A Family Guide To Keeping Chickens (6 page)

After bathing the chicken uses its beak to tidy and align each feather. A gland at the base of the tail supplies preen oil, which the chicken applies to condition and waterproof its feathers.

Now they have had a bath, eaten everything in sight and sorted out their social life, it’s time for the chickens to fulfil their side of the bargain.

There’s nothing like a good dust-bath, especially with your friends!

Laying Eggs

This useful trait has been exploited by humans for centuries, using selective breeding to increase egg production and extend the laying season.

All hens lay eggs but in varying quantities, according to their breed. Some only lay in spring and summer, while commercial layers are productive throughout the year.

Battery hens have been developed as egg producers and are kept in restricted conditions to ensure all their energy goes into laying eggs. Having just considered some of the chicken’s basic needs, you may be wondering about the very different existence of a battery hen.

A battery cage

In a domestic situation your chickens can enjoy a good quality of life and provide eggs as well. You will quickly notice the difference between eggs laid by your own contented hens and those produced commercially.

See
Chapter 10
for more information on egg-laying.

Some hens are very keen to raise the next generation and will ‘go broody’ (see
Chapter 13
). This is useful if you want to hatch some chicks, but broody hens don’t lay eggs. Not all varieties of chicken go broody, so if eggs are important this should be considered when choosing a breed.

Egg-laying is hard work, and chickens need their rest, so:

What Happens at Bedtime?

Those new to chickens sometimes worry that they will need rounding up at night, but once they know where their home is the chickens will troop into the henhouse and settle down like a group of unruly children. There might be a few arguments over who sits where, but then they will go to sleep. If you check on them with a torch, some may come to life and realize they don’t like their neighbours: ‘Ugh, I didn’t know it was you!’, peck-peck-peck.

The dark makes chickens sleepy – like throwing a cloth over a budgie’s cage – and they will be easy to pick up and handle. This is a good time to do anything that requires amenable chickens.

‘Don’t think we’re asleep – it’s not dark yet!’

Although it may not look very comfortable, it’s better for chickens to roost on perches and they usually do so.

In the morning the chickens will emerge from their house – often in an order of precedence.

Providing Shade and Shelter

Chickens don’t cope well with heat and are more likely to be distressed from overheating than from cold. If possible they will spend hot days under bushes and hedges – otherwise they should be provided with shade.

Chickens need shelter and shade

Even so, chickens also enjoy sunbathing. They will stretch out, wings spread, looking rather peculiar. As long as they can retreat to the shade when necessary, there is no cause for concern.

Chickens often don’t return to their house, even in bad weather, so they should have some outdoor shelter or a windbreak to protect them from the elements.

How Do Chickens Get On with Humans?