Laying Down the Facts
There’s no fake news here, just several topics of truth that every chicken-keeper should know.
There’s no fake news here, just several topics of truth that every chicken-keeper should know.
When it comes to laying hens, a tremendous amount of information exists out there. It can be hard to know what is accurate and will benefit your flock. What follows is detailed factual data on several basic, important topics. This will help you determine fact versus fiction regarding your laying flock.
Diet
Diet is a big concern for most chicken-keepers. What your hens eat directly affects the nutrients in their eggs. All laying hens need a balanced diet. A feed that is balanced means it has all the correct proportions and ratios of vitamins, minerals and nutrients. Laying hens in particular need a balanced diet because they have very specific nutritional needs for egg production.
Letting your hens eat your grass and weeds will not make their eggs nutritious. What will? You providing them the nutrients you want in the eggs. Various feedstuffs are simply a vehicle for nutrients; certain nutrients aren’t necessarily good or bad. It’s all about the balance of the feed.
Calcium makes up the majority of eggshells, and layer feeds are balanced to have higher calcium content than nonlayer feeds. If your hens experience major issues such as their eggs having really soft shells, provide a calcium supplement.
Eggs
Often when hens start laying for the first time or start laying again after a long break, they can lay an extra tiny egg, sometimes called a fairy egg. This is normal and simply a byproduct of ovulation that ends up in a shell. Usually it’s just an egg white, but sometimes there is some yolk inside as well.
Hens usually lay eggs productively for a few years; the exact amount of time depends on the breed. Typically, hens take a break from laying during the winter. Very productive breeds lay regularly during winter months if they’re exposed to artificial light for about 12 to 14 hours a day.
Any additional stress your hens experience shows up first in egg production. This can happen during health issues, heat stress or moving to a new coop.
Provide good nesting boxes and avoid broken eggs in the chicken coop. This is important because the latter can lead to hens eating the eggs. Once a hen starts eating eggs, it’s difficult to get her to stop.
If you do have a hen that likes to eat eggs, using a rollaway nesting box is a great option. These nesting boxes are slightly sloped so the eggs roll out of the box into an area the hen can’t enter. Another option is to use dummy eggs or golf balls so that when she tries to peck at them, they are hard and will not break. Frequent collection of eggs can help prevent this problem as well.
Free-Ranging Chickens
Often backyard chicken-keepers get chickens with the goal of letting them free-range. While this sounds idyllic, it usually ends up being dangerous for the chickens. Here are some pros and cons of free-ranging to consider.
Pros
• Chickens can roam around as they please. For the most part, they do love getting out and scratching about.
• You get excellent fertilization wherever they roam. Chicken poop has a high nitrogen concentration, which makes it a great fertilizer.
• They get a wider variety of feedstuffs in their diet by grazing and eating bugs. You also needn’t supplement grit; they naturally pick up rocks and dirt.
• It makes us all feel good to see our chickens roaming free.
Cons
• Predators are more of a concern. There is a much higher chance they will encounter something dangerous.
• Chickens can also roam very far away from the coop. If you do not have a fence, they can easily wander across a few acres.
• They lay eggs anywhere and everywhere — even if you have perfect nesting boxes in the coop.
• They can destroy a garden or yard in just a few hours.
• They poop everywhere. Not only is this gross, but chicken poop can contain salmonella, so it’s also unsanitary.
• Free-ranging means more maintenance because you need to open the central living area in the morning and close it at night. If you leave them out at night, predators will kill them.
A good solution if you want to let your chickens free-range? Find a middle ground between total free-ranging and enclosure. If you have a relatively safe property with few wandering dogs or other predators, letting your chickens out about noon gives them time to lay in the nesting boxes and then wander about until dusk. They come back to the coop at dusk if they have had time to associate their coop as home and it is where you feed and water them.
If you have no enclosed area and predators can easily wander through, fencing your gals into a certain space is crucial for keeping them safe. Electric fence netting is a great way to let your chickens roam while keeping them safe.
The best way to protect chickens from predators is to prevent the intruders from entering the coop. Do that by making sure doors, corners and fencing along the ground of your coop are secure. To keep predators out, line openings with strong grid wire, not chicken wire.
Health
There are four basics that all chickens need to be healthy:
• cleanliness
• proper nutrition
• free access to clean water
• adequate housing
The following are characteristics of healthy chickens:
• stand upright
• strong movements
• clear eyes and nostrils
• smooth, clean feathers
• healthy comb and wattles, usually a deep red color
• filled-out body
• bright eyes
Chickens are relatively low maintenance, but they do require routine health care, just like you or any other animal. Deworming chickens is recommended, in the spring after the thaw and in the fall after the freeze. Additionally, you might need to provide medication, vaccinations or even veterinary care depending on the situation.
You need to do a few things routinely to keep your chickens healthy. Keeping track of your chickens’ health regularly prevents most big issues and helps you know when problems arise.
• OBSERVATION: Take a few minutes daily to observe your flock. This lets you get accustomed to normal behavior so you can better spot abnormal behavior and problems over time.
• POOP CHECK: No, this is not a joke. Problems such as worms or illness are often indicated first in the feces. Checking poop daily to see whether it’s watery, wormy or some other abnormal state lets you know when changes occur so you can detect issues sooner.
• COOP CLEANING: The frequency of coop cleaning depends on the coop design. Generally, nesting boxes should be clean and bedded, there shouldn’t be an abundance of poop on the coop floor, and under the roosts should be cleaned daily.
• THOROUGH CHECK: Every few months, thoroughly check each of your chickens. Pick them up. Go through their feathers, wings, legs
and faces to make sure they don’t have any pests or injuries — especially if you notice a decrease in egg production.
If you do need to use a medication on a chicken, read the label. Following the label on animal medication is mandatory, and using any product contrary to the label directions is illegal. The label tells you what diseases the product treats against, what species it covers and how to administer the medication.
The most important thing to understand when administering medication is the withdraw time. This is the amount of time it takes for the medication to cycle through chickens and make its way out of their systems. All animal medications have withdraw times, and all animal caretakers — commercial or backyard — are required by law to abide by them.
Disease Directions
When treating disease, you need to take certain steps to ensure you contain the illness and prevent it from spreading.
• Remove sick birds from the flock. This is called quarantine. This is also necessary when bringing new birds home.
• Keep sick chickens separated for at least two weeks; the total time depends on the disease or organism you are fighting.
• Keep all feed/feeders, water/waterers separated. Have everything separated for sick chickens.
• Wash yourself, your tools, your clothing and shoes after treating sick birds. I usually keep a separate pair of boots and coveralls handy for situations like this.
As always, preventing illness is the best option. Here are some great ways to prevent disease.
• KEEP THINGS CLEAN: This includes coop, chickens and eggs.
• PREVENTIVELY TREAT FOR WORMS & DISEASE. Vaccinate if necessary, and feed chicks medicated feed. Deworm with a legitimate dewormer twice a year. If you would like to use garlic as a preventative measure on a regular basis that is a great option, but it doesn’t work for an existing worm problem.
• PROVIDE DUST BATHS. Chickens not only enjoy dust bathing, it’s vital to their health. Fill the baths with either dirt or a mixture of sand and dirt.
• QUARANTINE NEW CHICKENS. If you get new chickens, separate them for one to two weeks to ensure they don’t make your other chickens sick.
Another great way to prevent disease is with vitamin and mineral supplements or herbs and home remedies. I never recommend these as treatments for existing issues, but I do believe they are beneficial when used as preventative measures. If you have a legitimate disease or problem in your flock, herbs and home remedies are not reliable or strong enough to be effective.
Armed with these facts, you can keep your chickens healthy, happy and productive. Keeping chickens isn’t hard, but finding the right information can be. Seek professional advice if you have a sick or injured chicken. Otherwise, follow these simple steps and you’ll have beautiful, nutritious eggs in no time.
Alli Kelley is the author of the blog Longbourn Farm, where she tells entertaining stories about country living while making sure her readers get all the important information they need for their farms. She has a masters in animal nutrition and a bachelors in animal, dairy and veterinary science. Her education and experience give her a qualified and distinct teaching style whether she is talking animals, land or food.