Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens (55 page)

When you wash an egg, you wash off the bloom, the function of which is to seal in moisture and seal out bacteria. A better option is to ensure eggs remain clean until you collect them. Producing clean eggs requires clean housing, clean nests, enough living space for the number of hens you have, and well-placed nests of a sufficient number — one for each four or five hens.

Dirty eggs in the nest are often the result of layers tracking mud or muck on their feet. To keep eggs from getting dirty, clean up the source of mud — most often a muddy entry or damp ground around a leaky waterer — and take measures to ensure the condition doesn’t recur.

You may have to redesign your nests to discourage mud tracking. Eggs in nests located on or near the floor are more likely to get dirty than eggs in nests raised above the floor, especially if layers reach the nests by hopping up on a rail or series of rails. Since chickens like to roost on these rails, make sure none is close enough to a nest that a roosting chicken fills the nest with droppings. For most breeds a rail no closer than 8 inches (20 cm) from the nest’s edge should work.

Occasionally, eggs get dirty when birds low in the peck order hide in nests, soiling previously deposited eggs. Avoid crowding your flock, and provide enough environmental variety to allow timid birds to get away from bullies. Darkening the nesting area discourages activities other than egg laying.

Droppings in the nest are the result of activities other than laying, such as roosting on the edge of the nest, hiding in the nest, scratching in nesting material, and sleeping in the nest. Poop in the nest dirties any eggs that get laid there.

Just before an egg is laid, it rotates 180 degrees so the rounded end emerges first (right); as the egg enters the cloaca, the bottom end of the oviduct turns inside out to wrap around the egg and press shut the intestinal opening.

At a hen’s cloaca, just inside the vent, the reproductive and excretory tracts meet, which means a chicken lays eggs and poops out of the same opening — but not at the same time. As an egg is pushed out into the world, the bottom end of the oviduct turns inside out, wrapping around the egg and pressing shut the intestinal opening. So the egg emerges clean, and any filth you find on the shell got there after the egg was laid. Bottom line: Clean eggs are the result of good management.

If your hens are pets, you may not be concerned about spending more money feeding them than you get back in eggs. But keeping hens primarily for their
eggs can be a costly affair if you don’t keep an eye on their economic efficiency. Pullets generally reach peak production at 30 to 34 weeks of age. From then on laying declines approximately 0.5 percent per week until the birds molt or are replaced.

To induce a second round of laying, some producers induce molting at the age of about 60 weeks — a practice involving severe nutritional and environmental stress that, if not done precisely, can result in deaths instead of renewed laying. Another option for maintaining a high rate of lay is to raise a new batch of pullets to replace the older hens when they reach 72 weeks of age.

Keeping layers for a second year has a few disadvantages:

As hens get older and their production declines, the shells of their eggs get rougher and weaker, the whites get thinner, and the yolk membranes become so weak they break when the eggs are opened into a pan.

As laying declines, the cost of feeding older hens becomes greater than the value of their eggs.

If you’re selling eggs, production by older hens may fall below the numbers you need to satisfy your customers.

While you may find a market for 1-year-old layers, by the end of their second year, hens lose nearly all their laying value and are good for little more than stewing.

The older a chicken gets, the more likely it is to experience disease complications.

Your decision on when to replace your layers will depend, in part, on your chosen breed. Commercially developed hybrids still produce fairly well during their second year, while other hens peter out somewhat faster. Still, breeds that are better known for eggs than for meat may produce at a low but steady rate for years. Dual-purpose hens, on the other hand, tend to run to fat as they age, and fat hens do not lay well.

Your decision may be influenced by whether or not your hens are pastured, or how much of what they eat you are able to raise yourself. Given the savings in feed costs, you may not mind getting fewer eggs.

Your decision will be strongly influenced by the cost of starting new pullets compared to the cost of keeping the old flock. If you must purchase replacement chicks (as you would have to do if you keep hybrids), you may find it more economical to keep hens that are already laying than purchase and raise a new batch. If you keep purebreds, hatching your own chicks will save you the considerable cost of purchasing replacements. And if you realize any salvage
value from the older hens (as meat birds or as layers sold to someone with less demanding needs than yours), you can offset the cost of raising new pullets.

In any case, don’t be tempted to boost egg production by periodically bringing pullets into your established layer flock. Constantly introducing new chickens disrupts the peck order. The resulting stress can reduce the laying rate of hens and pullets alike. Introducing new birds to an established flock also increases the chance of spreading disease. The new birds may bring in a disease or may catch one to which the established hens have developed an immunity. Finally, as the oldest hens continue to age, their reduced productivity will depress a mixed-age flock’s overall laying average.

If you’re thinking of getting into the egg business, first define your
market
— to whom are you going to sell your eggs and how will you reach them? On a small scale, you may earn a nice little income selling eggs to neighbors and coworkers. For serious income you will have to reach beyond those you know, perhaps working through natural-food stores, farmers’ markets, and the like. One schoolboy in my area earns a dandy income peddling eggs to summer campers at a local beach.

If you go beyond, “We’ve got extra eggs, would you like to buy some?” you’ll have to define your product more formally. You might, for example, market “organic eggs from pastured hens.” Check with your county Extension agent or state poultry specialist about local and federal laws regarding claims you wish to make, conditions you have to meet to make those claims, and necessary sales permits.