chicken facts

In general, the color of a chicken's earlobes indicate the color of eggs it will lay, with white ear lobes indicating white egg layers and red ear lobes indicating brown egg layers. Of course, as with all rules, there are a few exceptions. The red-lobed Crevecouer, Dorking, Lamona, Redcap and Sumatra actually lay white eggs and the Aracana and Ameraucana lay blue-green shelled eggs.

No bird has more than four toes except chickens of the Dorking, Faverolle, Houden, Sultan, and Non-bearded Silkie Bantams, all of which have five toes. In these breeds the extra toe arises above the base of the hallux and projects upward, never touching the ground. In the Silkie, the extra toes often lie nearly in the same plane as the hallux. Some birds have only three toes, while the ostrich has two toes.

Some breeds and individual birds are more aggressive than others. Game birds, with their close-fitting (hard-feathered) plumage, long legs and sharp spurs have been used for the sport of cockfighting for thousands of years.

Hens will lay the same number of eggs whether there is a rooster in the flock or not. Roosters serve no practical purpose unless you are going to hatch eggs. Realistically, though, you are going to get roosters whether you want them or not, even if you order only female chicks. The hatcheries only guarantee 90% sexing accuracy, and you can pretty much count on having unwanted male chicks in every order.

White Leghorns are the mainstay of the U.S. egg industry. They are hardy, mature quickly, and lay enormous numbers of white eggs, but they are panicky. This makes them annoying to work with, as you end up doing everything in slow motion to avoid panicking the flock. This is less of a nuisance on free range, where they have room to run around squawking. In confinement you will literally have them bouncing off the walls.

Some chickens lay blue or green eggs. Most of these birds are descended from a South American chicken, the Araucana, with various admixtures of other breeds. The Ameraucana is a recognized show breed. Most hatcheries sell something else, “Easter Egg chickens.” These don't meet the show standard and you will probably find that not all of the hens lay blue or green eggs

When in doubt, buy a utility strain of Barred Rocks. For generations, Barred Rocks were the most popular farm bird in the U.S., combining a calm disposition, attractive coloration, high production of brown eggs, and good meat qualities. (If you aren't in the U.S., the old-time production breed of your area might work better: Black Australorps if you are in Australia, Buff Orpingtons in Britain, etc.) If you don't want Barred Rocks, other birds with similar characteristics are Rock of other colors (White Rocks, Buff Rocks, etc.), Wyandottes, Buff Orpingtons, and the hybrids called Black Sex-Links. Barred Rock roosters have a reputation for viciousness, though.

Don't crowd the nests. If you're using ordinary compartmentalized nest boxes, provide one nest for every four hens

A hen can lay a egg every 24 to 26 hours.