Chicken run: front-line care of hens Part one: husbandry and handy tips

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1 Vet Times The website for the veterinary profession Chicken run: front-line care of hens Part one: husbandry and handy tips Author : VICKI BROWN Categories : Vets Date : September 1, 2008 VICKI BROWN explains that backyard chickens are becoming more popular and provides an overview of their habits and care, in the first of a two-part article CHICKENS are, understandably, growing in popularity as backyard pets (Figure 1). Poultry owners seem to find an inordinate satisfaction in collecting fresh eggs every day and in watching the girls scratching turf for bugs and worms. They are not common callers in the average mixed practice (probably because chickens are like goldfish: any excuse and they ll go belly up and die), but in rural areas a practice may see two or three hens a week. This article will discuss chicken husbandry and some top tips for the non-poultry vet, while the forthcoming second part will address common chicken diseases seen in backyard hens. Healthy hens The healthy, laying hen () trades by its bright red comb - a reliable sign that it is producing regularly. The bird looks sleek and glossy, the legs are clean and, although scaly, are free from any scary looking lumps and bumps. The crop contains loose grit, like a balloon half-filled with water and soft, small gravel. 1 / 12

2 The hen s vent is clean. Its most entrancing behaviour is the characteristic scratching at the ground - step forward, scratch back; step forward, scratch back - which is like a mesmerising tribal dance. On a hot day, a chicken that scrapes itself a shallow basin in the ground, and lies in it with the neck and wings outstretched, is not at death s door but is merely sunbathing. It will periodically shower itself with dust to cool down. Housing Housing can be really easy. Although some wonderful looking deluxe models are available whoever thought you could spend hundreds of pounds on a chicken ark? - a garden shed () is just as serviceable. The shed can be easily rigged up with some perches (chickens prefer rough or square-ended poles to smooth, round-ended ones) and boxes for laying. Hay, straw, shavings or paper all make good nesting materials, provided they are changed regularly to avoid build up of disease. Fencing Chicken wire makes a good fence and should be 6ft high and dug 6in into the ground to stop the entry of foxes. Predation is almost inevitable at some stage in the game, however, as foxes are not called crafty for nothing. If the hens are let out of the pen, dogs can make good chicken guards (if they are not tempted to a chicken dinner themselves). My collie can amuse herself for hours, trailing doggedly after the contemptuous chickens and kidding herself that she can actually round them up. Fodder It would be great if you could feed chickens entirely on house- hold scraps, but then eggs would be few and far between. Layers need good-quality feed in the form of layer s mash, pellets or crumbs. I find that the pellets last longer and are less wasteful. Adlib is fine, so long as the food is fairly fresh and always dry. Scraps should be regarded as a supplement to chickens proper food, rather than a replacement. They love soft fruit, spaghetti (it must be the resemblance to worms) and even Christmas cake (don t tell my mother). One of our hens, a bulkstandard brown warren, actually squawks with excitement and comes running full tilt across the garden when it sees me getting out the gardening fork. This bird is the best gardening friend I am likely to have, although her zealous consumption of all the worms I dig out is not doing the soil any favours. 2 / 12

3 Wing clipping Chickens will never rival Biggles, but it may be necessary to clip one of their wings to prevent them from making a great escape. This task involves tucking the bird under your arm and extending the wing. Cut either the primary feathers only (some flight will still be possible thereafter) or both the primary and secondary feathers. Cut as close to the base as possible. It is completely painless and only one wing needs to be done. Laying Point-of-lay pullets are about weeks old and usually cost per bird - quite a lot given their penchant for early mortality. They may take several weeks to settle into a new home and get down to production. Different breeds have vastly different prolificacy - we have found that ex-battery hens, condemned to death at one to two years of age, are by far the most prolific layers and are a lot cheaper than some fancy bird with fluffy feet that wouldn t know an egg if it scrambled in front of it. Even so, 300 eggs per hen per year is good going, and most are proud of a mere 200 to 250. Six eggs per hen per week is the gold standard. Day length governs egg production, and any chicken will go off the boil when daylight drops to 10 hours or less. If you want the hen to lay continually, never allow day length to decrease, as this change triggers a reduction in production. Keeping light levels (a 60-watt bulb is fine) at hours a day is acceptable. Moulting Autumn is the natural time for shedding feathers (), but any stress can start a moult and stop the hen from laying. Egg binding The highlight of my career as a poultry vet (there s a pun there, crowing to be let out) was when a depressed chicken entered the consulting room. The glamorous lady who had brought it in had no idea what was wrong with it - and neither did I - but she was impressed when I inserted a welllubed (and gloved) finger into the vent and produced, with a flourish, a lovely egg. At that moment, I seriously thought about taking up conjuring. Whether the chicken had been truly egg bound or not, I ll never know, as I never saw it again (a good sign?). However, had that failed, I could have resorted to the old trick of Vaseline and a steaming kettle (tips such as these, passed on by a learned farmer encountered on work experience, can hardly fail to be brandished on the 3 / 12

4 brain of an impressionable veterinary student). Broodiness Left to their own devices, hens will lay a clutch of eggs and then sit to hatch them - the absence of a cockerel, and even the absence of the laid eggs, won t deter them. They then may not lay again for weeks, months or even the rest of the year - so broodiness is something to discourage as soon as possible. I thought the modern warren, the queen of egg-laying, had broodiness weaned out of it generations ago, but as I write this our warren is snuggled up determinedly with its best mate, a maran, and neither has had an egg under it for weeks. This is my fault, of course - I should have practised what I preach and collected the eggs pronto. Health care The next article will deal with common chicken diseases and the availability of vaccinations. Perhaps we have been lucky, but we have never vaccinated our hens against anything, and have never had any overt problems. References McMullin P (2004). A Pocket Guide To Poultry Health and Disease, 5M Enterprises. Walters J and Parker M (1979) Keeping Chickens, Michael Joseph. 4 / 12

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6 Figure 1. Chickens are good pets as well as being productive 6 / 12

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8 Figure 2. A healthy hen. The bird looks sleek and glossy, and the comb is bright and red. 8 / 12

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10 Figure 3. Although more sophisticated options are available, garden sheds make good chicken houses. 10 / 12

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12 Figure 4. Autumn is the natural time for moulting, although stress can cause loss of feathers and laying to stop. 12 / 12 Powered by TCPDF (