Part 1 - Basic Poultry Infrastructure Requirements

Basic infrastructure requirements for poultry

If you're thinking about getting some chickens, what are the basic things that you will need? In this first part of our on-line course in chicken keeping we cover the fundamental infrastructure requirements of your birds.

Chickens and hens are quite sturdy animals but they need a controlled environment, the right food and clean water. Let's look at each of these elements in turn.

A controlled environment

You will need to provide a suitable chicken coop or a run that is large enough to house the number of hens that you want. In general it is better to go larger than trying to confine the animals in a smaller space. They will be less prone to catching any disease, they will be happier, healthier and the welfare of the animals will be improved.

You can either buy a chicken coop ready-made or you can build one yourself. Whether to go for a prefabricated or a DIY option probably depends on your carpentry skills. On the market today there are hundreds of good hen houses that you can buy. They are relatively inexpensive and are a good alternative to building your own coop.

The hens will need to roam and to scratch about. They are only periodically confined to the coop for example; at night time, to lay eggs or for shelter. So you must have some space for them to freely move about outside. This can be an area of garden that you set aside or it can be an area in an allotment or other land that you have access to. In general we would recommend that you allow 2 m² each bird as a minimum. The land that they run around in must also be safe from any predators. To achieve this you will need to fence the area. The extent of the fencing depends to some degree on what type of predators you may have in the environment. Foxes and cats are the most common predators today in the UK. To prevent foxes you will need to fence the run to a height of approximately 1.8 m, alternatively you can buy one of the caged run products that effectively provides a net above and to the sides of the chicken run. This additonally provides protection from predatory birds.

Within the henhouse, you will will provide a nesting area for the birds for when they are laying or when they become broody. You will also need to provide a perch as chickens will tend to perch at night to sleep as opposed to sleeping on the floor.

Maintenance of the coop will also be a consideration. You will need to keep the coop clean and free from any ticks and parasites that may cause trouble from time to time. There are products on the market to help you with this task.

The timber based products are probably the best option for hen houses. Timber provides a natural environment which is less susceptible to condensation and damp and the ventilation of the henhouse is easier. We would recommend avoiding synthetic products when buying or building chicken coop's and runs.

Inside the henhouse you should provide some kind of floor covering. Popular options include wood shavings, straw, shredded newspaper or hessian. Avoid using hay as it tends to develop mould which can be harmful to the birds. As a tip, it is worth sprinkling the flooring material and especially the bedding material with an anti-louse powder to help protect the birds from lice.

How often you clean out be the coop will depend on weather conditions and the number of birds that you have so it's difficult to give a rule of thumb. Use your common sense to determine how dirty the flooring is and to decide whether or not it needs changing.

The right food.

You will need to provide the right food for your chickens. You can buy purpose made foods which are probably your best option as they contain most of the vitamins and nutrients that they need. Purpose made foods are often called pellets or mash. The former is probably a cleaner and better option in most cases as the mash can be a little messy.

Of the pellet products, you will find them categorised into foods that are suitable at different stages and times of the chickens lives. For example point of lay birds (this is a term used to describe hens that are between 18 to 20 weeks old and are starting to lay eggs) will be fed on layers pellets. This contains the nutrients they need to keep them healthy and improve the colour and texture of the eggs that they produce.

Young the birds, from chicks to point of lay will be fed on growers pellets which again contain the right balance of vitamins and minerals that they need at this stage in their life.

In addition to these fundamental pellet types there are numerous supplements that you can give your birds. Supplements can be enriched with antibacterial medicines that help to protect your birds from illness and promote healthy growth. You can also feed your chickens on many of the table scraps that you have in the household. Nearly all vegetable matter is suitable.

Allowing your birds to run in a free range manner should mean that they have access to get all of the calcium in the grit that they need naturally. They need these nutrients to build strong shells. In addition the grit helps them in breaking up their food and aids digestion. Crushed Oyster shells can be used in addition to grit to provide extra calcium.

Water

A fundamental requirement for the birds is access to fresh clean water. Ensure that the water is provided in a suitable drinker which is large enough to hold a decent volume while at the same time is easy to the birds to access. There are many products on the market that you can choose from both plastic and steel. The galvanised products will last a long time but they tend to be heavier. On the plus side they are easier to fill and tend to keep the water fresher for longer.

The cleanliness of the water will be always an issue with the birds. You have to balance the act of providing sufficient quantities of good clean water within easy reach with being able to keep that supply clean. The birds will spoil their water with their faeces so you will need to clean this once or twice a day.

 

Part 2 - How to hatch eggs

How to Hatch Eggs

In part two of this basic course in chicken keeping will be looking at hatching eggs. In the world of chicken keeping, there can be few more satisfying achievements then hatching and rearing your own chicks. If you have young children it can also be a delightful educational experience also.

Eggs hatch in approximately 21 days. They can be a few days either side of this but a good benchmark is 21 days. You will tend to hatch your eggs in an incubator. Before the eggs go in the the incubator make sure that it has been running for at least one day and maintaining a steady temperature of 99.5°. Both temperature and humidity are important factors to control if you want to be successful in hatching your own eggs. Most incubator is on the market will include a thermometer but possibly not a device for measuring humidity. You will need to buy a hygrometer for measuring humidity separately.

The humidity within the incubator will need to vary at different times of the incubation process. From day 1 to day 18, the humidity need to be 50%. After this time and until the eggs are hatched you should raise the humidity to between 70 and 80%.

During incubation their eggs must be turned at least three times per day, this is essential. Some incubators on the market will turn the eggs automatically. For other products it is a manual task. If your incubator does not automatically turn the eggs then you have to set about this task yourself. A good technique is to mark the eggs in such a way that you can tell which side the egg has been resting on and then turn it appropriately.

To control the humidity levels you can place shallow water containers in the incubator. Read the instructions that come with your product for guidance in this matter.

Once the eggs are in the incubator they must be left in a quiet and stable location. It is good practice to keep them on a solid floor and off wooden floorboards as the vibration from the floorboards can damage the embryos. Your success rate in hatching chicks may vary as there are several factors that will influence the success rate. Not all the eggs may be fertile, indeed it is rare to get 100% fertility in chicken eggs. The temperature and humidity they be incorrect resulting in failure to hatch and the incubator may be disturbed during incubation process which again may cause the success rate to drop.

The candling process

You cannot tell whether your eggs are fertile until you've started incubating them. After a few days however you will be able to candle the eggs to see if the embryo within it has developed. This candling test will be something that you do to check for normal development within the eggs. You will also want to be removing cracked and damaged eggs which themselves will not hatch.

The candling process can be performed using a lightbulb and a box or can. What you need to do is make a hole in the box just smaller than the diameter of the egg, then place that in front of a light source. Next place the egg over the hole and look through the egg to see if a cloudy mass can be seen. If you can, then you can assume there is a growing embryo and that the egg will be fertile. By judging how the light flows through the egg and the uniformity of the light you will be up to determine whether there is an embryo present or not.

You can start candling your eggs after the first three days. If after seven days you do not detect any embryo then you can be sure that either the egg was never fertile in the first place or that it has died. In this case the eggs should be removed.

The air bubble within an egg.

Within each egg there is a small air bubble located at the wide end of the shell. A membrane separates the mass of the egg from this air bubble. This air bubble will grow and shrink depending upon the environment outside the egg. Its size within the egg will fluctuate with varying temperature and humidity outside. This is nature's way of compensating for its environment.

If the temperature outside is high then the mass of the egg will shrink causing the air bubble to grow. The reverse effect will occur if the temperature is too low. It's important to keep the environment within a small temperature and humidity band as possible as their is only so much compensation that can be catered for.

The effects of and humidity are probably more pronounced during the later stages of incubation. When the baby chick is trying to break out of its egg, it will break through the air membrane first. If this membrane is too large this may have caused the mass of the egg to have shrunk to such a degree that the bird did not develop properly in the first place. In this case the baby chick may be too weak or feeble to break through the shell.

On the other hand if the air sac is very small then the chick will be more at risk from attempting to break through an area which is not next to the membrane. Breaking through part of the shell that is not adjacent to the air sac can cause the chick to drown.

Turning

As we mentioned earlier you will need to turn the eggs at least three times per day. This turning process is essential for the correct development of the chick. Turning however must be stopped in the last three days of the incubation process. This is to allow the chick to hatch. Turning is a natural process that the mother hen would have performed and helps prevent the embryo from sticking to any side of the shell membrane.

Temperature

Eggs adjust to the temperature of their environment. However as the embryo develops, it will generate heat of its own. You should try to maintain the temperature at 99.5° as chicks are very susceptible to variation in this temperature.

After hatching

You should find that the eggs with all hatch within one or two days of each other. Do not be tempted to take the newly hatched chicks out of the incubator too soon. This interference can harm the other chicks as it will cause immediate variation in the temperature and humidity of their environment.

The newly hatched chicks will survive happily for up to 3 days without additional food or water. The nourishment that they got from the yolk in the egg is enough to see them through this period. They will continue to grow in the incubator using this food.

You will see newly hatched chicks pecking and foraging about. Do not assume that they are doing this because they're hungry rather than it it is a natural instinct for the bird.

 

Feeding chicks

Once removed from the incubator you are responsible for providing food and water at all times. You should ensure a plentiful supply of water. When they are very young, the birds should be fed a dry mash. This is readily purchased on the market. Try to avoid giving them solid foods or grit.

Drowning

Drowning can be an issue for the newly hatched chicks. It is thought that they are prone to diving in to any liquid in the early stages of their life as it resembles the yolk sac from which they hatched. Take care that the water that you provide for them is not a source for them to drown in. You should try to limit the depth of the water while maintaining an adequate supply. One technique is to put small pebbles or stone in the water to limit its depth.
 

 

Part 3 - The first 3 months

 

Happy Chicks

 

In part three of this series we are looking at the stage when the chicks are out of the incubator and in their first few months of life. After your chicks have hatched they are still very fragile animals.

You will need to keep them either indoors or in a heated environment until they are about five weeks old. This environment is commonly called the brooder. So long as the environment is warm safe dry and has adequate food and plentiful water supplies then almost anything will do. Some people use simple cardboard boxes or they use small rabbit hunches. On the base of the brooder you will need to provide a layer of pine shavings or newspaper. This is readilyof the available from pet suppliers.

Be sure to ensure that the environment is clean and dry. During the early stages of life the chicks are susceptible to disease and a primary cause of disease at this time associated with poor sanitation.

After about a month you can add a stick or wooden dowel about 4 inches above the ground to act as a roost for the birds.  However don't put this directly under your heat source where it will be too hot. The birds will use this for sleeping on.

Temperature

Try to maintain the temperature between 90 to 100 degrees in the first week then as the birds get older you can reduce the temperature by approximately 5° per week. Once their feathers have developed they will be able to control the temperature themselves and additional heat should not be an issue.

 

You should monitor the temperature of the brooder with a thermometer and keep careful observation on the chicks. They will indicate to you whether they are too hot or too cold by their panting or by huddling away from the light. After a short time you will be a good judge as to whether the temperature was too hot or too cold.

If they are all grouped together directly under the light the long period of time reluctant to move away and clearly they may be too cold. Or if they are spread furthest away from the light source rarely venturing in then they are probably too hot. Again just use your common sense and judgement to make sure that they are comfortable in their environment.

Water

Once again, water is a vital element for their continuing healthy growth. You will be surprised at the volumes of water that they will need. Therefore do not limit it. Make sure that their drinker is stable secure and is not too deep. The birds should be less prone to drowning at this stage but it is not inevitable that they will not. Plastic drinkers are lightweight and easy to clean and a good solution for your water supply. Be sure to keep the water clean as they will defecate into the water periodically.

Food

Initially you can give thebaby chicks something called crumbles which is a special product formulated for this time of their life. Medicated supplements can be included in this food which is recommended. Crumbles provide all the nutrients that the birds need. However after a week or two the birds can eat worms and bugs. You should try not to give them garden waste of kitchen waste during this time until the birds are older. Pay attention to their droppings if they are too loose they can develop a condition where they will stick to the vent and become hard and preventing further droppings. Check this on your birds and clean their vent if necessary.

 

Your chicks will naturally peck and scratch around for their food. The birds will be curious and inquisitive. They are surprisingly agile and will hop around very quickly. They are also vulnerable at this stage of their life as they are helpless against any predator.

 

Part 4 - The importance of quality foods

What you feed your hens will have a direct impact on their overall health and their productivity.

Chicken Feed - The importance of quality foods

It is always worth providing quality feed. Do not take shortcuts with cheap or low quality foods. Reducing the quality of the feed will reduce the capability of your hens to lay quality eggs and could harm their health. Use either layers pellets or mash which contain the vitamins and minerals your chickens need to lay healthy eggs.

In many respects, pellets is preferable over mash because the food is in pellet form they tend to be less wastage and it doesn't get distributed around by the chickens.

It is very important that there is no mould or dust in the feed you provide. The lungs of the birds are delicate and could be damaged by any dust in the feed. This can be a problem with some feeds and occasionally you will get a sack of that that is unreasonably dusty. Retain it and return to your supplier who should be happy to replace it.

Once you have found a brand of food that your hens thrive on I recommend you stick to it. I'd like all products there is going to be some variation in the foods but less so than if you are changing brands on a regular basis.

Water

It is critical that you provide plentiful supply of fresh water your chickens. Chickens will need to drink in order to eat. Considering that approximately 50% of egg is water gives you some indication of the importance water plays in their diet. Make sure that during the winter months the water supplies don't freeze. You may need to move their drinkers inside the coop to achieve this. In Summer, watch out for evaporation of their water. You should probably change the water once or twice a day as a matter of routine.

Grits and oyster shell supplements

The commercial products of layers pellets and mash will contain the quantities of grit that is normally adequate to feed to the chickens. The grit helps with their digestion, they use it in order to break down food in a similar way that we use our teeth. Many people use Oyster shell in addition to regular grit as a further calcium supplement.

Eggshells diet

A source of calcium in the chickens diet can be found in their own eggshells. Although this may seem a little bit strange at first it is quite common to feed the shells back to your chickens. You must make sure that they don't recognise what they are eating as you do don't want to encourage them to eat their own eggs. Bake the shells in the oven and then crush them up or blend them before providing them to your chickens. You can really pulverise the shell even to a powder and mix it with their regular feed. The calcium that they contain will be of great benefit to the chickens and the eggs that they produce.

Kitchen waste

To supplement the relatively dull diet of layers pellets or mash, you can use selected products from the kitchen. Cabbages, turnips, carrots, cauliflowers will add to the diet of your chickens. You can even hang large lumps of whole vegetable in their coops for them to peck on.

There's no problem giving out of date vegetables to chickens. You should avoid any meat products. They do love pasta and will go crazy if you give them some leftover spaghetti.

 

 

 

Part 5 - Bedding Materials for the Chickens

Bedding Materials for the Chickens

 

When deciding on bedding for your hen house or coop, a consideration will be the cost of the possible materials. While the cost may be your most prominent initial concern, the upkeep of the material of your choice should also be considered.
A material with low cost and high maintenance might not be the best choice for you and an investment in a higher quality material might better suit your needs and that of your chickens. In this section we discuss the more common options for bedding.

Shavings

Shavings are often considered a high quality choice, however recently this option has seen a fairly substantial price hike.
As well as suffering from higher prices, shavings have become even harder to find. It is believed this could be the result of the recent decline in the building industry.

Shavings however do make quite a nice bedding choice, being both pleasing to the eye and very absorbent. After refreshing the henhouse with shavings, chickens and hens will often cover themselves in the new bedding, tossing it around, but leaving the whole chicken house smelling wonderful.

Another advantage of shavings is in its cleaning properties. When using shavings all you need to do is rotate them with a fork exposing the dry side, thus leaving a full cleaning for a later date and allowing you to get more out of your bedding. It is important to note that shavings are not advisable if you have small chicks. Chicks often mistake the shavings for food.

Overall shavings are the perfect deep litter system. While sometimes costly, they are a low maintenance option that will minimise cleaning time. The warmth they also provide is perfect for cold weather. It is important to remember that deep litter can rot a wooden floor, which could make this not a great option if this is the case in your chicken house. A wood yard can be the best place to seek out these shavings and if you’re lucky you might be able to get some at low prices.

Wood Chips

Since the price of wood chip and its availability is often a problem, maybe you should look at something else to use for your chickens. Some places are only selling wood chips on a ration basis in order to keep up with the demand. Wood chips seem to get dirty faster and need to be changed more often but they are good for the young chicks.

Shredded Paper

Shredded paper is very easy to come by and in many cases it can be found for free. Shredded paper is great for the environment since most paper is biodegradable; this is great all of us now interested in recycling.

To keep your costs low you can purchase a paper shredder at your local office supply store. These are inexpensive and easy to use. You can also use the old fashion method of tearing the paper with your hands. Shredded paper is also great because it acts as a blanket so your young chicks will have an easy time staying dry and warm.

Shredded paper does not need any special disposal. It can simply be thrown away or put into your compost pile. The problems with it is that when it is wet, paper is hard to handle without something to scoop it up with. Wet paper has a tendency to fall apart easily so you will need to keep this in mind when cleaning your chicks bedding.

Hay

Hay can be a breading ground for pests that can cause your chicks harm. Fleas and mites as well as the dust caused by moving the hay around can irritate your chick’s skin and their eyes. Hay also allows only the liquid to flow to the bottom and the solid stays on top.

Straw

Chickens like straw since it is similar to natural grass. It is warm and great for scratching around in. Chickens enjoy looking for their food and pecking it through the straw since the foods and grains will easily fall through to the bottom of their beds. Wheat straw is probably the best choice since it will drain better. Straw will also seem to clean itself.

Your chickens like to forage for their food and scratch this will turn the straw over and make your bed appear fresh. Don’t think that this will mean that it will not need to be cleaned out. You will still have to clean the straw out regularly and replace it with fresh. Remember this is also biodegradable so thrown it in your yard or garden.

Chickens are not picky birds. They do not care if you buy the most expensive bedding or use your daily newspaper. They like their beds to be free and clean of moisture and bugs and pests.

Remember the cleaner and healthier your chickens the more eggs they will produce.
 

 

Part 6 - Breeding and Beyond

Breeding

In this sixth part of the basics guide, we will touch upon some of the breeding options that are commonly used in the industry and how they can be applied to the small-scale rearer.

You have successfully reared a view chickens at home and you decide that you want to breed your own.
What will you need? What precautions you need to take? There is a lot of uncertainty about the whole process and in this guide will hope to give you some of the information that will help you to achieve this goal.

You have probably heard of the terms "in-breeding" or "line-breeding" and others and may be wondering what extent you need to be aware of these issues when breeding.

In-breeding

 

In-breeding, as the name suggests, involves keeping a flock of chickens isolated and breeding from them. This achieves a high degree of uniformity amongst their genes. The advantage of this is that you will know exactly what you are getting and in many cases that is exactly what you want. The problem with in-breeding is due to the mating of relatives, the chickens become more susceptible to degenerative genes. While it is not inevitable that your birds will succumb to a degenerative gene, there is an increased possibility that they will.

Introducing unrelated strains into the breeding cycle can be an option and will tend to produce chickens that are more fertile than those purely in-bred. It  rejuvenates the gene pool and in many cases will result in improved productivity and egg laying.

Assuming that you will be undertaking some kind of in-breeding then what are the options available to you? One option is adopting a closed flocks system. This system has been used for decades and involves maintaining as large flock as you can and organising them in such a way that cousins mate as opposed to the siblings directly.

Commercial operations would maintain eight or so breeding pens with cockerels from one pen being bred with pullets of another. Small-scale and home breeders would do well to make use of three or perhaps four pens and trying to keep as many cockerels as they can to maximise the size of the genetic pool for a given strain.

Line breeding

This is the term given for when you have one champion Cockerel for example and you want to breed has many chickens as you can from that prime bird. This is typical if you are entering birds for "Best of Breed" show awards and other similar events. You can use this system to build up your flock of pedigree birds and then at a later stage introduce a closed system with these animals in order to rotate the gene pool at a later date.

Out breeding

Quite a popular and common process whereby unrelated strains are brought together to breed. This is commonly done to rejuvenate the situation where birds have been in-bred for some time. Out breeding can result in improved productive performance of the birds and the egg laying capabilities and is commonly used to produce the commercial hybrids. The maximum benefit is achieved when pure bred strains from the same breed are crossed.

Cross-breeding

Cross-breeding is the process of breeding one pure breed with another. Today there are so many varieties of Bantam that it is unlikely that you would want to do this. Further it is also likely that any new strains produced this way would be recognised by the breed clubs and associations.

 

 

Part 7 - Health Issues - chicken and poultry

 

What to look for in a healthy bird.

 

Visit our health section for essential health products and supplements for many of the ailments below.

A healthy chicken will be alert active and generally perky. Their eyes should be bright. Check their legs and in particular their scales on their feet, they should be smooth and show no signs of lifting. Indeed the colour of their legs often indicates whether the chicken is laying. Their legs tend to go pale or white when their laying. To hold the birds they should be plump and firm, they should have a good firm comb often bright red when the chicken is laying.

Check their eyes and nose make sure there are no discharges. Also check the vent which should be clear from any lumps or bleeding.

When you buy a chicken you should make sure that the bird has been vaccinated. Vaccinated birds has a far less risk of ailment and are your best guarantee that they are in good condition. That is not to say that they can suffer from minor ailments similar to colds which are normally self healing within a few days. Problems can occur with many chickens being kept together in confined spaces or if they are neglected.

Some of the ailments you might experience are (but hopefully not):

Worms: there are two types of worms that the birds can get; round and tape. If your flock has either of these types of worm you may see increased hunger in the birds and a drop in their egg production. They may also have diarrhoea. Seek advice from your vet.

Lice: often signified by the buildup of white in the vent. This is caused by the eggs from the lice themselves. The best treatment is to brush them a way and vaseline the area. A good preventative measure is to use a louse powder to dust the henhouse and in particular the next box.

Red Mite: These little mites live in the henhouse in the nooks and crannies and sustain themselves off the blood of chickens. If you find that your hens are particularly reluctant to go into the henhouse at night or that egg production has gone down or that they are looking a little bit pale, this may be because of Red Mite. You can buy effective sprays and other products against red mite.

Northern Mite: Check the vent for an excess of grey black or in bad cases  - a scabby comb, face and wattles. Again, you can buy sprays against Northern Mite also.

Other conditions: There are other conditions at the birds can get in general you should seek advice from your vet and do your own research on the Internet and in the forums. There is a lot of knowledge out there to help you heal an unhealthy bird. With care and attention you can avoid most serious cases of illness.

Moulting: A natural process for the chicken after about a year or so of her life. She will start to lose some of their feathers. This is a required stage during plumage rejuvenation. It will normally take 4 to 6 weeks to complete the process. It is important to ensure that you continue to look after the birds during this period with attention to good food and water as this process is a little draining for the birds. You may expect a drop in egg production during this time.

Relocating birds
Birds are subject to stresses as we all are. If you intend to move your birds either from the place of purchase to your new home or elsewhere, try to make the experience as stressfree as possible. Use plenty of straw and use container boxes with plenty of room. It's often a good idea to temporarily enhance their food intake during these times and shortly afterwards. Some good foods surprisingly include Marmite on toast which provides a great source of vitamins B. Probiotic yoghurts mixed in their layers of mash help their digestive system and to overcome stress. Try to keep your other pets away from new birds initially until they are settled.

Droppings
There is a lot of information to be gathered here. They should be solid and healthy looking. Hens can be prone to diarrhoea as a result of eating too many slugs or worms. If they are young, their faeces may look more wet or yellow than on older birds.