The Secret Life of Chickens

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Janice Houghton-Wallace looks at the secret life of chickens, specifically the pecking order and explores how their unique society operates.
Give chickens appropriate housing, adequate feed, water and protection from predators, and they will seemingly thrive. However, if you look a little closer there are different social reactions going on and it can be easily seen how and why disputes and other forms of behaviour take place. This is mainly because there is a ‘pecking’ order and a rigid identification of ‘leaders’ and ‘followers’. If we understand this it helps us to look after them better.
Chickens that grow up together from chicks usually get on in later life. Gender plays a part though, and cockerels will behave like lusty teenagers and fight amongst themselves for dominance of the girls. Strange cockerels will fight just because one of them has invaded the other’s space, and sometimes quite nasty encounters can take place before one bows to the other and keeps a distance. Sometimes, this loser will feel so admonished that he will leave his hens in the location of the other cockerel.

Introducing new birds to others is always difficult and should only be done with care. Try not to introduce just one bird but a minimum of two to a group of others, and this is best done by moving all the birds to a different environment. Then there is something new for everyone to get accustomed to. You can also introduce the new birds gradually by keeping them within seeing distance for several days.

To chickens, another bird may be a threat, possibly a health risk or simply a disruption to the established pecking order. The pecking order is really nothing more than establishing who is the head of the family and who is next in importance, down to the last bird in the group. It is also related to territory, and the head of the pecking order will be expected to defend this.
A cockerel will take his lead responsibility very seriously. Occasionally, a cockerel may become rather overpossessive and try to protect his territory and his flock against anything, including the person looking after them. If such a cockerel begins to charge at you whenever you go into the pen, pick him up and cuddle him or completely ignore him. Do not, however, be tempted to retaliate because this will just enforce the bad behaviour. Should the aggressive habit worsen it is better to have the bird dispatched, as a nasty cockerel can be unnecessarily dangerous.
If new birds are introduced to an established group and the pecking order is thrown into disarray some bullying can take place, which can be more or less serious for individual birds. The problem is that once bullying happens it can take some time for the behaviour to stop, and just occasionally it never does.
When taking out a bird that is being a bully, the victim then often turns on another, and so the domino effect goes on. It is almost a tribal impulse that every bird has its place, but this has to be worked out by them and sometimes they differ in their opinions of their own importance. Very occasionally this can lead to physical damage and exhaustion.

Any chickens that are being bullied or live in fear of other situations will not be as productive as contented ones. Always make sure there are sufficient feeders, so that birds at the bottom of the pecking order at least do not go without feed.

By talking to and handling the birds from an early age, your chickens will not be fearful of humans and will be less liable to express fear in later life by trying to escape capture. Fear is defensive behaviour, and this can be seen by avoiding capture. By chasing chickens you are behaving like a predator, and that is how the birds will perceive you.
The poultry that we keep may be considered by us to be ‘domesticated’, but they still retain their natural instincts. If allowed to they will become very inquisitive and explore their patch, scratching in interesting places for morsels such as insects and bugs, which are considered treats. Foraging is an important behaviour for chickens, which use their beaks to turn over grass and other substances, then scratch further with their claws in order to then peck at the seeds, insects or grit that they find.
They enjoy sunbathing, dust-bathing, socialising in their groups, perching, running around, flapping their wings and jumping up on objects like gates. This is all natural behaviour, and if carried out the chickens will be healthier, fitter and essentially more productive.
All poultry have a very strong urge to mate and pass on their genes to the future generation. This is why cockerels fight: they want their genes to be the ones to continue. Hens will become ‘motherly’, and after an egg-laying cycle will go broody, in anticipation of rearing the next generation.
On rare occasions you may find a cockerel helping to look after the chicks. However, generally, cockerels like to carry out the necessary actions to produce fertile eggs and then want nothing to do with the little ones, and could even be hostile to them. Cockerels carry out basic survival behaviour, and this is illustrated by a cockerel calling the hens when he sees a tasty morsel to be had. A male’s natural instinct is to hunt and provide for the family.

Chickens look out for each other and will watch out for danger. If this is sensed, a warning call will be given and the birds will run for cover, either under bushes or back to their housing. Broodies are especially alert and will warn chicks of anything they are unsure about.

A whole group of birds will also complain noisily if they are concerned about something. The birds are on the alert for predators from the sky, such as birds of prey and crows; on the ground, from mainly foxes, mink and badgers; or even humans, if they are strangers and behaving in a threatening manner, such as chasing them.
Janice Houghton-Wallace is founder of The Turkey Club UK, set up in 2001 to promote standard varieties of turkey.
The aim of the club is to :

• Conserve and promote all pure varieties of turkey
• To identify and maintain breed standards
• To encourage and assist with advice, anyone wishing to keep turkeys
• Work towards establishing a higher profile for the turkey, as an exhibition bird and utility species of poultry.
• Whenever appropriate, promote the turkey by education and illustration.

You may also like ...

Why chickens stop laying eggs

The importance of air quality in the coop to ensure a healthy flock

The Problem with Chicken Keeping Becoming so Popular

Keeping Poultry Healthy in Winter

Identifying Poultry Diseases and Ailments

Red Mites in Poultry Houses

Source: Committee Member Helen Quinnell shared from http://homefarmer.co.uk/the-secret-life-of-chickens/

 

How to Break a Broody Hen 

 

It seems I've been answering this question a lot lately, so I thought I'd write it all up to better show up in a search on the subject.  Please feel free to add your wisdom to the topic.

A hen "goes broody" when she wants to set continuously on a clutch of eggs for 21 days and have chicks hatch out.  Some hens will never go broody, some will go occasionally, some go very frequently, even weeks after leaving their last batch of chicks.  It's difficult to "make" a hen go broody, this mood is determined by her own instincts, hormones, voices in her head, instructions beamed down from her Mother Ship.

The best way to tell a hen has gone broody is when she wants to stay in her nest spot at night instead of going up to the roost to sleep.  She'll puff her feathers out, flatten her body over the eggs, growl or shriek if disturbed, and often peck or bite any hand that dares come close.  She may be setting on real eggs, fake eggs, golf balls, or imaginary eggs, it doesn't matter, they're important to her.

Of course you can allow her to incubate the eggs she's collected, or swap them for other fertile eggs from your own flock or someone else's.  How to do that would be the topic of a different thread.  This is about what to do if you want to break your Broody's mood and get her back to the work of laying eggs.

I don't think it breaks a hen's heart to break her broody mood.  You have to give her points for being determined, but really, her mood can be adjusted without doing mental or emotional damage to her.  Some hens are easier to refocus than others.

With some hens, all they need is a few times of being physically removed from the nest and carried out to the yard where their flockmates are ranging.  A little bribe of cracked corn will help them see the benefits of not brooding.

Other hens may need a different treatment.  The best way I know to break a determined broody hen is to confine her to a wire-bottomed cage, like a rabbit or parrot cage, and place that cage up on sawhorses, blocks, or hang it from the rafters, so that air can flow up underneath.  Provide food and water, but NO bedding.  Keep her in there for 3-4 days, unless she lays an egg earlier.

Let her out one morning and watch what she does.  If she hurries back to the nest spot, she'll need a few more days in the Broody Buster.  But if she goes back to hang out with her flockmates, her mood has changed.
Repeat whenever necessary.  broody? not broody!

It's not happy people who are thankful, it is thankful people who are happy!

 

Source: Committee Member Darren Sewell found it at http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/181289/how-to-break-a-broody-hen

 

Why chickens stop laying eggs

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Janice Houghton-Wallace looks at why chickens stop laying eggs.

It seems natural enough, doesn’t it – chickens lay eggs; and why would they not? Well, we have to remember that chickens are living creatures, and therefore, even though man has developed commercial hybrids that are little egg machines, not every feathered girl is going to deliver the goods at all times.

There are many reasons why chickens cease laying, or even don’t begin to lay in the first place. It could be as a result of age, diet, lighting, environment, health, weight, weather, moult, stress, broodiness, breed, predators, lice – the list can be seemingly endless.

Pullets are often bought as ‘point of lay’ birds, which actually relates to their age rather than the fact that they are guaranteed to lay eggs soon. It is certainly not a ‘trade description’ that they will soon start laying! A pullet is sufficiently developed to begin the egg-laying cycle at between nineteen and twenty-two weeks of age, but this is an average and some pure-breeds can take longer.

A commercial hybrid pullet may well begin to lay almost to the day when she should because this is what they have been bred to do. They will also lay anything between 250 and 300 eggs a year, but this number will decrease with each year. That is why commercial laying birds are kept for two years of production and then either dispatched or sold on as (previously) ex-battery hens, or (currently) ex-colony cage hens. The outdoor hybrids are still good producers too, laying around 250 eggs or even more in the first three or four years. The pure-breeds will generally lay fewer eggs, but some do lay more than others.

When hatched in the spring, pullets usually come into lay in the early autumn, but if hatched later in the season it could be relatively longer before they start to lay, possibly not until the late spring of the following year. The later in the year birds are hatched, the longer it takes for them to develop fully. If pullets are too young and therefore not sufficiently developed they will not lay.

FEED

It is essential that laying birds are given a correct feed formulation. The right amount of protein, fats, minerals, vitamins and calcium are required to assist the body to produce eggs, and these can be found in layers’ rations. Layers’ pellets or meal are fed in the morning, and grain, usually in the form of wheat, is fed in the afternoon. Mixed poultry grit should also be available. Hens will not consistently produce good eggs if they are not fed correctly, and wheat alone, together with grass and scratchings, is definitely not sufficient.

On the other side of the coin, hens will not lay if they are too fat. The correct diet with only a few treats is the best way of keeping them fit.

DAYLIGHT

Natural livestock reproduction is ruled by the length of daylight, and chickens need around fourteen hours of light for their egg-laying cycle to react. This is why everyone has a glut of eggs come February and March onwards, with the lengthening of the days. You can bring hens forward with egg laying by providing a little light in their housing, and surprisingly it does not have to be very bright, but having a timer-controlled light come on early in the morning will make a difference. This is better than extending the day in the evening, because then, when the light goes out, the birds would be suddenly left in darkness, which could panic them if they are not already roosting.

ENVIRONMENT

The environment in which hens are kept might not engender sufficient confidence for them to lay an egg. A chicken needs somewhere it can sit safely for a period of time whilst the egg is laid, so they look for a nest box or some other hidden area where they will feel comfortable. Nesting areas should be provided with clean straw or shavings, and it might also be worth putting a ‘pot’ egg in a nest box as encouragement.

HEALTH

Only healthy chickens lay eggs, so if they are suffering from ailments or disease this will curtail egg production. A chicken’s body knows that it cannot do two things at once, so if the bird is sick, approaching the moult or going broody, it will cease to produce eggs.

Internal and external parasites can eventually affect egg laying. Severe worm infestation can interfere with the internal organs, which can in turn disrupt the egg-laying procedure. External parasites can also irritate birds and at worst can cause anaemia and even death. Mites are the most prominent parasite problem, and if there is a red mite infestation tiny red spots can be found on eggs – if the birds are still laying.

WEATHER

Weather, too, will play a big part because severe wind or extremes of heat or cold can disrupt the egg cycle. Chickens loathe strong winds and in these conditions egg laying can cease almost overnight.

STRESS

Stress upsets the natural operation of a chicken’s bodily functions, and egg production can easily be affected if a birds is frightened, moves house, is taken to a show or auction, or moved to new premises. Chickens thrive with a set routine that is not interrupted, which means they should be fed, watered, cleaned out regularly and shut up at the same time each day. Birds of prey flying around can induce severe stress in chickens, as can barking dogs and children running around or chasing them. They should not be chased, especially if they are in lay.

Finally, your hens may be laying, but the eggs could be disappearing through theft! If eggs are not collected on a regular daily basis some chickens are tempted to eat them, and this vice is then difficult to stop. Rats and crows will also steal them. Crows will even sit and wait until they hear the clucking of a hen after she has laid, at which point they will dive in, grab the egg by sticking their beak into the shell, and then fly off.

Janice Houghton-Wallace is founder of The Turkey Club UK, set up in 2001 to promote standard varieties of turkey.

The aim of the club is to :

• Conserve and promote all pure varieties of turkey
• To identify and maintain breed standards
• To encourage and assist with advice, anyone wishing to keep turkeys
• Work towards establishing a higher profile for the turkey, as an exhibition bird and utility species of poultry.
• Whenever appropriate, promote the turkey by education and illustration.

Source: www.homefarmer.co.uk

You may also like ...

The Secret Life of Chickens

The importance of air quality in the coop to ensure a healthy flock

The Problem with Chicken Keeping Becoming so Popular

Keeping Poultry Healthy in Winter

Red Mites in Poultry Houses

Identifying Poultry Diseases and Ailments

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	If seeing all the lambs in the fields is inspiring you to breed your own, order a 'Breeding Flock & Management Planner' to help you plan your year ahead. Our DVD programmes 'Sheep on Your Smallholding' will also give you expert advice on sheep husbandry and welfare. Make sure your buy a copy of the Spring edition of Practical Sheep, Goats & Alpacas Magazine, which has a comprehensive checklist of everything you need to know about rearing healthy lambs - written by Carole Youngs of The Smallholder Series.
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	Simon Dawson, smallholder and author of 'The Self Sufficiency Bible' has written a great review of our DVD 'A Guide to Sheep Butchery'. Here's a snippet, you can read the rest on our website. "The butchery section is particularly good. I loved the way Adam and the butcher showed the steps in such a clear and doable way, and found my fingers itching to have a go, and I'm sure even if you've never butchered anything in your life you'll watch this and feel confident in giving it a go."
	May is another busy month. The days are lengthening and there have been some beautifully warm days to help the growth in your vegetable plot. The warm weather can bring early cases of flystrike though - so keep an eye on your flock. Here are some top tips from our 'Things to Do' pages - available on our website. Sheep - as the weather warms this month, watch out for early cases of flystrike. It's not recommended to use a 'pour-on' product this close to shearing time as it will leave a chemical residue on the fleece. Chickens - if you like natural remedies, offer the hens some garlic granules mixed with their layer of corn - garlic can act as a repellant to harmful gut worms, but don't rely on it totally. Pigs - as the weather gets warmer, make sure your pigs have shade at all times - a hot pig is not a happy pig! Vegetable garden - hoe in the morning so the sun desiccates the uprooted weeds, and water in the evening when the heat of the day is gone. Horses - regularly collecting the muck from your horses' fields will massively reduce their exposure to gut worms and improve their overall health. Keep up with all your smallholding tasks with our comprehensive guides to sheep,chickens, pigs, the vegetable garden and equines. Just click on an image below.
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Compost Toilets

Compost toilets: introduction

What are they?

A compost toilet is a dry or waterless toilet, i.e. one that doesn’t use water to take the waste somewhere else; it also allows natural processes to produce useful compost, after a resting period depending on the type of toilet.

Outdoor compost loo, by the Thunderbox Collective.

DIY compost loos

There are usually two chambers – one in use and one resting. A typical toilet would use one chamber for a year, then change to the second chamber and allow the first to decompose for a year before emptying. They don’t smell, as long as there is a vent pipe, and a drain to take away excess liquid.

A handful of a soak (straw or sawdust etc.) is dropped into the toilet after each use. This is because bacteria like to eat a balanced diet of carbon and nitrogen, and as human waste contains a lot of nitrogen, if they don’t get enough carboniferous material (like sawdust, straw, hay, shredded paper) they will give off excess nitrogen in the form of ammonia, which makes the loo smelly.

Compost loos don’t have to be outdoors; if done properly, there will be no smells, and an indoor toilet will be more comfortable.

The soak allows oxygen into the pile, and absorbs liquid. This allows the pile to decompose aerobically to produce nitrates, phosphates and sulphates. Without a soak, the pile will decompose anaerobically and produce methane, ammonia and hydrogen sulphide – all smelly and not very useful.

Human pathogens don’t like conditions outside the human body, so almost all will be dead after a few hours. Only one type of roundworm egg can survive a year-long decomposition period, and even that’s not going to survive washing and cooking. But even though it is a tiny risk, you could use the compost on fruit trees and bushes rather than in the vegetable garden.

A tree bog is a type of outdoor compost toilet with nutrient-hungry trees planted around it. Solid and liquid wastes are simply deposited into a hole in the ground, and the tree roots absorb the nutrients.

Vent pipe: in this case vent pipes from each chamber meet to vent any smells above the gutter line.

Off-the-shelf compost loos

You can also buy off-the-shelf toilets with one chamber – for inside or outside use.

What are the benefits?

Main benefits

• the solid waste is dealt with on site, and doesn’t have to be treated with chemicals in sewage farms, or end up in waterways, where it causes pollution and algal blooms
• saves water – you don’t have to use one resource (pure drinking water) to flush away another (fertiliser)
• organic matter is allowed to go back to the soil where it belongs, improving soil structure and nutrition

Henry Moule’s earth closet almost became the standard Western toilet in the 19th century.

Other benefits

• no chemical cleaners or bleaches are used in the toilet
• they don’t contribute to the sewage sludge that is often dumped in landfill, or more controversially, put on to agricultural land uncomposted
• as long as the decomposition is aerobic, there will be no greenhouse gas emissions
• no electricity needed
• very low resource use – no pipes are needed to transport waste to a sewage farm, and no truck needed to remove solid waste

The Air Head toilet is small enough to be used in a camper van or on a boat.

what can I do?

Installing a compost toilet

There are many different types that you can buy. Here are some examples:

• Separett or Air Head: buy from our partner Eco-Toilets – the Separett looks like an ordinary loo, and the Air Head is small enough to be used in a camper van or boat
• Rota-loo: plastic, several chambers on a turntable, fan
• Biolet: small toilets, some models electric, some not; distributed in UK by Wendage Pollution Control
• Clivus multrum: one large chamber, vent with fan
• Sun-mar: small; electricity used to evaporate liquids; distributed in UK by Eastwood Services – 01502 478165
• Natsol: make their own twin-vault loos with stainless steel urine separator

There are many more, with new models coming on to the market each year – do the research to find which model might suit you best. Alternatively, you can build your own. This will work out cheaper, and there is no need for electricity. The components of a basic unit are: two chambers, platform, vent, hatch, and removable seat. Our book explains how to do it. Going on a coursemight be a good idea too.

A HepvO valve is the simplest way to convert a conventional urinal to a waterless one.

Using a compost toilet
A compost loo is not a flush-and-forget system. A DIY compost loo needs to be checked every day to see that no problems are developing. If necessary, an ingenious fly-catcher can be made from a glass jar and a little cone made from perspex. Ensure that there’s a bucket with ‘soak’ (e.g. sawdust) next to the loo. To stop a ‘peak’ developing, it may have to be ‘knocked every couple of months with a rake or hoe either via the hatch or seat – this may not be necessary though.
Waterless urinals work well with compost toilets, as urine can be used as a completely-pathogen-free fertiliser, and it stops the compost toilet from becoming too wet. Waterless urinals can be adapted for female use too. Some compost toilets are designed to separate urine from solids.

Emptying one of the chambers.

After the toilet has been used for a year, remove the seat and blank off the hole. Attach the seat to the second chamber. One year later, empty the first chamber and move the seat back. The material from the chamber will be indistinguishable from bag compost bought from a garden centre if it’s done properly. We’ve taken compost from a compost loo and from a garden centre to events around the country, and people couldn’t tell the difference.
The procedure is different for various kinds of manufactured toilets. See here for a detailed, step-by-step guide to getting and using a compost loo.

Source http://www.lowimpact.org/lowimpact-topic/compost-toilets/

Supplied by Committee Member Georgina Keam