Defined Number of Ova

A friend told me that a pullet is born with a certain number of ova, which, when she is of laying age, will determine how many eggs that hen will lay in a lifetime. Is this true?

D. Smith

Yes and no. It is true that a pullet is born with a certain number of egg cells. Some studies have shown that an 18-week old hen (ready to lay) has less than 1,000 ova (egg cells) available in her ovary. As far as we know, there is no mechanism for her to produce any more.

Of course, the number of eggs she will actually lay can be much less than this, depending on health, nutrition, lighting factors, etc. It cannot be more than that number, however.

Chickens That Can't Roost?

Although I have almost every issue of Backyard Poultry, I have been keeping chickens for only 15 months. I began with four Light Brahma hens and four Cuckoo Maran hens in the spring of last year. They are wonderful girls and began supplying us with fresh eggs last fall. I spent a lot of time with my girls when they were chicks and, subsequently, they are very friendly and personable. They actually stand in line to be petted!

This spring, one of my Marans went broody and I was able to find, first, some fertile Silkie eggs and, later, some Americauna day-old chicks to add to the mix when the former hatched. She has been an absolutely wonderful mother, accepting the chicks that I slipped under her as her own. And ferocious! I have her and the Americauna chicks in a borrowed chicken tractor and when my Yorkshire Terrier went right up to the wire to investigate, Mama charged her with wings spread and feet a flying. The dog has subsequently been very cautious.

I am absolutely enamored with chickens and study hatchery catalogs and Storey's Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds endlessly, making lists of which breeds I will acquire next. Of course, each time I do so my criteria changes, but that's part of the fun of it.

My question is this: Is it true that some breeds are unable to roost because of their forward posture? A friend, also new to chickens, told me recently that she heard that was so. She was speaking, particularly, about Cochins but thought it true of others, as well. I have never heard of this and it seems to me an important consideration when designing a chicken coop. My husband just finished building an A-frame coop for me (the design was featured in Backyard Poultry last spring) and now I'm wondering if my Silkies will be able to roost in the upper level. I have little roosts in the temporary environment they are in now, but I have never seen them on one. Can you shed any light on this?

Thank you, in advance, for your reply, and for all the helpful information you contribute to Backyard Poultry.

Linda

I don't think the posture of the birds will cause a problem. I've never seen a problem with it. Silkies don't typically roost because they aren't able to fly up to the roost. I'm not sure if you could get them to roost if you provided a ramp for them or not.

Cochins will roost, though they may not go as high as some of the lighter breeds. There is also some concern that heavier breeds can injure themselves coming down off a roost if it is too high. This has been suggested as a possible cause of bumblefoot in some cases.

Enjoy your chickens. They are definitely addicting!

Abnormal Rooster Behavior

About five months ago I purchased some chickens. I'm new to poultry keeping. I built a coop and fenced-in run. They are all big now and starting to lay eggs. I wound up with five hens and nine roosters. Last week I started to free range the majority of roosters. Mr. Weird Rooster, a Rhode Island Red was okay the first couple of nights, going back in the coop. The next day he started to follow me around, but when I approached him he took a bite out of me, then the next few days he seemed to get used to me. He would squat down like in a defensive move as I passed by. Now he has moved to my front door. He stays close to the house all day, and I can't get him back in the coop. He started to jump up on my kitchen window to try to get in the house, I'm guessing. I had to put water and feed outside my door for him. Is this normal for a rooster?

Robert, Florida

I wouldn't call that normal, but I'm not sure it is a big concern. My biggest concern is whether he is going to start attacking you at some point. Since you say he drops into a defensive posture, I'm not sure if that means he is just backing down, or if he is getting more into an attack position. As long as he doesn't attack you, I think he'll be okay.

I probably wouldn't put feed and water out for him, unless you want him to stay on the porch. He will eventually return to the chicken area if he has to, in order to get feed and water.

The only reason I can think of that might be causing him to behave this way is if he is imprinted on you. Young chicks will imprint on an object (or mother hen, or person) if they are around them a lot the first few days after hatching. They will often follow that thing around, even later in life. This could be why he is following you around. I don't know that there's a lot you can do to change that.

You could try penning him up for a while and see if he'll then stay closer to that pen when he's out. Again, I'd move the feed and water to where you'd like him to stay.

Hatch Not Up to Usual Expectations

This last spring I hatched 17 chicks out of 25 eggs set in an incubator. They were from chickens I have had for several years. They hatched on May 10th and there were five cockerels and 12 pullets, I thought. One eventually developed as a cockerel although at five months old he had never crowed. I killed him today and he was a rooster. The gonads were undeveloped but they were present. He was really thin. His heart, lungs and liver looked healthy but his gizzard was very small and his large intestine was very much enlarged. Both were full of sand and long grass fibers. His small intestine was empty. He hadn't appeared sick and was quiet active. There was no diarrhea and I couldn't see any worms.

Also the pullets are over five months old and aren't yet laying. They are half bantam-Leghorn type and last year's pullets laid by four months. I feed all-purpose poultry crumbs, scratch, greens and oyster shells.

Dan, Washington

Hopefully, your pullets are laying by now. If last year's pullets were pure-bred commercial Leghorns, that could be a reason they came into production at a younger age. Day length can also affect this. Since these hatched on May 10th, they started seeing shorter days at about six weeks of age, so that could have slowed their reproductive maturity some (assuming they are only receiving natural light).

I'm not sure what might have been wrong with the rooster. It sounds like he had some internal problem, but I don't know what it might have been specifically. That just happens occasionally.

From your description, I wonder if he had some sort of blockage (or more likely, partial blockage) somewhere in the intestine.

Another possibility is that he had a chronic infection. Occasionally, a chick will develop an infection and never really get over it. Their body fights it and they appear to be healthy, but they never really grow like they should. This can be from hatching from a dirty, infected egg, it could be from a navel infection shortly after hatch, or it could be from some other source. It's difficult to know for sure without some testing, and it's often not worth the cost if it just happens to one chicken.

Spots on Comb, Meal Worms & Feeding Flax Seed

I have two hens and a rooster. The rooster I got from a friend because I took pity on him. The other chickens were pecking him really bad. He had a raw place at the tail feathers, but it is a lot better now.

My questions are: 1) He has a black spot on his comb about the size of a dime on one side and a smaller one on the other side. What is this and what can I do about it?

Is it ok to feed chickens meal worms from a pet store?

I read it is ok to feed chickens flax seed, is it the same kind for people from a health or grocery store? Thank you.

Gerry, Maryland

The black spot could be fowl pox. This is a viral disease that is usually transmitted by mosquitoes. In most cases, chickens will get over it in a few weeks, unless it gets in the mouth and throat area. It could also be a scab from the other chickens pecking at it. It could also be frostbite, but I doubt that would show up as small spots, and by this time of year, any frozen tissue should have sloughed off.

Meal worms from a pet store shouldn't be a problem. The chickens will likely find them to be quite a treat.