Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
made me laugh out loud while I dried my pathetic wet hen's face with a towel. Unlike
many of those old college friends, I had yet to travel overseas, but I still felt I had made
one heck of a journey.
The fair lasted a whole week. I didn't know the first thing about conformation of
Silkie bantams, but I ended up winning a few ribbons. I also ended up with the grand
champion rooster. These kinds of things just happen with poultry people. A couple of us
were in the poultry barn, squawking louder than the hens about our birds, and soon we
had a trade going on. She would take home my Black Silkie rooster, and I would take
her regal Welsummer.
Within minutes of bringing him home, he conquered one of my hens. If nothing else,
I made one impressive chicken yenta.
Chicken Hypnosis
YOU CAN PUT A CHICKEN INTO A TRANCE
that lasts anywhere from 15
seconds to 30 minutes. In addition to being a curious trick, it can be a good way to
settle a bird that you need to inspect for injury or disease. Here are three methods:
• Hold her head to the ground by placing her on her side, and with a stick or finger,
draw a continuous line from the tip of her beak straight outward.
• While you are cradling her belly-up in one arm, lightly massage each side of her
breastbone with your fingers.
• Holding her in one arm, place her head under a wing and gently rock back and forth.
MONTH 6
Eg'g'-stending' the Season
Chickens lay eggs when their instincts tell them that their babies have a good chance
of survival, which is in the spring and summer. If you want to keep egg production up,
even in midwinter, hens need to be fooled into thinking it's still reproduction season.
This requires artificial lighting. For peak laying productivity, augmentation should start
when daylight falls below 15 hours per day, usually in September. Your artificial light-
ing program needs to be maintained until the following spring, when you can let nature
take over again. If you forget to turn the lights on for even one day, your hens may go
into a molt and stop laying.
