages, they are loaded with information that you will need and treasure when you keep your own birds.

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Chicken fancier Mecca – National Poultry Show Stoneleigh

August 18, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

One of the most important dates on the calendar of Chicken fanciers and other poultry keeper is the national poultry show organised by the poultry club of Great Britain. This years poultry show takes place on Saturday 28th of November at the National Agricultural Centre, Stoneleigh, Warwickshire.

Apart from the fact that you will have the opportunity to see over 5,000 birds, there will be stalls selling chickens of various shapes, sizes and breeds and poultry equipment and accessories will be on display as well. If you have birds you think are up to show standards, this is also the opportunity to enter your chicken into competition. It is usually an all day even so you need to come well prepared. You can find out more information about the poultry show at The Poultry club website.

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Wyandotte Chickens

August 6, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Wyandotte chickens originate from the United States of America, in Wyandotte. The first variation of this breed was seen in the 1870s. The breed was developed by four breeders and was named American Sebright, but was later re-christened as the wyandotte that we know today, after its place of origin.

Today they are popular for their egg laying capabilities and their table qualities.

A fully grown Wyandotte cockerel weighs around 3.2kg  and a hen weighs about 2.95kg. The bantam variety of the Wyandotte breed is smaller and cockerels weigh about 1.7kg while hens weigh around 1.3kg.

This breed comes in varied colours, some of which are partridge, blue, barred, birchen, blue red, lemon blue, black, buff , white, gold lace , pyle, lavender, columbian silver, silver pencilled, blue lace, gold pencilled, and silver lace. Wyandottes look attractive with wide saddles, medium length back, full breasts, prominent eyes, broad heads and medium necks with full feathers. They have reddish bay eyes, a rose comb sitting low on the head. Red comb whattles and earlobes The tail is carried somewhere between the horizontal and the vertical. They have yellow legs and are made up of smooth curves. They have even, well placed proportions and have good depth of bone.

The features of Wyandotte chickens are that they are great layers but are also fairly large with good table qualities. They are calm, docile and friendly and make good pets. They become tame easily and are suitable for children. They are as atractive and at home in the showring as in the garden . They have excellent egg producing capabilities, during the first year, these hens will to lay about 200 eggs, but an exceptional hen can lay up to 240 eggs.

These hens are also excellent broodies and make good mothers. They are very determined and will sit if they decide to sit.
These chickens are best allowed to roam freely in the garden or in a big pen, as they are quite large, but gardeners beware, if they are overcrowded, they can just as easily trample a lawn as they can rampage flower beds. They survive even in cold climates because they are pretty hardy but white feathering can quickly become yellow, then brown.

The bantam variation is lighter, does no damage to lawns unless overcrowded and does less rampaging through your flower borders. They are simply minature versions of the large variation but their eggs are larger than their larger counterpart. Not in the way of size, but in the way of proportion to the hens body.

If you are after your first chickens, I recommend you go for wyandottes, if you are a first time exhibitor, then these birds are also recommended.

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Dutch Bantams

August 6, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Dutch Bantam

The Dutch Bantam is a desired, ornamental breed kept by many chicken fanciers. ‘Bantam’ used in its common description is the wrong name because the Dutch are one of the few true miniatures as they are not a diminutive form of large fowl.
These upright proud little birds originated from the Netherlands but were soon exported to other countries. Recent DNA tests showed that Drente and Friesian fowl played a great part in the Dutch’s creation. They have a single well-serrated comb and the wings are long and carried close to the body. The ear lobes are white and the wattles are short and round. The tail of a cock has shiny green well-developed main sickles that are large and classically curved and the hens have fairly vertical tails carried upright giving them a U shape created by neck and tail.The Dutch Bantam lays quite large eggs for their size. Their egg producing capability is about 100-160 eggs a year.
Due to their size, Dutch females are only capable of covering a few eggs. Eggs take only 20 days to hatch instead of the usual period of 21 days for large breeds.

They come in lots of magnificent colours including gold partridge, silver partridge, yellow partridge, blue silver partridge, blue, yellow partridge, blue partridge, red shouldered white, cuckoo partridge, cuckoo, black, white and lavender.

Dutch bantams have a tame and trusting nature and make great pets.

Apart from the Dutch there are some other ‘true bantams,’ Sebright, Japanese, Antwerp and Belgians.

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