SPR Poultry Husbandry

We need a nice 'airy' house with a window to make it light. That way we can see to perch in the dark.
Please make sure that our nest box has a cover and is very dark.

2. LITTER

We would like wheat straw or wood shavings on the floor and in the nest box. Each time you clean us
out, please liberally scatter Diatom all over the house to help prevent us getting covered in lice
or mite. This is unless you have a slatted floor house. If so, just keep the slats clean, and change
the litter (wood shavings only) in the nest box regularly, adding Diatom powder on top.

3. INTRODUCTION TO HOME

When you first take us home, please keep us shut in for up to two days, so that we know where we are supposed
to live. Otherwise, we may get lost if you let us out the same day! If you put us in with other birds, please
make sure there is enough in 'our gang' to stop us being picked on and pecked (at least 50/50). Put an extra
drinker and feeder in the house until we settle down with the others. We don’t want any bovver!

4. FEEDER POSITION

If possible, we would like our feeder suspended in our house - preferably so the bottom
is level with the tops of our backs, and kept topped up with a good quality Layers Mash.
Layers Pellets are boring and we may peck one another if we are given them to eat.

5. MIXED CORN

You can give us a little Mixed Corn in the afternoon if you like, but only after we start to lay and
no more than 28g (1oz) each, spread over a fresh bit of run, or during the winter on the floor in the house.
Don’t mix this in with our daily feed, or we won‘t lay very well.

6. HEN GRIT

To help us digest our food, please keep a very small pile of special Hen Grit in the run.
28g (1oz) per month is enough. It’s very cheap to buy!

7. OUR HEALTH

If you think that one of us is a little bit off colour,
please contact the poultry man at S.P.R. Centre as soon as possible.
And don’t wait a week or two!

He can be contacted on: 01243 542815 or you could send him an email by clicking HERE!

You could also pick us up first, to see if our body feels OK and look into our eyes and nose.
We love being picked up when we get use to it!

Or why not have a bottle of Stressless on the shelf ?

It’s the best chicken pick-me-up available!

8. LOOSE DROPPINGS

When we are coming into lay, our droppings will be very loose.
But do not worry about it - no one gives us an enema before we start to lay!
We will start with very small eggs that get larger as we mature.

9. HOUSEWORK

Please keep our house clean and tidy, and if possible, spray it with S.P.R. Poultry Shield from top to
bottom regularly. We also need to be wormed at least once a year, but twice is better! (Please don’t wait
until there are too many worms in our gut for us to cope with). Janssen Flubenvet 1% Medicated Premixture
is medically approved and will kill ALL our worms and our eggs can still be eaten during and after worming!

10. RED MITE AND LICE.

Unless our home is kept clean of these horrible blood sucking creatures we will suffer terribly, and if not
checked, we may even die. Spray our house with the S.P.R. Poultry Shield and also powder our nest boxes weekly
with S.P.R. Diatom Powder.

If you have not noticed it at first, and we have begun to suffer from blood loss and deprivation of sleep,
use the trusty Stressless in our water and we will recover and start laying eggs again.

11. COMMENCEMENT OF LAY

We will normally start to lay in about 3 to 4 weeks after we have settled into our new
accommodation, although it will also depend on the time of year as to how quickly this is.
When we start to lay, we will talk to you and each other, a great deal!
Please collect our eggs as frequently as possible.
This will prevent us from laying eggs one after another on the floor.

12. NEST BOXES

We do not like individual nest boxes as we will all crowd into one section, so no partitions please!
We also prefer to lay in the dark, so please make the nest box very dark.
If you do not, then one of the others may peck our backsides while we lay our eggs and make us bleed.

13. NO CUT GRASS OR LAWN MOWING'S!

Please do not let us roam on uncollected cut grass, especially when dry. We cannot break
it off like we can with growing grass, it may make us “Crop Bound”, for which there is no cure.
We cannot deal with grass mowing's as they bung up our grinding stomach (Gizzard).
This is because we cannot grind it up quickly enough.

14. SCRAPS?

While we may like having a few scraps in the afternoon, they must not contain any salt.
And if you choose to feed us your waste, then do not expect us to lay at our best.

15. NO OYSTER SHELL PLEASE!

I don’t need, or want to be given Oyster Shell, as this will unbalance my 'Calcium Phosphorous Ratio'
and make my bones as well as my egg shells weaker. An don’t even think of giving me crushed egg shell.
Its my wastage, and could be better used crushed and sprinkled in the garden to help prevent slugs and snails.

16. KEEP US SAFE AT NIGHT

Make sure you shut us in the house each night as soon as we go to bed, to protect us from Master Fox.
Do not let us out too early in the morning either, as he may still be lurking around!

17. MOULTING

When I become tired and my ovaries need a much deserved rest, my feathers will become tatty and
broken with possibly a few bald patches on my chest and bum, and I will stop laying nice shelled eggs
(lack of Calcium Phosphate). Some of us will grow new feathers between the old ones, they are normally
those of us which lay fewer eggs, whilst I (being the best layer), could be nearly completely bald!
My skin will look very red and sore but it isn’t, that is my natural pigmentation covering the bald patches.

* Although I am resting, you will still need to feed me with the best quality food, so that I may be
able to recover more quickly and lay you plenty of nice hard shelled eggs during my next period of lay.
Please don’t just give me corn, I need a proper balanced ration!

Please note: This moulting period takes from 10 to 12 weeks and I will need all this time to recharge my batteries!

18. BROODY

Well, some of us fancy having a new brood of chicks, so to do this we become ‘broody’. We will stop laying
and swear at you every time you take us off the nest! If you leave us there, we will remain broody for a very
long time and encourage our sisters to do the same. (Frequent egg collection does help prevent this state of mind!)
As soon as possible, put the 'broody' in a small box with a wire or slatted floor (ideally an all wire cat cage).
The nice people at S.P.R. Centre have a Broody Coop Carrier available if you do not have one. This must be off
the floor, by resting the corners of the cage on bricks, for example. Give us water and feed for 5 days and then
we will have forgotten what we were doing in the first place! Put us back in with the other hens during the evening
and with luck they will not have missed us. To delay such treatment only makes the problem worse!

Caution: There may be one or two of us that will swear at you, even when we are laying an egg.
That is because we hate being disturbed!

If in doubt, ring S.P.R. Centre on 01243 542815 who understand our little idiosyncrasies!

19. EX-BATTERY BIRDS

There are now several people selling Ex-Battery Hens and providing little if any formal advice to the customer.
My sisters when re-housed in their new alien environment need a little extra treatment and understanding.
Firstly, they need to recover from the shock and stress of being re-located, and secondly, they will need help
to stop laying so they can rest and recharge their batteries. If this is not done, then a few of them may pass
on to 'Chicken Heaven' or continue to lay very thin shelled eggs 'as and when' they feel they are able to.
There is no secret potion or feed which will help them to grow back their feathers or thicken their egg shells,
and please, for heavens sake don't start giving them oyster shell grit or any other type of calcium.

On their arrival, please put Stressless in their drinking water for the first five days, then for two days each week
until you think they are over the stress and are looking fine. This will provide them with the necessary multivitamins
and chelated minerals to alleviate the stress caused from moving from one environment to another.

Secondly, please encourage them to moult (see section 16. Moulting).

And finally, they will need some assistance in adapting their house or night accommodation.
Perches for them to sleep on need to be much lower to the floor in case they have difficulty
flying up to the normal height. Also make sure that any litter put in the house (either in the
nest box or on the floor) is short so that it does not bind up in their crops which will kill them.

20. STREAKERS

If you see some us streaking - bare bums and bare breast, then you know that we are the very best
layers in your flock and our feathers have become brittle and broken off from laying so many eggs.
These feathers will not be replaced until we come into a full moult (see section 16. Moulting).
This is also the time when we take a well earned rest from laying eggs for you.

21. CARNIVORES/FISHMEAL

We are natural carnivores and unless we are allowed plenty of free range to roam in, we go short of our necessary
meat. All diets these days are now vegetarian due to the fuss caused over salmonella in eggs. Although proved
wrong by leading experts led by the late Prof. Heather Dick, the government of the day would not expect the
findings so we sometimes suffer from an enforced vegetarian ration. To offset this, a small container placed
in the house containing Fish Meal will not only improve our feathering but we will repay you with our natural abundance of eggs. Fair exchange? A small tin of fish food for cats will also do as a supplement.

If you have any problems concerning your birds, please email me at the S.P.R. Centre
so that I (or a highly trained and specialised poultry vet) will be able to assist you.

We don’t like forums (where every Tom, Dick or Martha proceed
to make guesses, or recite the many myths that surround us).

Mrs. Chicken.

Author: Poultry for the Garden

Practical Poultry Keeping

Turkeys, A Guide to Management

You can Shop On-line at any time! www.sprcentre.com

S.P.R. Centre, Greenfields Farm, Fontwell Avenue (A29). Eastergate,
CHICHESTER, WEST SUSSEX PO20 3RU. Tel: 01243 542815 Fax: 01243 544662

NOTE:

S.P.R. Centre now stock 30ml bottles of Stressless, sufficient for use with 60 Litres of water at only £1.99! Other sizes are 250ml, 500ml, and 1 litre.

S.P.R .Centre wish it to be known that although David Bland of S.P.R. Centre writes a monthly Poultry article for Feathered World Magazine entitled 'Poultry Talk', and has done so for many years, he has no connection to this new Forum which has the same title 'Poultry Talk'.

S.P.R. provides a direct and confidential advisory service to all those who email or telephone concerning all matters relating to poultry.

It is impossible to generalise and in many cases answers given in forums are provided by untrained personnel. Owners may experience problems with their birds which may be affected by different conditions and it is only by dealing directly with the owner, as David Bland does, that such problems can be efficiently resolved and treated.

All other enquiries to: info@sprcentre.com www.sprcentre.co.uk