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A chicken’s feathers are one way to identify her breed; they also indicate her overall health and vigor. A chicken’s feathers should be glossy, smooth, and bright.
The Ins
The digestive system begins with the beak. As a bird collects forage or feed in her beak, she adds some necessary digestive enzymes (contained in saliva) before the food, usually still whole, passes through her esophagus. Chickens do not have teeth, so the “chewing” process happens later (giving credence to the adage “as scarce as hen’s teeth”).
The crop, a flexible pouch located just below the chicken’s neck, is the next stop. When a bird is finding plentiful forage, the crop will swell considerably and house all of the bird’s food, from grasses to grubs. The more difficult to digest forage may remain in the crop upward of 12 hours. Consider the crop a holding area for the bulk of a bird’s sustenance.
Next, the food is moved to the bird’s true stomach, or proventriculus, where more digestive enzymes are added. The gizzard is next, where the grit you’ve provided your birds (or the pebbles they’ve picked up foraging) is put to use. Without any teeth, chickens rely on the teamwork of grit and the strong muscles of the gizzard to break down their food. After absorption of the nutrients by the intestinal walls, liquid and solid waste is released together through the bird’s cloaca, and digestion is complete. Droppings are a key indicator of health, so monitor them from time to time. The white crest on a normal, healthy dropping is the urine deposit; the rest should be light greenish brown or gray. It’s not pleasant, but don’t be too grossed out—that “waste” is compost gold, so put those nutrients to work a second time in your garden.
The reproductive system is the system most chicken keepers are concerned with; after all, eggs are the reason most people start keeping chickens. Knowing a bit more about what it takes to produce that egg will make you a better keeper.
The cock’s reproductive role is centered mostly on two testes, which unlike male mammals, are housed internally. In a flock of mixed genders, mating occurs continuously. For hens, reproduction begins in her ovary, where she develops small clusters of yolks. Through ovulation, yolks are released into the oviduct, a 25 in. (64 cm) long tube. If the hen has been mated, fertilization will happen there. (And if not, the process will still continue; you just won’t get a fertilized egg out of the deal.) The yolk moves through two parts of the oviduct, the infundibulum and the magnum; the latter is where the albumen (or egg white) is added. The third part of the oviduct, called the isthmus, is where the hen’s system adds the shell membranes. Finally, a large deposit of calcium carbonate (mostly pulled from the hen’s bones) produces the shell in the uterus (this is why it’s so important to provide added calcium to your laying hens in the form of oyster shells). Finally, after a 20-hour process, the internal chamber called the cloaca releases the fully formed egg through the vent, encased in bloom. Also called the cuticle, the bloom is a protective coating that safeguards the developing chick from bacteria that may penetrate the shell.
Pretty cool, right? Not only is the egg a perfect food, it’s a perfect structure to incubate the young bird. Most young female chickens, called pullets, reach sexual maturity between four and six months, depending on the breed and the individual bird’s lineage. When the days lengthen and the pullet is exposed to over 14 hours of daylight, her reproductive system kicks into high gear and starts egg production. Most high-production breeds will lay one egg per 24- to 26-hour cycle. If it takes longer to acquire those 14 hours of light, egg production will carry over into another day or two. Some chicken keepers choose to artificially light the coop to encourage their chickens to keep laying through the shorter days of winter. This is a widely accepted practice, but I think the winter months are a well-earned break for everyone. Considering that shortened daylight hours usually coincide with a molt, the fall and early winter are the perfect time to let the birds rejuvenate and rest. Plus, some breeds make great winter layers, no matter what you do.
Tales from the Coop
When my husband, daughter, and I moved into our home in North Carolina, we “inherited” a resident chicken—a single, sweet, skittish Delaware we named Hen Solo. She was the sole survivor of her flock, all of which had been picked off by predators over the years. By the time we started caring for her, she had been accustomed to roaming the homestead freely, eating only what she could forage (including water) and having the coop to herself.
We immediately put her on our flock’s diet of organic, soy-free feed, with grit and oyster shells as supplements. She had fresh water daily. She wasn’t laying eggs when we moved in, and she continued her dry spell through the winter and into the spring. When the days lengthened, she surprised us with one perfect beige egg. We were ecstatic. She was isolated from the rest of our flock at the time (for biosecurity reasons), so we knew the egg was hers. She was back in business.
Several weeks later, my husband came home from work one evening and collected eggs on his way in. He reported that there had been three eggs in Hen Solo’s nest box and wondered why I hadn’t collected eggs in a few days. I looked at the three perfect beige eggs in his hands in wonder: The truth was, I had collected eggs the night before. Everything I knew told me that it was impossible for a hen to lay more than one egg per day. But the proof was right in front of me. There was no doubt about it: Hen Solo had laid three eggs in one day!
Choosing the Right Breed
The breed or breeds you choose to raise will largely be determined by two factors: your region’s greater climate and the space you have available to devote to your flock. Once those two considerations are met, decide how important other factors are, such as egg production, personality, and temperament. The primary purpose of your flock will determine which breed(s) you’ll raise most successfully.
There are hundreds of chicken varieties, each with its own strengths. The descriptions that follow highlight some of the most popular American chicken breeds for the backyard flock. I’ll admit, I’m biased: Many of these are my favorite chickens, and I wouldn’t have a flock without them. Just keep in mind that while many generalizations can be made for a breed as a whole, individual birds may not always conform to their breed’s exact temperament, size, color, or other factors. Many of the following chickens are heritage breeds, dual-purpose (which means they can be used as both egg layers and meat birds), and some fall on The Livestock Conservancy’s (TLC) Conservation Priority List for endangered poultry (see below).
Lineage aside, what these breeds all have in common is that they’re easily handled, easy to find and purchase, friendly toward their keepers, and laying eggs is their strong suit, making them the absolute best birds for the suburbs.
The Livestock Conservancy
The Livestock Conservancy does research, education, outreach, marketing and promotion, and genetic rescues to help ensure the future of rare breed agriculture.
Each year, The Livestock Conservancy publishes its annual Conservation Priority List for endangered poultry. The breeds identified on the list generally conform to certain parameters, as identified below.
Critical. Fewer than 200 annual registrations in the United States and estimated global population less than 2,000.
Threatened. Fewer than 1,000 annual registrations in the United States and estimated global population less than 5,000.
Watch. Fewer than 2,500 annual registrations in the United States and estimated global population less than 10,000. Also included are breeds that present genetic or numerical concerns or have a limited geographic distribution.
Recovering.
