Your chicken questions answered!

[Sara]

Do you keep chickens? Whether you're a newbie or have had hens for years, our experts are here to help. GYO magazine has teamed up with the pros at The Chicken Vet to provide you with top quality solutions to your chicken-keeping problems.

Simply post your questions below – the Chicken Vet team will answer as many as they can and their two favourites will be published in Grow Your Own magazine's July issue. The star letter will also receive an amazing Chicken Vet Mite Powder and Chicken Vet Poultry Shield from the Chicken Vet.


Your questions may be edited before publication.

Interested in bees, too? Take a look at 'What's the Buzz' for beekeeping help from The Bee Vet.

[adamhartree]

Hi, I have 3 chickens, they are now about 8 months old. They are all in good health and are regular layers. Today, when I went out to collect the eggs there was a huge egg inside the nesting box. It was more than twice the size of a regular egg they usually lay, it was bigger than a ducks eggs. I was wondering what could course this to happen and is it ok for them to lay a egg that size. Thanks for your help

[Charlottelucie]

New to chickens!

Hi There,

I am considering getting some chickens and was wondering how many your would recommend to lay enough eggs to feed a family of four?

Also would you recommend a wooden chicken house or one of the plastic man made ones that are now available?

Thanks!

[Ger-annie-um]

We are also considering having chickens and would value advice on the best ones to start with. Must be calm, friendly birds because we have young grandchildren. We would like reasonably large eggs and already have a hen house that, supposedly, takes 8 birds although we only want around 4 or 5. Any advice for a complete numpty/novice would be appreciated. It's not like veg, you can't start over if you get it too wrong!!

[Gareth the Gardener]

One of my hens has very recently started laying eggs that have soft shells – what does this mean and what can I do to help?

[Nikki Arnold]

Thanks for the great chicken-keeping questions, everyone. GYO is excited to bring you expert answers to your recent posts. These tips have been provided by the poultry gurus at The Chicken Vet. These two Q&As will be featured in this month's magazine. See our July issue (on sale in June).

Answers from The Chicken Vet Home - The Chicken Vet - Home of the healthy chickens

Q) One of my hens has very recently started laying eggs that have soft shells – what does this mean and what can I do to help?

A) Soft shelled eggs are a major cause of concern for owners. Egg shell formation starts with the laying down of protein on the surface of the egg membranes to act as a scaffold and then calcium carbonate crystals are laid down on this scaffold. When a hen is either coming into and out of lay her egg shell gland will often make mistakes in both the scaffold formation and in calcium deposition leading to soft or brittle shells. Normally this only lasts for a few days and then goes away.

However in some circumstances hens seem to continuously lay eggs with poor shell quality. Usually this is due to damage caused to the egg shell gland by respiratory disease (remember that many respiratory diseases such as Infectious Bronchitis will not only damage the respiratory system but will also damage the egg shell gland) leading again to abnormal protein scaffold formation and to subsequent abnormalities in the calcium deposition. Sadly if the respiratory infection has been severe enough a hen may lay eggs with poor shell quality permanently.

It is worth noting that many owners feed their birds extra calcium when the quality of their egg shells decreases but in reality, provided that you are feeding your birds a balanced diet, there should be no need for additional calcium in the diet. Extra calcium will not counter damage to the egg shell gland by respiratory disease.


Q) I have 3 chickens, they are now about 8 months old. They are all in good health and are regular layers. Today, when I went out to collect the eggs there was a huge egg inside the nesting box. It was more than twice the size of a regular egg they usually lay, it was bigger than a duck’s eggs. I was wondering what could cause this to happen and is it ok for them to lay an egg that size?


A) It sounds like one of your girls has laid a double yolked egg. In some cases the hen’s ovary will release two yolks instead of one. These yolks then get the membranes added which encapsulate both yolks. The shell is then laid on top of the membrane leaving the egg containing two yolks.

Double yolked eggs are relatively common for pullets coming into lay such as yours and usually they only occur on the odd day for a few weeks leaving relatively little damage to the hen. If however you are getting several of these regularly then it is worth checking that your birds are being fed a balanced diet (pellets or mash with very few treats) since unbalanced diets can lead to abnormally large eggs.

[Nikki Arnold]

Ger-annie-um

Sussex and Orpington chickens have a good temperament towards children, while Marans lay good-sized brown eyes and Goldline hybrids are unbeatable with regards to egg production (supposedly laying 320 eggs a year)! Hope that helps but for more info you might want to check out this website Keeping Chickens, Ducks & Geese at home: poultrykeeper.com which will guide you through the different breeds and give you valuable start-up tips!