A Family Guide To Keeping Chickens (45 page)

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It takes about twenty-five hours for an egg to be produced

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Around fourteen hours of daylight are required to stimulate egg-laying

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Use water slightly warmer than the egg if washing is essential

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As the egg ages, moisture is lost and replaced by air

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Tiny eggs without yolks are fairly common and usually nothing to worry about

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Persistent wrinkled, thin or missing shells may indicate a problem

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Shock or stress can cause misshapen eggshells

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A little blood on a shell isn’t usually cause for concern; small red spots are a sign of red mite

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Meat or blood spots in the egg don’t affect the taste

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Lack of eggs may be due to several causes – not all of them mean that something is wrong

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A firm red comb shows a hen is ready to lay – you can also check her pelvic bones

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Store eggs in the fridge or a cool place

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Raw eggs can be frozen but not in the shell

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There is no need to register with DEFRA if you only have a few hens and sell eggs from the gate

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If you are an unregistered producer, eggs must not be graded

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There are extra rules if eggs are sold at a local market

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You must be a registered producer to sell through a third party

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Only sell fresh eggs with perfect shells that have not needed cleaning

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Research has shown that eggs don’t affect blood cholesterol as much as previously thought

Have your new hens laid their first eggs yet? While you’re waiting, try this little eggsam!

Question One

How long does it take for a hen to produce an egg?

(a) Ten hours

(b) Twenty-five hours

(c) Fifty hours

Question Two

If you have to wash an egg, what should you use?

(a) Cold water

(b) Very hot water

(c) Warm water

Question Three

What happens as an egg gets older?

(a) Moisture is lost and replaced by air

(b) Air is lost and replaced by moisture

(c) The shell turns a different colour

Question Four

If a hen has a firm red comb, what does this mean?

(a) She is really a cockerel

(b) She has stopped laying eggs

(c) She is either laying eggs or will start soon

Question Five

What are the rules about selling eggs to your neighbours?

(a) If you only have a few hens, you can sell eggs direct to customers

(b) You can only sell eggs to a shop

(c) You will have to apply for a licence first

Answers

One (b); Two (c); Three (a); Four (c); Five (a)

If you got all these right you are nearly an eggspert!

‘Don’t put all your eggs in one basket’: If you put all your eggs in one basket and then dropped it, you would probably have nothing left but a nasty mess! This saying suggests that it’s safer to spread your valuables around so that if you lose one you don’t lose the lot.

Did you hear about the hen that kept turning somersaults?

She laid scrambled eggs!

What is yellow and goes at 100 miles an hour?

A train-driver’s egg sandwich!

Break a fresh egg on to a plate and study it carefully. Can you see the thin and thick layers of egg-white? You may be able to see the chalazae (white strings that hold the yolk in place) as well. Look for the white spot on the edge of the yolk – the germinal disc. Are there any blood spots on the yolk or meat spots on the white? Draw a diagram of the egg and label all the parts.

You can keep a chart of your hens’ egg laying throughout the year, like the one on the next page:

Each day write down how many eggs were laid and then add them up at the end of the month. You can also work out how many eggs you got for each hen by dividing the number of eggs by the number of hens.

If anything unusual happened (broken eggs in the nest-box or a broody hen) make a note on your chart.

Your computer will do the sums if you enter this on a spreadsheet. You can even produce a graph to show how well your hens are laying.

This graph shows the eggs laid by a flock of hens over a period of four years. Can you see which months they laid the most eggs? Look at the year 2009 – the hens were laying less well as they got older.

There is a wide variety of illnesses that can affect chickens but many are never seen by the small-scale poultry keeper. Disease often results from overcrowding or poor living conditions, which can easily be avoided.

This chapter gives an overview of the various parasites, along with a few chicken ailments. It is not intended to replace the advice of a vet; before bringing your first chickens home you should register with a local vet who has experience with poultry.

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