FAQ about chickens

Do roosters lay eggs? / Do all hens lay eggs? / Can hens lay more than one egg a day?

No, roosters cannot lay eggs. Yes, all hens of all breeds will lay eggs, although the number they lay per year will depend on the individual hen and her breed. The vast majority of hen lay about 4 eggs a week in their 1st - 2nd year laying, so a little less than one a day. However it has been reported that, rarely, a hen can lay more than one egg a day.

What is a double yolker? / What is a fart egg?

A double yolker is an egg that has two yolks. It is caused when a hen accidentally releases two yolks at once, and these are then covered with a shell. A 'fart' egg, also known as a wind egg, is a hollow egg. These are laid from time to time and are usually nothing to worry about (see below).

My hen has laid a weird egg. Why?

Hens can lay some very strange eggs in their time! They may lay soft shelled eggs (eggs with a rubbery membrane but no shell), wrinkled eggs, long eggs, incredibly small eggs, wind eggs (see above), eggs with lumps on the outside...in the vast majority of cases these are nothing to worried about. They tend to be laid at the beginning or end of a laying cycle, by young hens just beginning to lay, or if the hen was startled when laying (eg. a thunderstorm, building work, a dog barking etc).

Ew! There are red spots in my hens' eggs! Why?

These are known as blood spots and are no cause for alarm! They are caused by a ruptured blood vessel; some people believe they happen when the hens are disturbed whilst laying. They're edible...just a bit unsightly

Do I need to provide my chickens with grit or oyster grit?

Chickens need grit to help digest the food in the crop, as obviously they don't have teeth! If your birds free-range, they don't need grit provided as they will scrat it up themselves. However if they live in a large coop and run, you may want to throw handfuls of grit down for them, mix it in with their food or provide a separate tub of grit. Oyster grit / oyster shells is used to provide your chickens with extra calcium, which they need for laying eggs. It's a good idea to give them this, or wash and crush their own egg shells and feed them back to them!

What age does a hen start to lay?

A hen that hasn't yet laid an egg is called a pullet. Pullets tend to begin laying around 18 - 22 weeks old, although it varies from breed to breed and individual hens.

What's is a POL?

POL = Point Of Lay pullet. This is a pullet around the age of 16 - 20 weeks old. Farmers often sell POL pullets, and they're a good option for new chicken keepers to purchase these. They're a lot easier to manage than chicks, and you get to see their first ever eggs!

My chickens aren't laying eggs. Why?

Please see the common chicken ailments thread!

Aaagh! My chickens are losing feathers! Why?

Well, assuming they don't have mites and aren't pecking the feathers out (which tends to be a sign of boredom), I would guess that your chickens are moulting. Chickens moult every year in order to grow new feathers for the winter. They tend to moult around the autumn time, and will stop laying whilst they moult as all their energy goes into growing new feathers! Moulting can take anywhere from between two weeks to several months depending on the individual chicken. You can help them through the moult by feeding them high calcium foods (cheese, yoghurt, cottage cheese etc) and crushing egg shells or adding oyster grit to their food.

Here is a photo of Tilly's bottom from when she was moulting; you can see the new feathers coming through and how shabby she looks in general!



And a few days later



Why do people keep chickens? They're dumb and only good for eating!

Ha! You're an idiot! And obviously know nothing about chickens....chickens are highly intelligent animals; they have a comparable intelligence to a 3 year old child, and are as intelligent as parrots. One study fed a flock of chickens food in two differently coloured dishes; the red one made them feel ill, and the yellow one was safe. The hens all stopped eating the food from the red bowl and, when they hatched chicks, they taught the chicks to avoid the food in the red bowl too! There was another study where treats were hidden behind different paper shapes (star, circle, rectangle etc). The chickens quickly learnt that the food was behind one shape, and when the humans moved the food and hid it behind another shape, they quickly worked out which one it was!

Not only are chickens highly intelligent and very trainable, but when tamed correctly, they are the cuddliest friendliest animals on the planet. I say this after having a dog, mouse and rats. My darling Milly hen, who passed away two years ago, is much loved and missed every day. She used to sit on me knee for cuddles, sunbathe with me, come inside and watch TV with me...she was so so special to me



Then there was a Eva, a battery hen that managed to escape from a truck at the meat processing plant where she would have been killed. She became just as tame as Milly (who was insanely jealous of her!), but unfortunately only lived for 6 months due to her weakened state



And this is me with Midget, one of the chicks we hatched and I raised - he was about 15 weeks old here and crowing away!



Red