Molting is the process by which chickens lose their old feathers and grow new feathers. We will be using our rooster Liberace as an example. He is a bantam frizzle cochin. "Frizzle" means the feathers curve out, away from the body. Our next entry will be all about frizzles!
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There are times when a hen wants to be a mother. When this happens, they go broody. Broody hens try to hatch their eggs. Sometimes, they'll steal others' eggs. They don't really care who laid the egg; they just want to be moms! This is Nipper. She is a good example of a hen gone broody. She hid 11 eggs from us in a wooden box that is safe from predators. We found out that she was broody when we thought she was missing. It turned out that she wasn't missing; she was just sitting on her eggs. Nipper is fluffed out to cover her eggs and keep them warm. She's also flattened out because she's hiding. In this picture, you can see how fluffed out and flat she is. She will sit on her eggs for 21 days, which is when they will hatch. Even if eggs are laid before others, they won't start growing until a hen sits on them. The eggs will only hatch if they are at the right temperature--it's can't be too cold or too hot or the baby will either not grow or die. She will use her beak to roll the eggs over a few times a day so the babies don't stick to the inside of the egg. While turning them, she smells them to see if any are rotting. If one is rotting, she will get it away from the other eggs. A rotting egg is packed with bacteria. If she were to leave it, the bacteria from the rotten egg will get into the other eggs and kill the baby. Most likely, not all of the eggs will hatch. This is because of a few possible reasons: it's not fertile, developmental issues, the egg is contaminated, the baby wasn't strong enough to hatch itself, the temperature or humidity weren't right, or mama accidentally cracked a shell. She will stay on the eggs almost all the time. She will only get off of them to go potty, eat, and drink. Some broody hens will not get off their eggs at all, not even to take care of their own needs. They take being a mother very seriously. When she gets off the eggs, she doesn't stay off for long. Chicken mamas are very protective! If a predator gets too close, she will first roar at them to try to scare them away. If it doesn't leave, she will peck at it and bite it. When she roars, the roosters will come running to help her. Sometimes, sadly, they fail and the eggs or babies get eaten. Usually, though, through teamwork, everyone is kept safe. When the babies hatch, we'll have an entire entry about them for your enjoyment! Chickens have genes like all living things. Genes give us our traits. Traits are things like height, eye color, and hair color. In chickens, traits include things like eye color, feather color, size, and demeanor. Demeanor means their personality type. This is Grey Boy. He is a black bantam cochin. Sometimes black cochins have grey feathers. You've met Lucy before. She is another black bantam cochin. Lucette is the result of Grey Boy and Lucy breeding. When she is fully grown, she will look just like her parents. They are both black bantam cochins, so Lucette is a black bantam cochin. Meet Henny Penny again! Her brother, Red, unfortunately died while protecting his ladies from a predator. He looked almost identical to his sister, but he had a larger comb, bigger, waddles, and a long, dark tail. Henny and Red are "standard size", which means they're bigger than bantams. Collie is a mixed breed. Her father was Red; her mother is Lucy. From her mother, she got most of her feather color, her feet color, and most of her personality. Because her mother is a bantam and her father was a standard, her size is somewhere between the two. She is bigger than her mother, but smaller than her father and aunt. This is Spock (not from Star Trek!). He is Collie's twin brother. He has more of his father's color and personality. Unlike Collie, his feet are feathered, which he got from his mother. Spock and Collie are the same size--bigger than mom, but smaller than dad. Spock got his personality from his father and aunt. He tends to be a little less friendly, but isn't exactly aggressive. You have met Egg Muncher before. She is a standard size chicken, and her comb is floppy (kind of rare for a hen). Fluffy is a bantam D'Uccle. It's hard to see in the picture, but his beak is white! Say 'hi' to Stumpy! Her mother is Egg Muncher, and her father is Fluffy. She got her body size and her floppy comb from her mother. She, unfortunately for her, got her leg size from her father, as well as her white beak. She doesn't let her short legs stop her, though--she can run very fast! In the picture, her leg is almost completely straight, so you can see just how short it is. She got her overall personality from her mother. She runs away a lot, but is, also, very curious. As you know, humans have different personalities. It's the same thing with chickens. Some may be nice, mean, or laid-back. Different breeds tend to have different attitudes.
One of our chickens that you have met, Lucy, is a very laid-back chicken. Laid-back means they're not aggressive, and they tend to go with the flow. She doesn't really care much about wandering, getting into fights, or being nosy. We call one of our hens Egg Muncher. She has this name because she loves to steal and munch on eggs only when we collect them. She's a white Leghorn. This breed tends to be very curious, goofy, and nosy. Egg Muncher likes to stick her head in everything, including buckets, holes, and sometimes under another chicken's wing. Bitey is one of our Americana hens. She is very defensive and can be aggressive sometimes. Snowy is an Americana rooster, but he isn't as aggressive, though he is flighty. Flighty means that the chicken gets frightened easily and will run away. Big Mama, our Barred Rock hen, is bossy. She isn't aggressive towards us or the other hens too much, but she really likes bullying the roosters to keep them in line. Whiny is a Dutch Bantam hen. She is tiny, solid black, and has white earlobes. She is very intelligent and sneaky. She hides eggs from us when she wants to sit on them. We found this out when she disappeared one day. She pretended she was going to sleep with everyone else, but when we left, she went to sit on her eggs. She knew where the other hens laid their eggs and that we collect them all. So, she found a place where no one else went to hide her eggs. Additionally, Whiny is very noisy. She doesn't cluck like normal chickens, so it sounds like she's whining all the time. Buff Orpingtons and Buff Brahmas are different breeds but have similar personalities. Orpingtons are a little more friendly than Brahmas, but they're both still sweet. They love to sit on shoulders and laps, and they love to be touched. Trouble, who was introduced in another entry, is aggressive. He likes getting into fights, even if he does usually lose. He's so small that his attacks don't really hurt us, but it would if he were bigger. When roosters attack, they jump and kick whatever they're attacking. They are trying to stab their opponent with their spurs. Spurs are a spike on the back of roosters' legs. It's like a toe nail, but there's no toe there. This isn't a list of all the personalities that chickens have, but this is a general idea. |
Just two brothers
Nanners & Mashers are brothers who just want to share their birds with the world. Archives
April 2016
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