KEEPING OTHER POULTRY
Housing and looking after ducks
Author’s foreword
Keeping chickens or other poultry in your back garden or yard becomes a way of life and one that is packed with the amusement provided by your dedicated team of egg layers. Some will bustle around as if parading their management skills, a few will continually inspect the ground for reckless insects, and others will exhibit a measured walk, the product of carefully cultivated self-importance. Of course, there is also the daily bonus of eggs for your family’s breakfast or use in numerous kitchen recipes. To top it all, you will have the reassurance that your birds have led a happy, relaxed life within a near-natural environment and that they have been fed on a diet of wholesome food.
Keeping poultry, either in a wire-netted enclosure in your garden or as free-rangers if you have more space, is part of getting back to the basics of life and an activity that puts you into daily contact with the land and its seasons. Additionally, when living in harmony with the countryside, the cycle of life becomes clear. All poultry enthusiasts – and especially their children – are captivated by chicks breaking free from their shells and cautiously entering into a new world.
There are, of course, disadvantages to keeping poultry, and you will need to be constantly vigilant to prevent predators, such as foxes and rats, attacking your birds, but this problem need not be insurmountable if the hen house is strong and properly constructed, and the fences are high. Essentially, you should not enter the world of keeping poultry if you cannot offer a seven days a week commitment throughout the year. The daily tasks of feeding, watering and collecting eggs must not be neglected. Remember that happy hens lay the best and most eggs.
MEASUREMENTS
Both metric and imperial measurements are given in this book. For example, 1.8 m (6 ft).
The world of poultry
What does ‘poultry’ mean?
The range of poultry species kept for the eggs they produce and the meat they provide is wide. This mainly comprises chickens, with ducks, guinea fowl and quails (see pages 68–73) playing a lesser role. However, like chickens, they have an enthusiastic and dedicated following. The number of chickens kept for their eggs or meat far exceeds that of other poultry, with a current estimated global figure of more than 28 billion, which is expected to rise.
WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF DOMESTICATED CHICKENS?
Chickens have been domesticated and kept for their eggs and meat for many thousands of years. Now scientifically known as Gallus gallus domesticus, chickens were earlier thought to have been first domesticated in India, but now Southeast Asia and probably Vietnam are considered to be more accurate, at about 10,000 years ago.
From India, domestication spread to Asia Minor, then to Greece about 7,000 years ago and subsequently to Egypt during the 18th Dynasty (1550–1292 BCE). Chickens are now known worldwide and widely kept for their eggs or meat.
What is the chicken’s ancestry?
Previously, the domesticated chicken was believed to have descended from both the Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) and the Grey Junglefowl (Gallus sonneratii). However, modern genetics indicate that the Grey Junglefowl is the most likely ancestor.
DOMESTICATED FOWL
Large-fowl chickens
These are very popular and there are many breeds to choose from (see pages 10–22)
Guinea fowl
Seed-eating, ground-nesting, partridge-like birds, sometimes known as guinea hens (see page 73)
Bantams
Smaller than large-fowl chickens, they are popular as egg layers (see pages 23–27)
Quails
Classified as game birds and related to pheasants, they can fly (see page 72)
Ducks
Easier to keep than chickens, they are often more prolific egg layers (see pages 68–71)
Getting to know chickens
Are they easily recognized?
Identifying a basic chicken is easy as they are widely known and publicized, but there are many different breeds (see pages 10–22), as well as smaller forms known as bantams (see pages 23–27). The majority of chickens you will see are hens (females) and it is these that produce the eggs that are widely sold and eaten each year
