A long absence, and now....about those roosters

Pardon the 15-month gap between blogs, but 2013 was a hectic year, and it's taken me the first few months of 2014 to fully recover. I won't be writing as regularly as I did when I was in school and had to post each week for class, but I also won't be quiet for such a long time!

In May 2013 we had a mini-tornado and hail storm rip through our area, and the combination knocked down my portable electric fence, and actually moved my very heavy A-frame chicken house. I didn't realize the problem and let the dogs out for a walk after the storm had cleared. They decimated the flock; only 9 hens escaped (see my 9/12/12 blog, "On predators and prey").

The biggest difference between now and previous to the storm is that I've rebuilt the flock with hens but no roosters. Many people ask if hens can lay eggs without a rooster around, and the answer is yes. The eggs are not fertilized so they won't hatch, but they are just as tasty and nutritious.

I've been rooster-less for almost 10 months now, and I've got to say the "girls" seem much happier. Roosters are rough and just plain brutish when mating, and their spurs can leave the hens' backs bloody and bare. And while I've had some tame roosters who were easy to work around, I've also had roosters who were just plain mean. The mean ones attack anyone who goes near the chicken house or the hens, and that obviously makes things difficult.

But least I get accused of misandry (hatred of males), I will admit that roosters can be helpful. They are always on the lookout for predators, while foraging hens just focus on eating. Many times I've heard a rooster cackling or scolding, only to go outside and discover a threat, such as a dog, coyote, or chicken hawk.

Also I have lost a few customers because some people only want fertilized eggs, either to eat (they think they are healthier), or to hatch.

So for now, we're staying rooster-less, and my Happy Hens are even happier than before!

Fun facts about hens

I've learned a lot about chickens during the 2 ½ years that I’ve been raising them. The biggest thing I’ve learned is that there’s a lot to learn! This week I wanted to share with you some fascinating (at least to me) things I've learned about hens.

First of all, as I mentioned in a previous blog, young hens (called pullets when they’re less than one year old) do not start laying until they are 5 or 6 months old. And when they start laying, it’s anything but regular. A newly laying pullet might produce one small egg or a strangely colored egg every few days; I've even had pullets whose first 5 or 6 eggs were laid without a shell. So it takes a while for the pullets to get good at egg-laying.

Once they are mature layers, each hen will lay, on average, one egg every 25 hours. So the laying time for an individual hen shifts to one hour later each day, until they would be laying in the early evening. At that point, they normally hold off laying until the next morning, and then the one egg every 25 hour schedule starts up again.

Have you ever wondered what makes the yolk of an egg yellow? As I’m sure we’re all aware, the skin of most chickens is somewhat yellow, and this is due to a considerable amount of pigment, which comes from green feeds and yellow corns. In addition to coloring the chicken’s skin yellow, this pigment also gives the egg yolk its yellow color. Free-range chickens, such as mine, have plenty of access to green feeds and thus tend to lay eggs which are a richer color of yellow than hens raised in factory farms.

Over time, however, the pigment stored in the hen’s body is used up. And it is used in a particular sequence. So you can look at a hen, and tell how many eggs she's laid. The pigment is first bleached out of the vent (rear part of the hen where the egg comes out), followed by her earlobe, beak, and feet.

So while in my flock I have a mix of pullets and hens ranging in age from 1-3 years, I can easily tell the youngest from the oldest by how bleached out they are.

While the rate of egg-laying is greatest in the hen’s first year or two, a healthy hen can actually lay eggs for 10-12 years. She may not lay many eggs, perhaps only one every 3 or 4 days, after the age of 4, but she will still be laying.

Most hens, unfortunately, never reach old age. Hens raised in factory farms lay for a year or two and then are culled (a nice way to say killed), when the cost of their feed exceeds the income generated from their egg-laying.

My hens, on the other hand, don’t have anything to worry about. I am committed to keeping them as long as they are healthy and happy, regardless of how many eggs they lay.

Next blog I’ll tell you why I have a totally different attitude towards roosters.

The pullets are laying!

For some of you, I’m sure the title of this week’s blog means nothing. But to me, it’s a milestone for my latest batch of chicks (hatched in May, 2012). Let me explain.

First of all, what’s a pullet? A pullet is a female chicken less than one year old. (In case you’re interested, a male less than one year old is called a cockerel.)

Chickens grow really fast, but pullets don’t start laying until they are five or six months old. At that age they are far from full-grown, but they can still lay “eggs.”

I put the term in quotes because the first few weeks of egg-laying are somewhat inconsistent. A mature hen will lay one egg about every 25 hours, but pullets are much less reliable.

When they first start laying, it might be only one egg every three or four days, and the eggs they lay are typically quite small (golf ball-sized, or in some cases, grape-sized). Also there is less consistency in the color; a brown-egg laying breed, such as a New Hampshire Red, might lay white eggs, or a Leghorn (known for white eggs) might lay light brown eggs.

So it takes the pullets a bit of time to get this all sorted out.

My pullets have been laying since early October, but it has only been this week that they seem to have perfected their skills. For some strange reason, they’re all on the same schedule, and this week I've gotten a lot of appropriately colored, high quality eggs.

   

Their timing is perfect since my oldest hens (hatched in April and May, 2010) are nearing the end of their egg-laying years and producing, on average, only one egg per hen each 30 hours (yes, I keep track of this).

I'm so proud of my young ladies! Here’s a picture of some recent pullet eggs I collected from the nesting box:

Bees gone wild!

I like to think that I know my bees, and that they know me. I know it sounds a little crazy, but we country folk tend to develop relationships with our critter companions.

This week I found out that I was totally wrong about me and the bees. I don’t think we’re friends at all.

In preparation for the upcoming cool weather, I decided to inspect my hive to ensure they have an adequate honey supply to winter over (if not, I would periodically give them some sugar water), and that the queen is still healthy and laying eggs (her main job).

Weather this week has been windy, and at times a little cloudy. Generally speaking, you don’t want to inspect your hive when it’s windy or cloudy because the bees are less settled under these climatic conditions. You definitely don’t want to inspect a hive when it’s both windy and cloudy.

I was so busy this week that the only time I had available to inspect the hive was on a windy and cloudy day. I should have waited, but I didn’t. I thought I could deal with it, but I couldn’t. I’m paying the price now.

Everything was fine until I lifted the top cover off the hive, but just then a gust of wind hit, and angry bees flew up out of the hive. I was wearing gloves but not a face net or bee suit. I got stung 5 or 6 times on the face.

Fortunately I’m not allergic to bee stings, so it was a little painful, but not too bad. Here’s what I looked like for a few days:

In the future, I’ll be more careful about timing my hive inspections to coincide with sunny, windless days. 

And maybe next time I’ll wear my bee suit and face protection. Knowing me, probably not! 

Where do chickens come from?

People sometimes ask me, generally with a straight face, where my chickens come from. The answer is, from eggs, of course!

But what I've learned is that there are several ways to get chickens from eggs. Strange as it sounds, I buy most of my chicks online, from a Texas company called Ideal Poultry. They have a huge selection of chicks, and the prices are quite reasonable.

Chicks you order online are delivered by the US Post Office. This is possible because newly hatched chicks don't eat or drink for 48-72 hours. So as long as they reach their destination within this time, they'll be fine. The chicks are packed in cardboard boxes holding a minimum of 25 chicks (any fewer chicks and they might die because they need the warmth of other chicks to help maintain their body heat).

My tiny country post office gets a lot of boxed chicks, and they know exactly what to do. I normally call the post office a few days before the chicks are expected so they'll be on the lookout for my shipment.

The boxed chicks typically arrive at the post office with the first mail delivery around 5:00 am. The morning clerk calls me as soon as the mail comes in so I can pick up my chicks, even though the post office will not be open for almost 3 hours. Once I pick up the chicks I inspect the box so I can report to Ideal Poultry if any chicks look sick or have died in transit (that's never happened for any of my shipments, fortunately).

The other way I have gotten chickens is to hatch my own. This way is harder and contains more uncertainty. Since I don't have an incubator (a container for holding eggs at a constant temperature and humidity until they hatch), I have to rely on one of my hens to sit on the eggs until they hatch. This is hard on the hen, and hard on the eggs, since a hen will often break a few eggs she intends to hatch by moving around in the nesting box. So I have found it much easier to just order chicks online.

Here's a picture of the chicks I got in May 2012. They were less than two days old when they arrived.

Breeds and types of chickens

I don’t know how many chicken breeds there are in the world, but the American Poultry Association recognizes over 100 different breeds.  There are a lot of ways to categorize the breeds of chickens, but one way I find most helpful is based on their function.

 By my categorization, there are three types of chickens: those which are best at laying eggs; those which are best at producing meat; and dual-purpose chickens which are not the best egg-layers, and not the best meat-producers, but moderately good at both functions.

As with many small chicken producers, I have chosen to raise only dual-purpose breeds.  There is little waste in raising dual-purpose chickens since hens past their prime for egg-laying and extra roosters can be harvested for their meat.  In addition to focusing on dual-purpose chickens, I also prefer those which are considered hardy (disease resistant) and which are good foragers (forage for a high percentage of their food needs as opposed to needing chicken food).

One last criterion I use for selecting chickens has to do with recognized heritage breeds.  A heritage breed is one that was used by our forebearers (in the 1700’s, 1800’s, or 1900’s), but is now in danger of becoming extinct because of modern poultry production facilities. The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy has a wealth of information about heritage chicken breeds and other livestock.  

So while my chickens are all dual-purpose, I currently have 5 different breeds: Wyandottes, Delawares, New Hampshires, Dominiques, and Aracuanas. All these breeds are listed by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.  The first four breeds I mentioned lay brown eggs; the Aracuanas lay greenish blue eggs.  I would love to have some Chanteclers, which are close to becoming extinct, but have not been able to find any.

Next week…Where do chickens come from?

About my chickens

A few weeks ago I wrote about my beekeeping activities. This week I’ll start telling you about my chickens. There is a lot to tell!

People often ask why I raise chickens. The simple answer is that I like to know where my food comes, and I like to know that my food is raised humanely. I don’t know of any way to be absolutely certain about humane conditions unless I’m doing it myself.  

So about 5 years ago I got interested in raising chickens for meat and for eggs. As usual, I did a lot of research before getting any chickens. 

What I learned is that chickens are easy to keep and have few health problems if raised correctly. I decided that my chickens would free range most of the day (once the dogs were up), but realized that I needed to protect them from foxes, coyotes, and other predators at night.

Here’s a picture of my solution to the predator problem.

All night and in the morning until the dogs are put up, my chickens are protected by an electric fence around their houses. The house on the left is where most of the chickens sleep at night and where the hens lay their eggs. The hoop house on the right is additional roosting space; I also use it to house baby chicks until they are big enough to mingle with the older chickens.

The electric fence and both chicken houses are portable, so I can move the chickens to fresh ground every week. This is much healthier than a traditional setup where chickens are raised and live in a chicken yard that has to be cleaned every few months. When my chickens get stinky, I move them to another location.  The houses can be hooked onto the tractor, the truck, or my John Deere Gator utility vehicle for easy transport. The electric fence folds up and can be easily carried.

Most days I let the chickens out after walking the dogs, and they free range over our property during the day. Chickens are happiest when they can peck, scratch, and forage. My chickens eat bugs, lizards, small snakes, seeds, and other tasty tidbits they find. Here are some pictures of my happy foragers.

 Next week….Breeds and types of chickens