Familiarize yourself with these terms to get a hold of chicken raising.

Bantam – chicken variety that is about half the size of the standard breed of chickens. These breeds are generally bred for ornamental reasons.

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Bedding – can either be shavings of wood, haystack pile, or newspaper that are added to the floor of the coop and inside a nest box. The purpose of this is for absorption of droppings and odor of chicken poop. It furthermore provides as cushion for eggs to be safely ejected from its mother without the worry of breaking it.

Brood – this could both mean the hens incubating their chicks or a flock of baby chickens.

Broodiness – a chicken’s desire to incubate their babies – unfertilized or fertilized. Broodiness can make an egg hatch or spoil it. There are loads of elements that may arise in being broody. As well as the mother may be a bit moody when she is manifesting broodiness.

Candling – is a procedure wherein a candle or a light bulb is practiced. It’s the procedure letting light shine through an egg to ascertain if it’s fertilized or not. Candling can be valuable specifically if you are planning to separate the eggs with growing embryo and those that you wanted to sell.

Capon – a rooster that has already been castrated.

Clutch – fertilized egg groups that hens tend to incubate.

Cockerel – a juvenile or young rooster.

Comb – this is the rubbery, red flat piece of flesh hanging on top of a chicken’s head. Roosters have a extra prominent comb than hens. Various who are engaged in cock fighting preferred to cut the rooster’s comb so as not to interfere with the fight.

Coop – house of chickens.

Crop – Part of a chicken’s digestive system which can be found in the esophagus wherein food is initially digested previous to entering the stomach.

Droppings Tray – a tray that collects chicken droppings, which is located under poles for fast disposal.

Dust bath – A pattern of chicken behavior wherein they dig a hole within the ground and immerse their bodies in earth that has been recently loosened. They will get down and dirty until they get satisfied. Bathing in dust may be a kind of defense mechanism to protect chickens from lice and mites that may invade their feathers and feed on their blood. A dust bath can either be natural or artificial.

Feeder – a container that delivers and holds feeds for chickens.

Fertilized egg – an egg that came from mating of a rooster and a hen and is destined to become a baby.

Grit – bits of rock or sand bits that chickens tend to eat and is stored in the crop that is fundamental for good digestion.

Hackles – chicken’s neck feathers.

Hen – female chicken.

Incubation – method of egg hatching in which application of heat is required. The eggs that are incubated are those that are witout a doubt fertilized. Constant heat, usual turning, and an environment that is humid are the essential needs of an egg that furthermore comes in with the period. Incubation takes about 21 days before the eggs are expected to hatch.

Layer feed – a feed that is complete and is made for the sake of laying hens.

Molt or molting – this is the method of feather shedding and re-growing which happens once a year. When molting season comes, laying season is suspended.

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