Welcome to Chickville

Welcome to Wilco's home on the internet dedicated to your poultry projects! Here we'll provide you with all the exclusive special offers and knowledge of our store programs related to small flocks, poultry care, chicks and poultry related products. Join our Poultry email list, sign up for special programs, see new announcements and more... It's "Chickville" at Wilco, where you can find what you need for planning, buying, and maintaining your flock.

Are you registered in the Purina Difference Rewards Program? Read all about it and sign up at www.purinamills.com/rewards for seasonal tips, instruction resources and valuable coupons!

NEW! Wilco's Featured Chicken Breeds for 2012

(More Breeds Available too! Check stores for timing and availability)

Rhode Island Red

Rhode Island Reds are our most popular brown egg layer chickens because they are great year round layers! They also serve as great dual purpose birds. RIR's were named them the official state bird of Rhode Island in 1954. Production Rhode Island Reds are a great dual purpose chicken breed for both meat and eggs. They lay about 260 large brown eggs each year which is very good for a backyard flock. They usually start laying after they are 6 months old. This breed has yellow skin and dark colored pin feathers on the skin when processed. Rhode Island Reds very seldom go broody.

Buff Orpington

Buff Orpingtons have rich golden buff plumage.They are a heavy dual purpose fowl for the production of both meat and eggs. Wilco recommends raising Buff Orpingtons for heritage poultry meat. Buff Orpingtons are large, stately birds of quiet disposition and are easy to dress for the table, white skinned, plump, and juicy, a beautiful eating bird. Buff Orpingtons heavy, full plumage make them excellent winter layers, shelling out brown eggs right through cold weather.

Silver Laced Wyandotte

The Silver Laced Wyandotte Chicken is a beautiful dual purpose bird- perfect for any backyard flock. These birds can be purchased as day old chicks that will grow into healthy pet chickens. These birds are dual purpose, meaning they can be used for egg laying or for meat production. If used for egg laying, expect 200 or more eggs a year. Wyandotte eggs are brown in color and large in size. The temperament of the Silver Laced Wyandotte Chicken varies as it grows. Most of these birds are mild mannered, but they can tend toward dominance if put in certain situations. The Silver Laced Wyandotte Chicken also stands chicken coop confinement well, if needed. Especially cold hardy, they are great for cold climates like the northern United States. They’ll perform well even in snowy climates since their combs aren’t prone to frostbite.

Black Sex Link

Black Sex-Links are produced using a Barred Rock as the mother and Rhode Island Red Males. Both sexes hatch out black, but the males have a white dot on their heads. Pullets feather out black with some red in neck feathers. Males feather out with the Barred Rock pattern along with a few red feathers. Black Sex-Links are often referred to as Rock Reds. They are planned crosses, which are hardier and more productive than their parents' respective breeds. The Sex Link Hybrid is the result of crossing two purebred standard breeds. This hybrid makes for very vigorous chicks, rugged brown egg laying hens and good cockerel fryers. Black Sex Links lay brown eggs.

Black Australorps

Black Australorps are one of the most popular producers of large brown eggs and they are known for persistency of lay even in hot weather. The green sheen of the solid black plumage Black Australorp Chicken presents a truly beautiful sight, particularly when the sun is reflecting off the plumage. The Black Australorp is docile and quiet. Hens are very hardy and can be expected to weigh about 5.2 pounds when mature. The skin is pinkish white. Black Australorps can be expected to lay 200+ brown eggs per year.

Cuckoo Marans

The Marans was developed in France in the town of Marans during the mid 1800's. It is a dual purpose bird and is known for its deep chocolate brown eggs. They are a fast growing bird and a very rare breed here in the United States.

Welsummer

Welsummer chickens are great layers of dark brown eggs. They are a large, upright, active bird with a broad back, full breast, large full tail, and a single comb. Welsummer chickens are purported to be one of the top free-range foragers of all the layers. As adults, Welsummers are a black/red color. The Kellogg's Corn Flake Rooster, "Cornelius" is a Welsummer. This breed is sometimes spelled Welsumer as that is how the Dutch spell it. They are noted for their large terracotta brown egg, some with brown mottled spots. Welsummers can be sexed at birth. The female has "eye liner", the dark line extending beyond her eye towards her ear is dark and very well defined. On the male, that same line is light and blurry. Similarly, if you look at the triangle on the top of their head, on the female it is dark and clearly defined, the male's triangle is lighter and the edges are not clearly defined. Welsummer hens lay more eggs than Marans and lay a large egg. Pullet eggs average 1.96 oz (55.5 g) just a hair shy of the USDA "large" classification of 2.00 oz. Eggs from adult hens consistently hit the large and extra large USDA weights. The hens do frequently go broody. They lay around 160 eggs per year.

White Leghorn

White Leghorn pullets are the industry standard white egg layers that produce all of the eggs for the grocery stores worldwide because they most cost effectively convert feed into eggs. They are also the best white egg laying chicken breed for the backyard flock as well. Leghorns lay very large white eggs. Production Leghorns are great white egg layers that are highly efficient at converting feed into eggs for the table. Leghorns will start laying eggs at about 20 weeks old which is very early.  Pullets will lay about 300 white eggs per year. Leghorns have yellow skin. Leghorn cockerels can be used as fryers for the dinner table. White Leghorns are very active and flighty birds. They are not the most tame and friendly. When you walk into the coop they can be more difficult to catch because they are quick and agile. White Leghorns are non-setters that do not set on their eggs.

Black Jersey Giant

Black Jersey Giants will go broody. Jersey Giant Chickens have an appeal because of their enormous size. Black Jersey Giants, which are very attractive, are the largest of the dual-purpose breeds. Jersey Giant eggs are brown and their skin color is yellow. Jersey Giant Chickens are rugged birds but because they grow a large frame first and have little meat until about 6 months, they have not been used in industry, which prizes a rapidly growing bird. Jersey Giants grow a big frame first and cover it with meat later. The meat yield on a Jersey Giant Chicken is disappointing until they are 6 months or older. Standard weights Old Male 13 lbs. Old Female 10 lbs. Young Male 11 lbs. Young Female 8 lbs.

Speckled Sussex

The Speckled Sussex chicken is an alert, docile breed that can adapt to any surrounding; they are comfortable in both free range or confined spaces. They are a very gentle and colorful bird, and make for a good backyard chicken and dual purpose for meat or egg production. Sussex hens lay brown eggs. Their meat is famous as a table chicken although it does have the unpopular white skin color. The size and shape of the Sussex make it desirable for fattening. The feathers of the Speckled Sussex all have a mix of mahogany and black with white tips. The amount of white increases as the bird molts each year. Speckled Sussex is the most common variety in the US. Baby chicks vary greatly in color from a creamy buff to dark chestnut and some also have alternate dark and light stripes lengthwise on the back.

Blue Andalusian

The Blue Andalusian Chicken is an ornamental fowl with fairly good egg production potential. They lay Large White eggs, but do not set on their eggs. They are active yet gentle. Blue Andalusian has a single comb with 5 distinct points. Female Blue Andalusian combs droop to side. They have bright white earlobes, Horn beak, dark slate shanks and toes. Slate blue feathers laced with darker blue.

Ameraucanas (Easter Egg Chicken)

The "Easter Egg Chicken" originally came from Chile in South America, discovered by the Araucana Indians.  The true Araucana chicken is rumpless (tailless) and has a small curling tuft of feathers next to each ear. The Easter Egg Chicken (Ameraucanas) are different because they have a full beard under the beak and have a tail. The color of their egg shells vary from pale blue to dark blue, to various shades of green and a few light brownish/pink eggs. Their meat is delicious and it has a taste similar to quail.

Barred Plymouth Rock

The Barred Standard Plymouth Rock Chicken is a great back yard poultry for production and kid friendly. They were recognized by the American Standard of Perfection as a distinct breed in 1874.  They are part of the Plymouth Rock Chicken family and an excellent winter/summer brown egg layer.

Golden Laced Wyandotte

The Golden Laced Wyandotte chickens are a docile bird with clean legs, mostly black laced golden feathers and black tail; Red rose comb, earlobes, and wattles. They were admitted to the American Standard of Perfection in 1888 and originated in Wisconsin in 1880.They will on occasion go broody and they make excellent mothers. They work well in confinement or free range.

Gold Sex Links

Gold Sex Link Chickens are bred such that one can easily tell the gender of the birds immediately after hatching. This is very useful for flock owners who want to maintain a specific rooster to hen ratio at all times. Gold Sex Link chickens are a cross breed utilizing the Rhode Island White Female and the Rhode Island Red male. The result is a hardy and robust dual purpose breed with superior egg laying capabilities as well as substantial size for meat. Gold Sex Link chicks are the go-to choice for many commercial egg laying operations for their substantial production as well as their ease of breeding and sexing. One can easily sex or determine of the chicks -Male Gold Sex Link Chicks will be completely white. Female Gold Sex Link Chicks will be white with streaks of red or gold.

Winter Laying

Chickens need between 14 and 16 hours of light each day to lay. You can start augmenting natural light when day length decreases to approach 15 hours, which in most parts of the US occurs in September. Continue this lighting program until day length approaches 15 hours per day. To keep your hens laying eggs consitently through the winter months, install a hanging light fixture with a 25 to 40 watt bulb set on a timer in the henhouse. Some folks install heat lamps for this purpose, but this can run the risk of making the henhouse too hot. Set the timer to turn on two hours before dawn and two hours after sunset. Small-wattage bulbs in the henhouse can make a big difference in the frequency and number of eggs laid throughout the winter months. Artificial winter lighting for chickens is generally a good thing, but here is one caveat. Extending natural daylight appears to play around with chickens' internal clocks. They wake up before the sun comes up, and they stay awake in their henhouse long after the sun has set.

For convenience sake, many people leave lights on al the time. Constant lighting has its down side, besides being wasteful- it encourages hens to spend more time indoors during the day stirring up litter, dust, scratching in nests, and otherwise engaging in mischief. It also doesn't give hens the 6 to 8 hours per 24 of darkness they need for rest to maintain their immune system. Another mistake is to install fluorescent lighting in the henhouse in an effort to reduce costs. Although fluourescent tubes are cheaper to run than incandescent bulbs, they're more expensive to install, touchier to operate in the dusty henhouse environment, and more difficult to regulate. To adjust the light intensity of fluorescent lights, you have to change the entire fixture; with incandescent lights you just switch the bulb to a different wattage. However, in the face of ban-the-bulb realities, should you wind up using fluorescent fixtures, be sure to use warm-wavelength lights (that produce an orange or reddish light), since cool-wavelength lights (like those that offices use) do not stimulate the hens' reproductive cycle.

Extreme Weather Care

What's the optimal temperature for a henhouse in winter? That depends on how cold it is and what kind of chickens you have. Heavy breeds need a heat lamp when temperatures are at or below the freezing point. Bantam breeds need a heat lamp when outside temperatures dip into the 40's. Use a 25 to 40 watt light bulb or the heat lamp from your chick brooder to warm the henhouse. Affix the light or lamp away from straw and not directly over the hens' perch. The heat from these bulbs will raise the temperature in a 3'x5'x5' henhouse ten degrees over the course of several hours. Put the light or lamp on a timer so that it comes on around midnight and turns off when the sun comes up (adjust as weather patterns dictate).

In Summer, keep an eye on your chickens to make sure they are not too hot. Provide them with plenty of water. A heavy breed of hen can drink more than a quart of water each day during warm weather. Make ample shade available during the hottest part of the day. The henhouse can become an oven when the thermostat hits 90 degrees F. Don't let your chickens roast on the roost! Ensure the henhouse is adequatelly ventilated. Open its doors and windows to let any stray breezes drift through. If the day is hot and still, install a small portable fan in the coop by attaching it to the plug outlet used by the henhouse heating lamp in winter.

Molting

Like any other bird, your chickens will molt each year. Chickens start molting as early as midsummer, and the molt may continue until late fall. During their molt, chickens lose old feathers and new feathers, called pinfeathers, sprout out like porcupine spines. Some chickens molt so slowly and gradually that you barely notice. Others throw off all their feathers at once and are half naked for a couple of months. Molting is stressful for a chicken. Just imagine if you spend your entire life covered in soft feathers, then sudenly lost them all and became covered in hard-shelled spikes instead. You'd probably be uncomfortable too! Chickens aren't real happy when they molt. In face, they get downright crabby. Sometimes they become skittish, moody, and aggressive. And they lay considerably fewer eggs. Make sure your chickens get plenty of good, nutritious feed during the molt. This will help them maintain their strength and vigor. A vigorless hen is a sorrowful sight.

Organic Diets for Small Poultry Flocks

Most organizations that certify organic poultry and eggs require that most or all of the ingredients in poultry rations be organically grown. The feed ingredients cannot be derived from genetically modified crops, and generally, no animal products such as meat meal or bone meal are allowed. As a result, the number of ingredients available is more limited than for normal poultry rations. Because animal products cannot be used, special care must be taken to provide adequate sources of protein and phosphorous in the feed. Another concern is that medications cannot be added to organic feeds to control intestinal parasite infections such as coccidiosis. Other tools such as litter management or vaccination must be used to control these diseases. Download the full article.

Increase Omega 3 Fatty Acids in Eggs

Are you concerned about increasing Omega 3 Fatty Acids in your diet? Download our fact sheet to find out how to feed your flock to increase Omega 3 content in your eggs! Download the fact sheet.

Small Flock Feeding Program Info Sheet

Here is a concise look at what can sometimes seem to complicated. Here are some simple tips and the science behind keeping your small flock healthy, happy and productive. Download the Feeding Guide.

What Will The Eggs Look Like?

Poultry is so varied in color, temperament, adornments, and egg size and color. Here's a photo of some poultry eggs and what they look like.

Cracked or Weak Shelled Eggs

Cracked eggs are annoying because of the mess that they create in nests, egg baskets and egg cartons. They are a concern for the people who eat eggs because cracked eggs are more likely to contain salmonella – especially if they have been improperly washed. 

When you are faced by a cracked egg problem you need to investigate both the quality of the eggs produced by the hens and your method of handling the eggs after they have been laid. One tool that helps to investigate these problems is an egg candler. A candler is a specially designed light that will help you to see the small as well as the large cracks. When looking into cracked egg problems, you want to find the small cracks because they can easily turn into large ones as you collect, wash, and grade the eggs. An egg candler can be purchased through many chick/feed supply dealers as well as mail order catalogues. A high quality egg candler costs about $200.    

 1) Hens and Cracked Eggs 

If you find large numbers of cracks in eggs that are carefully gathered by hand from the nests or cages, your hens are a possible source of the problem. For a 60-week-old flock, it is normal to find cracks in 4% of the eggs at examined at the nest or cage. If the number of cracked eggs is high, possible causes include:

• Old Hens – Shell strength steadily declines as your hens age. Only going into a moult will temporarily reverse this decline. By 60 weeks of age, many hens that have been in continuous production will lay eggs with markedly weaker shells.
• Egg Size – Extra Large and Jumbo sized eggs crack more often than Large sized eggs. These big eggs hit the nest or cage floor harder and roll faster out of the cages. They are more likely to get pinched or squeezed in egg baskets or trays.
• Hen Laying Preference – Many hens squat to lay their eggs but some prefer to stand. Eggs laid by standing hens fall further and crack more.
• Excitable Hens – Hens that are disturbed, especially during the evening hours, produce poor quality shells.
• Weak Shells – Nutrition and feeding programs can help or hurt shell quality. See the MAFRI web page, “Weak Shells and Your Small Laying Hen Flock.”

Management and proper feeding can reduce these problems but cannot stop in the inevitable decline in shell quality as your hens’ age.

 2) Cracks and Egg Handling

Even if shell quality is good, you may still find large numbers of cracked eggs at the cage or nest. Nests require 5 cm or more of bedding material to provide a soft landing area for the eggs. Cage floors must be designed and installed to prevent too steep of a slope. The floors must be free of broken wires and sturdy enough to stop eggs from getting stuck in the cage. Deep cages often have more cracks than shallow cages.

 After looking at the nests and cages, you should examine how the eggs are being gathered, washed, and graded. The eggs must be collected at least twice a day so that they do not hit other eggs as they are laid in the nest or roll out of the cage. The gatherings should be spaced so that approximately equal numbers of eggs are gathered each time. For example, if your lights come on at 6 a.m., you may want to collect eggs at 8 a.m. and noon. You should not gather the eggs too quickly or pile them too high in egg baskets. If you use egg trays, put the eggs small end down, keep the Jumbo eggs in separate trays, and do not stack the trays more than six high. If you wash your eggs, the wash water should not be more than 12°C warmer than the eggs or thermal cracks may occur. Careful handling during washing, weighing and packing is essential.