A Family Guide To Keeping Chickens (40 page)

This may sound impossible after the foregoing list of predators but many of these animals aren’t actively out to grab your chickens. Most are opportunists who may stumble across the chickens while in pursuit of their normal diet. Not providing these creatures with a reason to visit is easier than trying to eradicate them once they have discovered an easy food source.

Here are some tips for protecting your chickens:

•
Make sure your henhouse and run provide adequate protection from predators

•
No matter how secure your fencing, always shut your chickens in their house at night

•
Don’t leave food and water out overnight

•
Regularly check your henhouse and run for weak spots, digging, rotten wood and signs of gnawing

•
Animals are attracted by food and water sources – including compost heaps, ponds, fallen fruit and bags of rubbish

•
Foxes can manage high fences – and can manage even higher ones if there is something for them to stand on

•
Clear undergrowth around chicken housing to eliminate ground cover

•
Discourage rabbits and stop-up rabbit holes around chicken housing

•
Act quickly if there is any evidence of rats

•
Bear in mind that some creatures can squeeze through miniscule gaps

•
Security lights may help deter night-time predators

•
Remember that foxes aren’t the only predators of poultry

•
Domestic pets can also be a threat to chickens

•
Collect eggs frequently so they don’t attract unwanted attention

•
Make sure outbuildings are secure from two-legged thieves

What did you learn about chicken predators from
Chapter 9
?

Question One

Which of these statements is true?

(a) Foxes only live in the country

(b) Foxes are only around in the night-time

(c) Foxes aren’t the only threat to chickens

Question Two

Which of these animals isn’t a predator of chickens?

(a) Deer

(b) Badger

(c) Stoat

Question Three

Which of these chicken predators is a protected species and must not be harmed?

(a) Weasel

(b) Mink

(c) Pine Marten

Question Four

Why might you need to pin strips of plastic over the pop-hole?

(a) To keep out rats

(b) To stop birds coming in to steal the chickens’ eggs

(c) To frighten off foxes

Question Five

What should you do if you find you have rats?

(a) Take no notice – they will do no harm

(b) Don’t tell anyone in case you are stopped from keeping chickens

(c) Wash your hands thoroughly and tell an adult

Answers

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

Knowing about predators will help you to protect your chickens and their eggs.

‘Like leaving a fox to guard the henhouse’: It wouldn’t be a good idea to leave a fox to look after your chickens! This saying is used when someone is given a task that they are likely to turn to their own advantage. For example: ‘Katie can’t resist chocolate – letting her run the sweet shop is like leaving a fox to guard the henhouse’.

Which dance do chickens hate?

The foxtrot!

Make it your job to regularly check the chicken house and run for any weak spots. Imagine you are a big hungry animal – could you get in? Now pretend you could make yourself thin enough to slither through a little gap – can you see any spaces where you might slip through? Look out for any signs of digging and gnawing too.

If you can’t fix the problem yourself, ask an adult to help.

The new chickens are happily settled and you’re pacing the floor, waiting for that first egg. It may take a while to arrive but when it does it can seem like a small miracle. In some ways it is . . .

Creating the Wonderful Egg

Female chicks hatch with a lifetime of potential eggs inside them. When a pullet reaches maturity, a yolk is released into the reproductive system. Egg white (albumen) is added, followed by the shell membrane and the shell. Finally the egg gets a protective coating (the cuticle).

This all takes around twenty-five hours, of which twenty are taken up with shell production. When a hen is in full lay, the process starts again within half an hour.

Good layers can manage a daily egg for several days but eventually there will
be a gap. Egg production is stimulated by daylight so as each egg is laid slightly later in the day, there comes a point when the next yolk is not released until the following morning.

Around fourteen hours of daylight are required for laying – most hens stop or slow down in the short days of winter.

Artificial lighting can be used to extend the day but is unlikely to be cost effective for a small flock, and the continuous, intensive production of eggs may lead to laying problems (see
Chapter 11
).

If artificial lighting is required, it’s easier to increase the length of the mornings. Evening lighting requires a dimmer switch to imitate twilight, so that the hens go to roost naturally and aren’t left on the floor in the dark.

Bearing in mind that a hen’s egg supplies will eventually run out, many poultry keepers let their birds take a natural break over the winter. Rather than putting all their eggs in one basket, they extend the number of seasons in which their hens are likely to lay.

The first year of laying is usually the most productive. There will be fewer eggs in the second and subsequent years but they are often larger. Eventually the hen will lay only an occasional egg or will stop altogether.

A pullet’s first eggs are usually small as her system adapts to regular laying. Eggs should become larger as time goes on.

The biggest hens don’t inevitably lay the biggest eggs. Some giant breeds supply rather small eggs, while there are slender light breeds (such as the Leghorn) that lay surprisingly large eggs. Although bantams are much smaller than their standard counterparts, this isn’t necessarily reflected in the size of eggs they produce.

Bantam eggs can be particularly rich and tasty, but you will usually require more of them when following a recipe. Smaller eggs can easily be used for frying (just have two!), scrambling or omelettes, but large eggs tend to be preferred for boiling and are generally more popular.