Choosing Your Chickens
SELECT WISELY
CHICKEN KEEPING IS IMMEASURABLY MORE ENJOYABLE
when you know what to expect along the way. So whether you’re new to chickening or a repeat offender who is adding birds to your flock, thoughtfully selecting breeds, ages, and sources of new chickens will help you keep a healthy, happy flock and limit frustrating missteps.
When starting a new flock, the array of available breeds can be overwhelming. Educating yourself to choose wisely will lessen the chances of disappointment. Male White Ameraucana chick.
Breed Selection
When starting a new flock of laying hens, the enormous array of breeds to choose from can be overwhelming, but choosing wisely helps avoid disappointment and unnecessary management challenges.
The breed selection process is not unlike choosing a family dog except that, with dogs, egg production isn’t a factor and most of us aren’t likely to get six to twelve dogs at once. As with dogs, some chicken breeds don’t fare well in extreme climates. Some are less docile than others, need more living space, or aren’t good with young children. And with chickens, breeds have different rates of egg production. Keep in mind that not every hen will lay an egg each day. Rate of egg production is influenced by many factors, including breed, diet, health, age, and stress—to name just a few! (See chapter 11 for more detailed information on drops in egg production.)
After all these basic factors are thoughtfully considered, your list of suitable breeds will be much smaller, and narrowing it down further will be a much less onerous undertaking. For detailed breed information, consult the American Poultry Association’s Standard of Perfection for Standards and Bantams.
The breed selection process is not unlike choosing a family dog except that, with dogs, egg production isn’t a factor and most of us aren’t likely to get six to twelve dogs at a time. Pictured from left are a Marans, Columbian Wyandotte, and Red Sex Link.
Wyandottes are considered cold hardy due to their heavy feathering and small rose combs.
Leghorns are considered heat tolerant due to their large, single combs and light feathering. They are also among the best egg-laying breeds.
BASIC TERMINOLOGY
Most backyard chicken keepers want laying breeds that are respectable egg producers or layers, not chickens that will be processed and eaten within a few months, which are known as meat birds, table birds, or broilers. Popular meat birds known as Cornish crosses or Cornish Rocks are fast-growing hybrids bred strictly for meat and should not be mistaken for layers, as they are not fit to live beyond a few months. The term dual purpose indicates the breed is a good egg producer that can also be processed for meat. Any chicken can be processed for meat, but some are just meatier and/or more economical to raise than others.
CLIMATE
Breeds that cope better with cold weather due to heavy feathering or low-profile combs are referred to as “cold hardy.” Breeds that fare better in very warm climates due to their lighter, shorter, and/or sleeker feathering or their large, prominent combs are referred to as “heat tolerant.” Breeds with large, prominent combs can be expected to have more challenges with frostbite in very cold climates than breeds with smaller, lower-profile combs.
This is not to suggest that a cold-hardy breed cannot live in a warm climate and a heat-tolerant breed cannot live in a cold climate, but seasonal accommodations need to be made for birds better suited for more moderate climates.
TEMPERAMENT
Although each chicken is an individual with its own unique personality, generalizations can be made about breeds much as with dog breeds. Chicken breeds are often characterized as being docile, flighty, calm, friendly, or able to bear confinement well (or not). If a household has small children where a docile, friendly dog is preferred, a feisty Chihuahua is likely not the best choice; likewise, a Hamburg would not be the ideal breed if seeking a calm lap chicken.
BROODINESS
A hormone-induced behavior known as “broodiness” describes a hen that is inspired to sit on a nest and hatch eggs. Broody hens will sit on eggs they laid, on eggs that other birds laid, and even on empty nests.
Broody hens stop laying eggs in anticipation of hatching chicks. When good egg production is the objective, breeds that are genetically predisposed to broodiness are not the best choices. However, if having hens hatch and raise chicks is important, broody breeds such as Cochins, Orpingtons, and Silkies typically are excellent choices.
Silkies and Cochins are notoriously broody breeds.
Rhode Island Reds are respectable layers of brown-shelled eggs and are good mothers.
Petey is a Black Araucana hen. Note the ear tufts and rounded backside, a feature unique to Araucanas known as “rumples” that results from the absence of a final vertebra.
Eggs
Backyard chickeneers usually want breeds that lay eggs reliably, but beginners are often unaware that most hens do not lay an egg every day. While some breeds are prolific layers, producing four or more eggs per week, (e.g., Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes, and Hamburgs), others lay less frequently (e.g., Silkies and Sebrights). If a family relies on the eggs collected from the backyard flock, Silkies may not be the right choice. My Silkie didn’t start laying eggs until she was 14 months old and thereafter averaged five eggs per month in her heyday. She’s an extreme example of a poor layer within a breed of low to average egg producers.
Blue Ameraucana hen.
EGG COLOR
Each hen produces a particular eggshell color based on her genetics. Colors range from blue and green to white, dark chocolate brown, and every hue in between. For some chicken keepers, a colorful array of eggs is an important factor in breed selection. My neighbor insists on keeping a white egg-laying hen in her flock solely to color Easter eggs annually, while I prefer keeping a variety breeds for the daily egg rainbow.
Easter Egger Confusion
What is the difference between an Araucana and Ameraucana, and what is an Easter Egger? In the most basic terms, Araucanas and Ameraucanas are both blue egg–laying breeds recognized by the American Poultry Association (APA), while Easter Eggers are hybrids produced by mating a brown egg–laying breed with a blue egg–laying breed. Easter Eggers can lay any hue of blue or brown and anything in between. Two quick tips for spotting Easter Eggers for sale: there is no color variety to choose from, and chicks are sold for less than five bucks.
Easter Egger pullets.
Each hen produces a particular shell color based on her genetics. For some chicken keepers, a colorful array of eggs is an important factor in breed selection.
Easter Egger traits include pea combs and wattles that are either small or absent, and they usually possess greenish legs and beards with muffs. Easter Eggers do not “breed true,” meaning purebred chicks do not resemble both parents. Easter Eggers are found in an array of feather colors.
Araucanas were bred from two northern Chilean breeds in the 1930s and were first recognized by the APA in 1976. They have yellow skin, no tails, no beards, and no muffs. Araucanas can have ear tufts, however, which are feathers that grow from a slender, fleshy flap just below the ear. The APA recognizes five colors of Araucana: Black, Black Breasted Red, Golden Duckwing, Silver Duckwing, and White.
Araucanas are rare in the United States, likely due to the genetic challenges in breeding them. The tufted gene in Araucanas is a lethal gene, meaning two copies of the gene cause nearly 100 percent mortality in offspring (usually between days 18 to 21 of incubation). Because no living Araucana possesses two copies of the tufted gene, breeding any pair of tufted birds leads to half of the resulting chicks being tufted with one copy of the gene, one-quarter of the chicks being clean-faced with no copy of the gene, and one-quarter of the embryos dead in the shell, having received two copies of the gene. Araucanas and Ameraucanas are always identified by their color variety—for example, a Black Araucana or Blue Ameraucana. A telltale sign that a chicken is an Easter Egger hybrid is the absence of an identifying color variety.
Ameraucanas have been bred from different strains of Araucanas since at least 1960 in the United States. The APA recognized Ameraucanas as a breed in 1984. Ameraucana hens have pea combs, white skin, full tails, muffs with beards, and slate or black legs; they do not possess ear tufts. The APA recognizes Black, Blue, Blue Wheaten, Brown Red, Silver, Wheaten, and White color varieties. The terms “Americana” and “Americauna” are unfortunate marketing tactics for selling hybrid Easter Eggers with spellings deceptively similar to the Ameraucana breed name.
Starting Your Flock
Start small! Flock additions will inevitably follow (it’s a law of nature known as “Chicken Math”), so begin conservatively to avoid unnecessary challenges. If egg production is your driving consideration, very generally speaking, it’s reasonable to plan on approximately fourteen eggs per week from three hens. Buy only as many chickens as you initially need and plan on a much bigger coop than necessary for them in anticipation of additions.
CHICKS VS. PULLETS
Most of us start flocks with chicks; slightly older female chickens called pullets can be purchased, but are not as readily available as chicks. Chicks are acquired within a few days after hatching and begin laying eggs in approximately 6 months. Pullets (a.k.a. “started birds”) are female chickens someone else has raised and are close to, if not already, laying eggs.
I always recommend starting a flock with chicks. Very few of us have egg-acquisition emergencies and can wait the 5 months it will take for the chicks to mature to egg-laying age. Also, the risks of disease and preexisting behavior issues in chicks are negligible compared to pullets. And it’s infinitely easier to bond with and socialize baby chicks!
One drawback to chicks is sexing, or determining the gender of newly hatched chicks. Since chickens don’t have external sex organs, gender determination is a complicated matter. Reputable hatcheries are typically very adept at chick sexing, but it’s not foolproof. Please be aware that some chicks sold as “sexed” females may be male, so always have a plan for an unexpected rooster you cannot keep (see “Sexing,” chapter 5).
Where to Get Your Chickens
Buying chickens is easier than ever, thanks to a wider variety of local and online sources. Buying birds from a seller that participates in the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP) ensures the flock was tested and is free from certain contagious diseases.
Buyer beware! Auctions, swaps, fellow chicken keepers, poultry shows, newspapers, and Craigslist are all super-risky places to get chickens. Even birds that appear healthy can be carriers of latent, communicable diseases. Although many healthy chickens have been acquired in The Danger Zone, many flocks have been destroyed or sickened by acquisitions from such sources. Bringing together birds from many different sources into one flock is Poultry Disease Russian Roulette at its finest.
FEED STORES
Chicks typically become available for purchase in feed stores in mid-February. Feed stores offer a low per-chick cost and the opportunity to see and select each chick before buying. The disadvantages of feed stores are limited breed selection and, usually, minimum purchase requirements (often at least six chicks). Requiring minimums discourages impulse purchases of chicks as novelties by individuals unprepared to care for them. I find that other chicken-keeping friends are often willing to split a small order after purchase, which makes it possible to add just a few baby chicks to my flock without having to build yet another chicken coop.
Another possible limitation to buying from larger feed stores is that they sometimes do not know when chicks will arrive or which breeds they will receive. Sometimes this potluck selection works out well, though—I have gotten breeds I never expected to add to my flock when happening upon them in the store. Fine, I admit to stalking Tractor Supply Company stores in the springtime. Don’t judge.
Smaller, independently owned feed stores often take orders from customers prior to the spring chick season but tend to get fewer chicks than larger retailers do. They usually source chicks from the same hatcheries you can buy from directly, but the advantages to preordering from independent feed stores are the large breed selection and lower small-order costs than ordering directly from hatchery to home.
Feed stores offer a low per-chick cost and the opportunity to see and select each chick before buying.
HATCHERIES
Chicks can be picked up at some local hatcheries or ordered online or by phone and delivered by U.S. Mail. Because a chick absorbs the egg yolk through its navel just prior to hatching, it is sustained nutritionally for several days, which makes it possible to ship chicks in the mail.
Hatcheries’ breed arrays can be extensive, and preordering chicks in the winter months ensures the widest assortment possible. If you’ve got your heart set on a certain breed, learn the hatchery’s ordering procedures to maximize your chances of getting that breed.
Hatching eggs in an incubator can be a rewarding way to start or add to a flock.
One disadvantage to some hatcheries is a large minimum order, often fifteen to twenty-five chicks, but many hatcheries now offer smaller shipping options of three to ten chicks. A significant benefit to ordering from large hatcheries is that they employ vent sexers, professionals who determine chick gender, a service that smaller purveyors do not offer.
When ordering online, be aware that most online retailers do not hatch the chicks they sell but take orders that are then filled by hatcheries or breeders that ship the chicks to customers. Investigate the online source you’re buying from and know where your chicks are actually hatched and where they ship from. If there is a recall health concern about a particular hatchery, or severe weather affecting the chicks’ travel route, you’ll want to know whether your chicks are affected.
Columbian Wyandotte and White Orpington chicks.
BREEDERS
Allowing a rooster to mate with a hen in the yard does not make someone a breeder. If you’re seeking a local source of a particular breed, check online with breeders’ associations and clubs. Legitimate breeders will be listed in these groups’ directories and should be NPIP certified. The biggest disadvantage to purchasing chicks through a breeder, however, is that gender identification is usually not possible.
HATCH YOUR OWN
Hatching eggs in an incubator can be a very rewarding way to start or add to a flock, but it is best undertaken after a fair amount of reading to learn the ideal practices and equipment for a successful outcome. A terrific alternative to artificial incubation is having a broody hen do all the work for you! This again is not as simple as it sounds, so do some homework and determine whether you have the facilities to manage it (see chapter 9).
Choosing Healthy Chicks
Building a healthy flock starts with choosing the healthiest chicks. Although not all health problems will be readily apparent, many obvious signs of an unwell chick can be noted while they’re still in the bin at the feed store. Handling the chicks is not likely to be permitted, so always ask a store employee to show you certain physical features of chicks you’re contemplating purchasing.
What are the signs, then, of a healthy chick?
ACTIVE AND ALERT
Chicks sleep quite a bit, but when they are awake, they are active—eating, pooping, drinking, pooping, exploring their environment, and pooping. And also pooping. When approached, a healthy chick reacts appropriately or scurries away. An unhappy or unwell chick often isolates itself from flockmates, doesn’t eat or drink normally, may have irregular or very few droppings, and is slow to react when approached.
Look at the chick’s eyes for another sign of alertness. A healthy chick’s eyes are open and bright. An unhealthy chick may have a thousand-mile stare, appear sleepy most of the time, or have eyes that are crusted shut.
LEGS, FEET, AND POSTURE
A healthy chick’s feet and legs are straight and they stand and walk with ease, not limping or appearing to scoot. A chick with crooked toes or oddly positioned legs will need special care, and while it may not necessarily be unhealthy, such deformities can signal other underlying conditions that are not apparent and may not be correctable.
In addition to difficulty with standing or walking, an unhealthy or physically challenged chick may crouch or sit back on its hocks. Its neck may retract back into its body. Its beak may point toward the sky or bend toward its back.
VENT AND NAVEL
The vent is the opening from which chickens pass bodily waste and from which hens pass eggs. The vent of a healthy chick should be clean.
Pasty butt (a.k.a. pasted vent or pasting up) occurs in a baby chick when droppings stick to the down surrounding the vent. It is very common for chicks sold commercially to have pasty butt due to the stress of shipping and sometimes infections. Pasty butt is not necessarily a sign of a sick chicken, but the poop buildup can form a blockage that can be fatal unless removed (see chapter 5).
The navel or belly button is located just beneath the vent. Just as in human babies after birth, a small amount of tissue must dry up and fall off the chick’s navel after hatch. This dried tissue should not be confused with droppings and should never be pulled. A chick’s navel should be completely closed and clean. It should not be red, purplish, oozy, crusty, or have egg yolk protruding from it.
QUIET
A healthy chick is relatively quiet. Happy, warm chicks may softly cheep to each other, but not constantly and not plaintively. A chick that is cold, hungry, in pain, sick, or lost will emit a shrill pieep, pieep, pieep sound.
VACCINES
It is essential to know whether a chick has been vaccinated and if so, which vaccine(s) it received. If a baby chick has been vaccinated for coccidiosis, a common, often fatal, intestinal disease, it should not be given medicated starter feed. Chicks given the coccidiosis vaccine may have their backs marked with a colored dye that remains visible for 4 to 5 days after treatment. A good feed store, hatchery, or breeder will always know a chick’s vaccination status. Insist on access to this important information.
An unhealthy Crèvecoeur chick with classic stargazing posture. Stargazing is an untreatable condition that affects a chick’s nervous system, rendering it unable to eat or drink. Its cause is unknown.
The vent is the opening from which chickens pass bodily waste and from which hens pass eggs. The vent of a healthy chick should be clean.