I really enjoy spring. It signals not only the end of cold weather and snow, but also new life. It’s the time of year when we see animals come out of hibernation, bees and butterflies make their appearance once again and all sorts of baby farm animals take to the stage! There is not much that is cuter than a baby anything with their pure innocence and clumsy antics. Spring is also the time for planting and realizing new growth on our perennial plants. I always get excited when I see new shoots on my rose bushes. There are so many varieties, colors and smells of roses and they are a plant with many benefits, even for our chickens and other farm animals.
I am always interested in learning new things and figure that knowledge is the key to…well a lot of things…success, understanding, accomplishing goals, being better equipped to care for my animals. The list can go on. As long as I have been raising chickens, I did not know the entire process of egg formation, so I set out to learn. And learn I did…some very interesting facts, which I’m going to share with you.
Have you ever wondered how an egg is formed?
A female chicken is born, or should I say hatched, with a fully formed, functioning ovary that contains several thousand tiny ova. Two ovaries develop in the chicken embryo, but the right one stops developing and only the left ovary and oviduct mature. The chick grows and somewhere around 6 months of age she begins to reach sexual maturity. That’s when these tiny ova start to develop into yolks, a few at a time. Once a yolk is developed, it is released from the ovary into the oviduct. Occasionally two yolks will be released at the same time. This results in the double yolk eggs we see from time to time in our frying pans. This is also the stage where a blood spot on the yolk might occur, not due to fertilization, just an accident of nature as the yolk is released from the ovary. Once the yolk enters the oviduct, the egg can be fertilized if a rooster has mated with the hen. The hen can store sperm from the rooster for upwards of two to three weeks. After fertilization, a membrane is put around the yolk to basically hold it together. The yolk then passes into the a part of the oviduct called the magnum where the albumen or egg white is put on. Then on to the isthmus where a thin membrane is added, surrounding the entire egg. The final process is when the egg enters the uterus and the outer shell, shell color and the protective coating called bloom are deposited over the egg. This final process of shell making takes about 20 hours. When this is completed, the hen will lay her egg.
The egg formation process takes about 24 hours to complete before the hen can lay her egg.
Some interesting facts about eggs and egg laying:
The entire egg laying process from start to finish takes between 24-26 hours.
30 minutes after a hen lays an egg, she will again ovulate and start the process over again.
A hen can store a rooster’s sperm for 2-3 weeks.
A hen will take a break from egg laying when the days shorten. She may stop laying completely or just significantly reduce the number of eggs she lays. A hen requires 14-16 hours of daylight for high egg production. [Editor’s note: this means that you can artificially increase egg production with UV lamps or other light sources.]
The oviduct, which the egg passes through during formation is 25-27 inches long. The egg initially passes through the oviduct small end first. Just before laying, the egg will turn and enter the world large end first.
The color of an egg yolk depends on a hen’s diet.
The color of the egg yolk is dependent upon the hen’s diet. If she eats a lot of foods with yellow-orange pigments, her eggs will be a darker yellow or almost orange color.
An egg that has been fertilized and laid, can remain in a state of suspension, under proper conditions, for approximately 7 days and still remain viable to incubate and hatch. After day 7 the hatch-ability begins to decline. This gives a hen time to accumulate her clutch of eggs, then incubate them so they will all hatch at approximately the same time…within a day or two of one another..
The average incubation time for a baby chick is 21 days. During this incubation time, a broody hen will only leave her nest once, maybe twice a day for short periods of time to eat and relieve herself. She will eat about 80% less while setting on her eggs.
A hen will quit laying eggs when she begins incubating her clutch of eggs and will not resume laying again until the chicks are about 5 weeks old. This is also about the time she will begin distancing herself from her brood.
A hen will lay an average of 265 eggs in a productive year. The first two years are the most productive, with laying tapering off as she gets older. A well cared for hen can provide farm fresh eggs for 5 – 7 years.
I don’t really know too much about sunflower seeds other than discarded seed hulls generally littered the ground under the stands at baseball games and birds really seemed to like them. They were not a favorite of mine. I enjoyed sucking the salt off of the seed, but breaking into the hull for such a tiny reward didn’t seem worthwhile to me. Just recently I discovered that all sunflower seeds are not created equally. Some have thicker hulls, less oil, different nutritional benefits. Others are a really great source of nutrients for a variety of farm animals. The familiar black seed that is found in wild bird seed is the Black Oil Sunflower Seed, often referred to as B.O.S.S., a very adept acronym for a powerhouse food. No wonder birds love them! They seem to know instinctually the treasures that Mother Nature has supplied for them. Who would have guessed that a common bird feed would also be good for horses, goats, chickens and even rabbits!
Keeping a rooster with your flock of hens is something that requires serious consideration before doing so. Many cities, and even some rural towns, do not allow farm animals to be kept in residential neighborhoods. It appears that zoning laws have become more lenient in recent years with regards to keeping backyard hens, but it is important to check the animal zoning laws before acquiring any chickens. Roosters are often not allowed in many urban locations because they are considered a nuisance with all their boisterous crowing. I, for one, love nature and farm life and all the sounds that go with it! But, before you decide that letting a rooster hang out with your girls is a good thing, check your town or city’s animal zoning laws.
Winter is waning and spring is on the horizon. The days are getting longer and eggs are once again beginning to appear in nesting boxes. Such a welcome sight! What are some of the things that we, as chicken farmers, can do to help our hens be the best layers that they can be?
The human body is made up of approximately 55%-60% water. Water is a major component is cells, blood, and body tissue. The same applies to animals. Their bodies are made up of water as well. We are told that we can live without food for several weeks, but we can only live a few days without water. The same thing is true with animals. Animals need fresh water for their bodies to function. Water is vital for bodily functions such as regulation of body temperature, lubricating joints, nutrient absorption, removing wastes, body weight, and overall health. When water is withheld or unavailable, dehydration occurs. Dehydration of more than 10% of the body’s water is considered a medical emergency, and the water needs to be replaced ASAP! If the water is not replaced, blood volume begins to drop, temperatures begin to rise, and organs begin to shut down. Animals get the water they need not only through the action of drinking but also from the food they eat. Fresh grasses, fruits and vegetables all contain water. Animals prefer fresh, clean water. Some animals will only drink stagnant water, even if it looks clean, as a last resort. I dump out and refill water pans and buckets every day. When I go away for a few days I always try to make sure my animals have enough feed and more importantly, enough water. I put out extra tubs, buckets and bowls and detailed instructions for my substitute caregiver on what to do about watering. It gives me peace of mind.
I am a firm believer in variety! I know that a chicken’s sense of taste is nowhere near as refined as a person’s, but it seems apparent, if you watch your chickens eat, that they seem to prefer some foods over others. In my flock for example, fresh raspberries are devoured a lot quicker than tomatoes, and they prefer spaghetti noodles over rice. It is also a fact that different foods contain different vitamins and minerals and in different amounts. I think that as long as your chickens are getting a variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, greens and herbs, in addition to their formulated feed, they will enjoy their diet and live long, healthy, productive lives.
One of the things that I like to feed my chickens is sprouts. Sprouts are easy to prepare, inexpensive, nutritious and my chickens enjoy them! They are especially good in the winter months when there is not a lot of grasses or garden produce available.
Trimming a chicken’s beak, toenails or spurs can be intimidating. It probably wouldn’t be so bad if they could tell us when something hurts, but since they can’t, we tend to be a little reluctant to do the trimming for fear we might cause some pain or discomfort. A chicken’s beak, and toe nails, and a rooster’s spurs are all made out of keratin, a fibrous protein structure. That is the same thing that our hair and fingernails are made of and we know that cutting our nails doesn’t hurt, unless we get too close! And just as our hair and nails continue to grow, so does a chicken’s. Hopefully, through most of a chicken’s daily activities, they wear their nails and beak down naturally and don’t require any intervention. A chicken’s scratching in the dirt, looking for bugs and seeds, help to wear down their nails. You might have noticed a chicken wiping their beak on the ground as if to clean some dirt off. This act will file down a beak and keep it in check. A rooster’s spurs on the other hand grow out the side of the leg and are sharp, pointed and often used in disputes with other roosters. They do not touch the ground and so it is harder to keep them filed down. Spurs can grow to be quite long and get to the point where they interfere with walking, or injure a hen when mating. That’s when it’s time to intervene.
Not all animals were created equally. Many species have digestion systems that are unique and fitted for the environment they lived in, in the wild. We have domesticated these animals over the years and changed their eating habits. In an effort to make sure our animals are getting the nutrients they need, it’s a good idea, no matter how uninteresting it may seem, to understand their inner workings. Our goal is to raise healthy, beautiful, productive animals.
Our goal is to raise healthy, beautiful, productive birds.Read full post
Have you ever wondered why roosters crow? Is it just to annoy the neighbors? Are they really nature’s alarm clock? Have you watched a mama hen patiently cluck at her young as she points out bugs, seeds or grain? Have you noticed that low growl you get from a broody hen as you attempt to remove the egg she just laid? All those cackles, chortles, squawks, purrs, growls and crows have meaning. It’s our chicken’s way of communicating with the world around them.
Chatting with me as I take her picture. Maybe she’s telling which side is her best!Read full post
