Chicken Keeping Secrets

“Dear Duncan, Thanks you for what you do we have learned so much from you and Wendy. Like a lot of your readers we are new with chickens as well. We have a few young hens and a rooster who we think is the coolest. We are worried about the rooster in the hen house when they start laying eggs. Like all roosters he likes to make sure his heritage carry on, he is already trying to do his thing. My wife and I are concerned we are going to be eating fertile eggs? Sounds silly but should the rooster leave the hen house?” ~ Dan & Family

Dan, don’t ever think a question is silly, I’m glad you wrote.

Some people even believe that fertile eggs are more nutritious.

I’ve tried to find research on the subject but was unable to locate anything but opinion.

What I know with certainty is that fertile eggs are fine to eat.

If we look to our past and the farmers of yesteryear, we realize that it is very likely that most eggs consumed on the family farm were fertile.

Before there were grocery stores and mail-order chicks, a rooster was an extremely important part of the flock. Without the rooster a flock would only survive one generation. Eggs were a staple in the diet and the flock must continue to procreate. (more…)

“We are new at the Chicken raising and I find your newsletter very helpful every week. In June we received 3 hens and they started laying for us in September. We were getting approx 1 egg every other day, maybe 2 between the 3 hens, and then as your newsletter explained to me the days got shorter and we were getting no eggs for quite some time.

The eggs we were getting from the hens were brown, and now for the last week we have received an egg everyday… but the eggs are white. At first I thought someone was playing a trick on us until this morning the one we received was still warm. I may have misunderstood somewhere along the way, but I thought egg colour had to do with the food they eat? or does egg colour have to do with the kind of chicken? Can you help me understand PLEASE? Thanks so much for your time” ~ Crystal, Ontario, Canada

Thanks for the question Crystal.

The color of the yolk of the egg is affected by the food that the chicken eats.

This is due to a group of chemicals called carotenoids that are found in plants. Probably the most commonly know carotenoid that we humans would be familiar with is beta-carotene.

Manufacturers, understanding that consumers prefer the deep yellow yolks of free range chickens, have now started adding these carotenoids to many commercial feeds.

As for the color of the egg’s shell, that has nothing to do with the food consumed by the hen but is strictly due to genetics. (more…)

“I have always heard not to incubate eggs that still have manure on them. What is the best way to clean an egg before incubating it? Can you clean them with water or is there something on the market that will wash the egg but not remove the protective barrier? Please help. Thanks,” ~ Angela Reynolds Lewisburg, WV

Angela, thanks for the question.

It is important that the eggs you select for incubation be in the best possible condition.

For this reason, you should not incubate eggs that have manure on them.

You definitely do not want to clean the eggs with water because it will remove the protective bloom.

To the best of my knowledge there is nothing on the market that will both clean the egg while leaving the bloom intact.

If the egg must be cleaned, try to brush any foreign particles away with your finger nail. If that doesn’t work, use a very fine grit sandpaper to remove only the manure or dirt. (more…)

We are absolutely flooded with questions about using artificial light to stimulate egg production in the winter. For those of you in the Northern Hemisphere, this is a hot topic right now. For those of you in the Southern Hemisphere, you’ll be prepared for next year ;-0

I’ve written about this before but there seems to be some confusion so let me go ahead and clear this up with a detailed piece this week.

Hopefully when you’re done reading this, you’ll have a better understanding of this issue. I apologize for any confusion I may have caused in the past.

A hen has the ability to ovulate once every 26 hours. It is this ovulation that ultimately produces an egg. If I’m not mistaken, research has shown that it takes 16 hours of daylight to stimulate ovulation. The light absorption stimulates the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland which produces a hormone that influences the sex gland activity. (Boy, that was a mouthful.) (more…)

Last week we addressed a question from Royce about whether egg shape is an indication of the sex of the chick. Thanks to all of you who responded. Below are a few of the responses that indicate the overall experience you all have had in regards to this…

“I have allowed hens to hatch out eggs according to shape and the round egg for hen and pointed egg for rooster was correct from my experience.” ~ Laura Fowler

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