Pride of the Granite State -The New Hampshire Red

Ask a major league baseball manager what team member is most valuable and he is likely to answer, “my utility player” Rarely a famous media star, a utility player is a flexible athlete who can, at short notice, skillfully play many positions If a star player is sick or injured a utility man fills the gap

 

New Hampshire Reds are the “utility player” chicken breed They may not be the absolutely most prolific layer, the fastest growing broiler, the most beautifully colored chicken, or the very best broody hen But, they are darn good at all of them That may

My Hens Are Going Bald

Late winter It is cold Why in the world are my hens losing their feathers when they need every single one to keep toasty warm?  Feather loss could be caused by age, molting, crowding, brooding, an overactive rooster or, gulp, lice or mites

Just before they begin laying, hens that hatched four or five months earlier look like they just stepped out of a chicken spa Their feathery wardrobe is gorgeous and covers everything but their legs, feet, and heads Then life’s stresses begin taking a toll  After months of laying,  patches of  feathers disappear revealing reddish bare skin  Although

What To Do with Frozen Eggs and When Do You Freeze Eggs?

You come home from a long winter day at work or school and visit the coop to collect the day’s eggs They’re cold  Really cold with hairline cracks in some of their shells     That’s not surprising Those eggs have been sitting in the nest for hours on a subzero day

 

Egg whites and yolks contain plenty of water but are loaded with dissolved solids  These lower the egg freezing point to about 29 degrees Eggs rarely freeze in moderately cold weather but if the temperature drops like a stone eggs freeze and crack in just a couple of hours

 

In many

Managing Dust

Dust and chickens go together like macaroni and cheese Flock Owners know their hens produce eggs for the kitchen and manure to make garden vegetables thrive  A less recognized and valued hen byproduct is dust It needs to be managed

 

According to Dr Susan Lamont, Iowa State University CF Curtis Distinguished Professor of Agriculture and Life Sciences, dust comes when chickens shed dead skin and from material shed from the base of the feather shafts It’s called dander Other dust may originate from litter and feed

Dust fluffs off birds, spirals into the coop’s

Comfy Nests

Perhaps the greatest joy that comes from keeping backyard chickens is the wonderful gifts hens leave in their nests Some are huge Others are small One may be long and skinny, while others are nearly round They might have light or dark brown, white, or even blue or green shells An occasional one may sport speckles Those eggs are beautiful, diverse, fresh and nutritious

 

Providing clean, safe and comfortable nests encourages hens to lay where eggs are easy to collect That involves putting enough nests in the right places and collecting eggs often

Litter – A Versatile Word and Odd One in Chicken Vocabulary

“Bedding” means soft wood chips or straw in a horse or cow’s stall But if the same material is in a chicken coop it’s “litter” That seems weird

 

When applied to chickens the word “litter” has nothing to do with trash scattered along a road The word is derived from the ancient Latin lectos which meant “bed” and was used to describe a flat platform carried by husky men with the emperor riding on top   The French changed the word to litiere and used it differently  French linguist, Mark Norlander, translated it to mean, “a bed of soft and insulating

Time to Say Goodbye

Anyone who has kept a backyard flock eventually faces a dilemma As hens age their egg laying slows Eventually it nearly stops There’s a point where the girls eat expensive feed yet hardly lay an egg How does a flock owner decide when to get rid of aging hens and what to do with them?

 

A Laying Scenario

A young pullet starts laying when she is 18 to 24 weeks old If she’s of a productive breed she’ll soon lay like fury It takes about 26 hours for an egg to form, so every once in a while, she’ll take a