Remove or relocate pieces that you don’t want soiled, especially anything that children play with, such as swing sets or outdoor play equipment, and anything that comes into contact with food, such as grills and tabletops. Furniture that remains outdoors will almost certainly require regular cleaning after perching and preening activities, or you may opt to store it when not in use.
But don’t toss the plastic pink flamingos just yet: Many garden accessories are simply of no interest to chickens. My flock shares the garden with a life-sized concrete chicken statue that goes largely unnoticed. New birds will often eyeball the statue with a sidelong glance, but once they determine that the gray hen is not a threat, they’ll go about the more important business
of tearing up my flower garden in search of crickets.
None of this information is meant to discourage you from allowing your chickens to free-range. In fact, foraging—and all of the great health benefits that come with it—is an essential aspect of any chicken’s life. As with any other area of chicken keeping, I listed these concerns because a few preventive steps can go a long way toward derailing any unfortunate surprises for a new chicken keeper. So, find a happy medium: Protect your gardens, but let your chickens have some free-range time. It’s entirely possible to have a beautiful, flourishing garden, clean outdoor spaces, and happy, free-roaming chickens.
3: The Ins and Outs of Chickens
With so many breeds and varieties of chickens to choose from—not to mention the ability to order online with a few clicks and have them in your hands weeks later, you’ll have some initial choices to make before bringing home the babes. Your choices will range from the 4 lb. (2 kg) game bantam to the 10 lb. (5 kg) Jersey Giant, and between those two extremes are birds with frizzled feathers, beards and muffs, and genes that allow them to lay green and blue eggs. Some breeds are silly and sociable, and some can be standoffish and aloof. Some are flighty, and some are bold. While the topic of chicken breeds could easily fill a whole book (and it has), this chapter will focus on the breeds that are best for the suburban backyard. These birds are primarily egg-laying champions and superfriendly birds. Most of them forage well or live in the smaller coops afforded to urban or suburban backyards, and they’re all really good looking to boot.
But before we get to the outs, let’s start with the ins. Large or small, there’s one thing that all of these breeds have in common: their anatomy. While knowing the ins and outs of chicken behavior will help you provide them with all they need to be comfortable and content, knowing the ins and outs of chicken anatomy will help you catch early signs of disease, symptoms of infestations, and will, overall, turn you into a better chicken keeper.
Chicken Anatomy 101
Chickens may seem like simple creatures to the naked eye, but nature has expertly crafted them to thrive with scarce food sources, find an appropriate mate, safely produce and protect their young, and so much more. Knowing what makes them tick is part of the joy of keeping chickens.
Our many varieties of chickens were cultivated and bred from a humble ground fowl native to Southeast Asia. It is thought that both the red jungle fowl and gray jungle fowl provided some genes to the domesticated chicken we know today, and as such, our various modern-day birds have a few things in common to all.
For starters, all domestic chickens have two legs, two wings, and feathers. (I know, tough stuff, here. Are you taking notes?) With the exception of the Araucana breed (see chapter 3 for more on them), all chickens have a tail. Most have four toes, but a few breeds have five. And regardless of gender, all chickens have a comb.
The Outs
The comb is a fleshy, featherless patch of skin on the top of a chicken’s head. Both male and female at all life stages have one, but an adult male’s comb is usually the most pronounced. Combs range in color from bright red to dark maroon and reach their deepest color around sexual maturity. The styles of combs include the single, rose, pea, buttercup, cushion, and strawberry, among others. The males’ large comb is helpful when attracting a mate, but the comb’s main function is to regulate the body’s temperature through blood circulation. Breeds suitable for warmer temperatures tend to sport a larger comb (to release more heat), and those bred for colder climes have a smaller, more compact comb.
The eyes and ears are located on the chicken’s head. Like most birds, chickens are sensitive to light and can distinguish colors. Exposure to light triggers hens to lay, and using a colored lightbulb (red is preferred) when brooding chicks can reduce pecking and fatigue.
To find a chicken’s ears, you’ll have to know where to look. The ear is a tiny opening on either side of the head surrounded by a fleshy earlobe distinguished by color. Generally, a hen with a red lobe will lay brown eggs, and a hen with a white lobe will lay white eggs, although there are a few exceptions.
The wattles are peculiar indeed. These two featherless flaps of skin hang from the bottom of the face and can range in color from red to blue to black. Like most parts of chicken anatomy, they are usually far more pronounced in roosters.
The body of a chicken is generally shaped like a horseshoe with a high head and tail. The breast is located below the head and neck, above the belly. The saddle is the area of feathers between the neck and the tail and is often quite colorful in males. Tails vary tremendously in color, arch, and size, especially between the genders. A rooster can often be distinguished by his brightly colored and high-arching tail feathers.
The legs and feet of a chicken may be bright to pale yellow, white, slate, olive, or black, all depending on breed, of course. The feet have either four or five toes (unless the bird was very unlucky indeed), and the legs are covered in overlapping slabs of skin called scales.
Spurs are sharp, bony protrusions on the back of the leg used for fighting and for defense by the valiant rooster. Contrary to popular belief, hens also have spurs, although they are usually quite small.
The skin of a chicken, which also varies in color depending on breed, is thin and tears easily. Don’t be fooled by feather color, since it does not necessarily indicate the bird’s skin color. Most have white or yellow skin, with the exception of the Silkie’s black skin. Like the yolk of a hen’s egg, a chicken’s skin will deepen in color if she is pasture raised and eats more bugs, greens, seeds, and grasses.
The feathers are an easy way to distinguish some of the breeds, but many chickens share similar colors and patterns. Feathers cover most of a chicken’s body, and in some breeds, such as the Brahma and the Faverolles, the birds have feathers on their legs or feet.
The variations in feather pattern are quite plentiful, too. In addition to a variety of earth-toned colors, feathers can have striping, penciling, wide or narrow lacing, barring, spangling, or stippling. Despite their alluring colors and styles, chickens lose their feathers each fall or winter in a process called molting.
Feathers don’t stop at the neck, either. Facial feathers include muffs, which are furnishings located on the side of the face, common in several breeds. A beard is a grouping of feathers below a chicken’s beak, and tufts are unique to the Araucana chicken, characterized by feathers growing from a small space near the ear lobe. Some breeds, such as the Polish, sport top knots: groupings of feathers in a pom-pom–like shape on the top of the head.
The key to feather health is allowing your birds to dust-bathe and preen as they see fit. (See chapter 8 for
