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Poultry Helpline
Frequently asked questions
Please note that we are unable
to answer individual queries.
Books on poultry keeping by Katie Thear and available from this web site include:
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North Holland Blue
Photograph Katie Thear
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Poultry Questions
Is it necessary to have a cock bird to encourage hens to lay eggs? |
| No, it isn't! This is a commonly held old belief, but there is no truth in it. A hen will lay eggs when her system is mature enough and when the daylight hours are increasing. A male bird will react to a female only when she has started to lay, and is required only when breeding is to take place. Commercial egg-laying flocks never have a cock running with the hens. |
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What's the difference between a hard-feathered and a soft-feathered breed of chicken? |
| Game fowl are described as hard-feathered breeds because they have close-fitting, smooth plumage. This would obviously have been advantageous to fighting birds in the past, before cock fighting was declared illegal. All other chicken breeds are said to be soft-feathered because they have looser, fluffier plumage. The degree of fluffiness varies according to the breed, with some exhibition birds having far more than normal. |
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How does a chicken pee? |
| It doesn't - at least not in the way that it?s normally understood. The urine does not emerge separately from the faeces. It travels from the kidneys down the ureter tubes to the cloaca. Meanwhile faeces pass from the large intestine to the cloaca. Both are then ejected from the vent. The urine is the whitish part of the droppings. |
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What are the advantages, or otherwise, of hybrid chickens over pure breeds? |
Hybrids lay more eggs so if this is an important consideration, they would be the choice. They will also have been vaccinated against some of the more serious poultry diseases. (Some large breeders of pure breeds also vaccinate their birds. Check this!) Hybrids are generally cheaper than pure breeds.
The pure breeds are much more colourful than most hybrids, with considerable variation in size, plumage patterning and other characteristics. In that sense, they are more interesting to keep and if bred from will produce offspring like themselves. If they are good examples of the breeds, they can be exhibited at poultry shows. By keeping pure breeds you are also doing your bit to conserve the old breeds, many of which are quite rare. |
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How much food does a chicken require each day? |
This will obviously vary depending on the size of the chickens and on the weather conditions. Large birds eat more than bantams and all of them will need more in winter to cope with the cold weather. As far as the average chicken is concerned (an average chicken is taken to be a commercial laying hybrid)the following applies: 130g proprietary layer's ration per day; 20g of grain per day.
Again, bear in mind that these amounts will vary considerably depending on the conditions.
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How much water does a chicken need to drink? |
Nearly 70% of a hen's weight is water, while an egg contains around 65%. In normal conditions, the average hybrid hen will drink 200ml of water a day. In hot weather this can more than double. A water shortage that continues for up to five hours causes hens to eat less. In layers this has the knock-on effect of producing smaller eggs. A shortage of water can also trigger an egg-eating habit as the thirsty bird looks for an alternative source of moisture.
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How many chickens are needed to supply eggs for a household? |
| Three hybrid layers will provide enough eggs to supply the average household. |
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What should chickens be fed? |
| Give them layer's pellets in the morning and some grain such as wheat in the afternnoon. They should also be provided with insoluble poultry grit for breaking down grain in the digestive system, and crushed oystershell for strong egg shells. Put these in a container from which they will help themselves occasionally, as needed. They will not take more than they need. |
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Can you tell me something about Crested ducks? Is it a breed or just an attribute? |
Although there is a recognised breed of duck known as the Crested, it is worth remembering that the characteristic of having a crest can appear in any of the domestic breeds of ducks. The crest is essentially a mutation that is associated with skeletal deformities and has been known for hundreds of years. There are those who claim that crested ducks first appeared in Britain, but this is highly unlikely. Random genetic mutations can and do arise spontaneously all over the world. Cross breeding would then have increased the numbers of birds with the same characteristic. 17th century Dutch paintings show crested ducks.
The crest is formed from an intracranial mass of fatty tissue that emerges through a gap in the cranium. From this, feathers grow. Crests vary from centrally placed, full crests, rather like powder puffs, to knobbly protuberances with just a few feathers.
The crest gene is an incompletely dominant one. In other words, if an embryo receives a double dose of the pure gene - one from each parent (homozygous) it will die in the shell. If only one of the parents passes it on (heterozygous) the resulting hatches will be as follows: 25% will not hatch, 25% will not have crests and 50% will have crests. If a crested heterozygous bird is crossed with an un-crested one, the resulting hatch should be 50% crested and 50% plain. So, as you can see, breeding Crested ducks is challenging and not recommended for beginners.
The British Waterfowl Association?s standards classify the Crested as a light breed with a fairly upright carriage and a long, broad body. The crest should be globular in shape and placed centrally. The White Crested has pure white plumage with an orange bill and legs. Coloured Crested ducks are also recognised, and any other colour is permitted. Defects are incomplete or split crests, and the wrong colour bill and legs in the White. Deformities include twisted necks, back and tail. The average weight for a drake is 3.2kg while that for a duck is 2.7kg. There is also a Crested Miniature that was developed in Britain in the 1980s and 1990s. The standards are the same as for the large version, apart from the size. The weight of the bantam male is 1.1kg while that of the bantam female is 0.9kg.
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How much water do ducks need? |
It depends on the type of ducks. They can be divided into dabblers, divers and perchers. The Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos, and all breeds of domestic ducks that are descended from it, are dabblers. So too, are the ornamental breeds of the Anatini tribe, such as Pintail, Anas acuta, Shoveler, Anas clypeata, Teal, Anas crecca, and Widgeon, Anas penelope.
A dabbler is one that spends most of its time dabbling about on the surface, eating pond plants such as duckweed as well as insect larvae. They immerse their heads and occasionally up-end or even go completely under the water. A minimum of 15cm (6in) of water is needed, and ideally 30cm (12in) for effective up-ending and immersion.
Divers are ducks of the Aythyini tribe that dive down to greater depths so that they can feed on plants, worms and crustaceans on the bottom. Their bodies are generally shorter and have the legs set further back for more effective diving. Examples of divers are the Tufted duck, Aythya fuligula, and the Pochard, Aythya farina. They need a depth of at least 90cm (3ft).
Perchers, as the name implies, are ducks that perch in trees in their natural environment. The Muscovy is descended from the South American tree duck, Cairina moschata. Although it has been domesticated and bred for increased size, it is still able to fly (at least until it settles down in a particular place). It has also retained the instinct to perch. Ours always found straw bales to their liking.
Other Cairinini tribe perchers include the beautifully marked Mandarin, Aix galericulata, and the Carolina, Aix sponsa. To get them to lay, hatch and brood their eggs, these ornamentals require nest boxes that are placed well above ground. In the wild, they often use holes in tree trunks, but nest boxes with long ramps are available from suppliers. There are also specialized houses for them. As far as water is concerned, they need a depth of 90cm (3ft).
Most commercial table ducks are raised without access to water at all, apart from drinking water. This is an abominable situation and I, for one, refuse to buy supermarket ducks because of this. At the very least, they should be able to immerse their heads in water and splash about a little. A depth of 15cm (6in) of water would suffice and make all the difference to the ducks.
How water is provided is another question, and depends on the scale and nature of the operation. It may be a farm pond, a stream, a concrete pond, one made with a butyl rubber liner or even a rigid paddling pool. There are also moveable ponds available from specialist suppliers, which can be used in aviaries, fields or enclosures.
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How much pasture and what sort of grazing do domestic geese need? |
Geese are grazing birds and from spring, through summer and early autumn they can obtain much of their food requirements from grass. If you do not have access to grass then keeping geese is not a practical option. Ideally grazing for geese should be no more than 10cm (4in) high and consist of fresh young grasses. These contain nutrients missing from more tough and fibrous vegetation. Fine leaved and shallow rooted grasses are not really suitable as they are likely to become tough and wiry. Tough fibrous material can lead to crop impaction and constipation. An ideal mixture for geese would be perennial ryegrass, timothy and clover.
The amount of pasture needed will vary with the quality of grasses and climatic conditions, as well as on whether the birds are permanent breeding stock or those being reared on a temporary basis. A reasonable stocking rate for permanent breeders on good grass is probably around 12 birds per hectare (5 per acre), if they are heavy breeds such as Embden. Light breeds, such as the Chinese and Roman can be kept at a density of 15 birds to the hectare. This is the stocking rate that we adopted.
Where geese are being raised for market, from gosling to killing weight, a maximum density of 600 birds per hectare is recommended, but only if this is on fresh grass and for a limited period. This is also the maximum density for organic production. In these circumstances very careful management is needed to ensure that the birds are obtaining sufficient nutrients and they are moved on at the appropriate time. Overstocking can lead to a build up of parasites and outbreaks of gizzard worm
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Incubation: A Guide to Hatching and Rearing
Starting with Sheep
Starting with Chickens
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Broad Leys Publishing