Chicken Myths/Rumors: True or False, Please Share!

[HeatherKellyB]

My MIL insisted hens need roosters to lay eggs, even after I opened the fridge and showed her 6 dozen eggs all laid by girls, with no rooster.

She sounds a lot like my mom

 

[EmmaRainboe]

What do they think of green and blue eggs?

Moldy.

 

[Solanacae]

This is one thing I am doing with my class every year. I do a farm unit (high poverty, urban school), and after researching how to plant, and nutrients from different foods, each student gets a seed and cup, turning in to a vegetable plant of their own to take home. I’ve had about 5 or 6 start gardens with their families. I even show a video on balcony container gardens since some don’t have a yard at their apartment. This year we are hatching eggs also. They can’t keep chickens in the city, but my hope is when they get older they will have understanding of where food comes from and possibly enough knowledge to make a choice to move somewhere with land if they are interested in their own eggs and livestock. They have almost zero exposure otherwise. I had to finagle a way to fit it into the required curriculum, so I bring the agricultural revolution to life (it’s a small part of our social studies curriculum so I can make the argument that it is relevant).

I love this idea! You don’t have to grow all your own food to be “self sufficient” in my eyes, though kudos to those that are able. Even if you’re growing a few plants on a balcony, that’s far better and healthier than most anything you could find in a food desert.

 

[WonkierZulu]

Most of the eggs that I hatch are slightly oblong round eggs, it's a breed characteristic. I get the normal 50% - 50% male to female ratio. I have noticed however, that the very early spring hatched batches versus the very late fall hatched batches seem to follow a pattern of more males hatched in the spring and more females hatched in the fall. There are always exceptions to the rule, but the tendency holds true. I am breeding chickens for 22 years now.

I think it might have to do with maybe the eggs run a little cooler. I've had this strange thing happen to me everything fall through winter. Majority of hens hatched during that time. Spring through summer majority of roos. https://www.publish.csiro.au/cp/AR9600664

 

[Niteeyes]

Don't forget the biggest myth we all have heard. Brown eggs taste better than white eggs

A chicken egg is a chicken egg. You compare my farm fresh brown eggs to some who knows how old only fed layer feed yeah my brown egg is gonna be better. Same way my farm fresh white eggs are gonna be better than some production mass production store bought brown eggs.

Don't you remember the commercial jingle.." Brown eggs are local eggs and local eggs are fresh!"?

 

[FantineFav]

I think this is relevant enough: the myth being that if you have crows stealing eggs from the coop, shoot one and hang it near the doorway into the coop and all the other crows will be apparently be smart enough to stay away. I've seen a thread where some chicken keepers have tried the same technique with raccoons.

Can't say for sure if it's true or false. I remember as a kid we had a problem with crows stealing eggs so dad shot one and hung it up and the egg-stealing stopped. But who knows if dad actually shot the crow who was the main culprit. (Just feel the need to add that it was extremely rare for my dad to shoot anything.)

 

[WonkierZulu]

I think this is relevant enough: the myth being that if you have crows stealing eggs from the coop, shoot one and hang it near the doorway into the coop and all the other crows will be apparently be smart enough to stay away. I've seen a thread where some chicken keepers have tried the same technique with raccoons.

Can't say for sure if it's true or false. I remember as a kid we had a problem with crows stealing eggs so dad shot one and hung it up and the egg-stealing stopped. But who knows if dad actually shot the crow who was the main culprit. (Just feel the need to add that it was extremely rare for my dad to shoot anything.)

Thinking this is true have a dead decoy crow. Keeps them away

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I think this is relevant enough: the myth being that if you have crows stealing eggs from the coop, shoot one and hang it near the doorway into the coop and all the other crows will be apparently be smart enough to stay away. I've seen a thread where some chicken keepers have tried the same technique with raccoons.

Can't say for sure if it's true or false. I remember as a kid we had a problem with crows stealing eggs so dad shot one and hung it up and the egg-stealing stopped. But who knows if dad actually shot the crow who was the main culprit. (Just feel the need to add that it was extremely rare for my dad to shoot anything.)

I wouldn't count on it with raccoons.
One time I trapped and killed a raccoon, the next night raccoons broke into my basement and killed all the chicks in the brooder.

 

[Chicken poppy]

This thread is for all the chicken myths and rumors that we have all heard. Some MIGHT be true, whereas others, most likely not. Please be kind if you find someone who disagrees with you, and provide evidence (if possible) to back up your statement. Feel free to share as many chicken Myths/Rumors that you want to! Hopefully there'll be a chance to learn something new, and have a good time as well.


~Form~

Myth/Rumor:
Story:
True or False:
Evidence:


Here's the first chicken Myth/Rumor I'm wanting to share.:

Myth/Rumor: Broody hens produce milk.
Story: I read somewhere (and I can't remember where) that broody hens produce milk for their chicks. They pluck their chest feathers (true) and have milk droplets come off their skin (false) to feed their chicks.
True or False: False
Evidence: I've had plenty of hens hatch out chicks. If this was true, the chicks would be often wet when I pick them up from under their mother. Also, their down might not be so fluffy either.

think this is a obvious one. Chickens doing live birth

myth: live birth
story: my friend a while back thought they gave birth alive
true or false: obviously false
evidence: if you own chickens you know LOL

 

[cluckcluckhens]

Roosters fight to the death.