All About Chickens

Chickens are funny birds in many ways. They share a common ancestry with Tyrannosaurus Rex. They have a gizzard (and you thought your grandparents made up that word!), which is a small part of the stomach that contains tiny stones and grinds up their food.  They can fly only a few feet (enough to get over a fence!) and are officially classified as flightless birds. There are over 24 billion chickens in the world. A group of chickens is a flock, a female is a hen, and a male is a rooster or cockerel. Young females are called pullets until they start to lay eggs at 20 to 24 weeks of age. Usually first eggs are smaller sized. 

Roosters can crow any time of day, starting at o’dark thirty, about 60 minutes before sunrise, and then continue All. Day. Long. Roosters can become very aggressive, usually after one year of age (full maturity). This is one reason why we rarely have a rooster in our flock. They are protective of their hens and will often have a group of followers. If he spots some delicious food, such as insects, the rooster will call his ladies over. Roosters are not needed for hens to lay their eggs. Generally, a rooster will be significantly larger than the hens, have longer legs with a “spur” on each foot (wielded as a weapon very effectively), and a larger “comb” and “wattles” (the funny looking red bags on his chin) on his head.

Chickens are omnivores, eating seeds, herbs, leaves, fruits, vegetables, grubs, insects, and even small mammals such as mice (if they can catch them).  Our chickens especially love fruit and leftover greens—lettuce and tomatoes are favorites. In the summer, watermelon and cantaloupe pieces are devoured quickly!

Chickens lay an egg approximately once every 25 hours, with variations between breeds (and individual hens). The hens often take a break when it is excessively hot or excessively cold. If a hen hides her eggs to nest them, she is called “broody,” rarely leaving her nest, and turning the eggs up to 50 times per day. It is not fun to collect eggs from a hen who has decided to brood! The incubation period is 21 days, and a clutch of eggs will generally hatch over a two-day period. The baby chicks follow their mother around for 4 to 6 weeks. Chickens have a great (if simple) memory and easily distinguish among different hens in the flock. They learn from older hens the tricks of where to find the best bits of food or where a hole is in the fence. If a rooster is present in a flock, he dictates what is going on. With no rooster present, the older hens will be in charge, eating first and showing the younger ones what to do. 

Chickens generally live 5 to 7 years, but 10 years is frequent, and the record is 22 years old!  A chicken maintains a body temperature of 107 degrees F. and a freshly laid egg is pretty warm at 105 degrees Fahrenheit.  The largest chicken egg on record is 12 ounces (ouch!).

Chickens will drop their old feathers and grow new feathers each year, over an 8 to 12 week period; this is called “molting,” and the chickens often look half-dressed. Some chickens molt just a few feathers at a time and some drop most of their feathers all at once. This generally occurs in late summer/early fall, with the declining sunlight hours. The newly grown feathers help the chickens maintain their body temperature during the winter months. Commercial egg laying companies will force molts to increase egg production. We let our girls molt if/when they want. However, chickens will peck at each other to communicate who is the boss and a chicken with skin showing, such as during molting, can be at risk for being pecked to death! So sometimes we will separate the molting girls until they are fully feathered again. The pecking order among chickens is not gentle or friendly! 

Chickens fare quite well during the cold weather months, as long as they have shelter to stay dry, can keep out of the wind, and have plenty of food and water. Our chickens huddle together on their roosts and don’t venture out on bad weather days. They have a heated water bowl so they always have water available. There is a large space inside their house which gives them somewhere to scratch dirt, even on snowy or rainy days. Happy chickens lay more eggs!
When trained from a young age, chickens are easily handled and can become great pets.  Chickens love their outdoor spaces, scratching for bugs, eating fresh greens, and exploring. They are just as curious inside the house too! 

We love having fresh eggs, and we enjoy watching our chickens go about the busy-ness of being chickens.

Video is of a chicken eating a grasshopper. 

It's fascinating to see the chicken move its head side to
side in order to view the grasshopper from each eye