Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Merek's disease.
This virus causes weight loss, diarrhea, and often death. There's no cure for
the virus, but there is a vaccine that can be given to the chicks. Merek's disease is spread through
dander and dust from infected chickens, which means it is primarily seen in flocks that are closely
crowded. We don't vaccinate our chicks as we don't overcrowd our flocks and expose them to other
flocks.
Eggs from Your Chickens
The boon of the backyard flock is the perfect little gifts offered so humbly for us. The eggs that
our chickens produce give us one of the best sources of protein on the farm.
Most eggs produced by dual-purpose breeds have brown-tinted shells. A few breeds seen on the
ranch lay white eggs, while only a couple breeds lay blue-tinted eggs. These three shell color varia-
tions, white, brown, and blue, allow a wide range of rainbow colors including green and pink tones.
eGG cOlOr and nutritiOn
There is a myth circulating about that brown eggs are more nutritious than white eggs. There's also a
rumor that the blue eggs are lower in cholesterol. This simply isn't true. The nutritional content of an egg is
not determined by the color of the shell, but by the health and good diet of the hen. Perhaps these rumors
started because farm-raised hens were more likely to lay colored eggs. Studies have shown that eggs laid
by pasture-raised hens are more nutritious than those laid by conventionally raised hens, regardless of
shell color.
Eggs can also appear speckled and spotted. Sometimes eggs are misshapen or have bumpy calcium
deposits. Usually these mean nothing; however, if you notice rough bumps on the shells of eggs laid
by more than one hen, it can be a sign of dietary imbalance. Add calcium-rich greens such as kale,
collards, and broccoli to their diet and give free choice access to crushed oyster shells.
You can expect your hens to begin laying when they are between 20 and 28 weeks old. Pullet
eggs—the small “beginner” eggs—are sometimes misshapen, smaller than normal, and might not
even have shells. Your laying hens will usually produce the most eggs within the first year of her
life and the production decreases gradually each year after that. In dual-purpose and consistent
breeds, the decline in production isn't as sharp as what commercial egg layers experience.
After the first year, your hen will go into a period of molting—when they lose their first-year
feathers and new ones are formed. Some hens molt with grace, shedding a few feathers here, a few
feathers there. Others go completely bald in places, some on the back, on the tail, and so on.
Your hens will stop laying eggs when the days get shorter. If you want to keep them laying more
frequently you can provide artificial light in their chicken coop. Otherwise, you can enjoy the
