Albumen
– commonly known as egg white. It’s clear in raw eggs and turns
white when cooked or fried.
Anti-coccidiostat (ACS)
– a food additive to help protecting your birds against
Coccidiosis.
Bantam
– a miniature chicken variety that is about a third to
half the size of
the standard breed of chickens. These breeds are usually bred
for ornamental reasons.
Bedding
– can either be shavings of wood, straw, hay or shredded paper
that are scattered on the floor of the coop and the run. The
bedding will absorb any moisture and when cleaned regularly
keeps the odour of the chicken poop at bay. Used in the nest
box it also provides as cushion for eggs.
Brood
– this could either mean the hens incubating their chicks or a
flock of baby chickens.
Broodiness
– a hen’s desire to incubate her eggs – unfertilized or
fertilized. A broody hen will sit on eggs to keep them warm
until they hatch. She will be a bit moody when she is
manifesting broodiness – those hormones I tell
you!!
Candling
– is a procedure wherein a candle or a light bulb is used to
let light shine through an egg to determine if it is fertilized
or not. Candling can be useful especially if you are planning
to separate the eggs with growing embryo and those that you
wanted to sell.
Capon
– a castrated rooster 
Chicken ark - see chicken tractor
Chicken tractor - is a portable chicken coop
usually without a floor. Can be moved to various places so
chicken can scratch the ground for food and different areas can
be fertilized.
Clutch
– fertilized egg groups that hens tend to
incubate.
Coccidiosis
– a parasitic protozoal infestation usually occurring in damp
or unclean coops.
Cock
– a rooster. Male chickens are called rooster or cock after
their first moult (at about one year or older)
Cockerel
– a young rooster under one year old.
Comb
– this is the rubbery, red flat piece of flesh hanging on top
of a chicken’s head. Roosters have a more prominent comb than
hens.
Coop
– a chicken house
Crop
– a pouch at the base of a chicken’s neck. Food is stored there
before it goes into the stomach.
Crop impaction
– can happen when food gets stuck in the crop. The chicken
can’t swallow anymore. If the crop feels hard, it could be
impacted.
Droppings Tray or board
– a unit placed underneath the perch to collect chicken
droppings for easy disposal.
Dust bath
– natural chicken behaviour wherein they dig a hole in the
ground and ‘bath’ their bodies in the loose soil. Bathing in
dust helps to protect chickens from lice and mites that may
invade their feathers and feed on their blood.
Feeder
– a container that delivers and holds feeds
Feed trough
– a shallow container that holds feed. Also known as a
hopper.
Gizzard
– an organ that holds grit for grinding grain and plant
fibre.
Grit
– consists of crushed rock and sand. Chickens eat this to aid
the food grinding process. Grit is stored in the
gizzard.
Hackles
– chicken’s neck feathers.
Hen house
– also known as chicken coop
Hybrid
– in chicken terms: a chicken with parents from different
breeds. That is done with the purpose to combine the best
characteristics of both breeds.
Layer
– a hen in the process of producing
eggs
Laying cycle
– the time between when the hen starts laying and when she
moults.
Litter
– see bedding - can either be shavings of wood, straw, hay or
shredded paper that are scattered on the floor of the coop and
the run. The bedding will absorb any moisture and when cleaned
regularly keeps the odour of the chicken poop at bay. Used in
the nest box it also provides as cushion for eggs.
Moult
– happens once a year and lasts about eight weeks. The chickens
shed their feathers during the moulting period and grow new
ones. Sorry – hens will not lay eggs during this
time.
Nest box
– a wooden or plastic box that is designed to encourage hens to
lay their eggs in. It should have easy access for you to
collect the bounty. You need one nesting box for about 4 to 5
hens
Non-setter
– this is a kind of chicken breed that don’t have any desire to
care for their chicks, if they have one, or never wanted to
incubate or hatch fertilized eggs.
Ornamental breed
– these breeds are the ones that are often seen in fairs and
poultry shows. They are appreciated because of their stunning
stature and appearance.
Perch
– usually round horizontal pole on which chicken go to sleep.
Poultry show
– is where all kinds of chicken breeds are shown and judged.
Production breed
– are the kind of breeds that are used for mass production of
eggs.
Pullet
– a young hen under one year old that has not started laying
yet.
Point of lay
– about to start laying, usually between 18 to 22 weeks,
sometimes later.
Roost
– the time when chickens are resting on the perch to
sleep.
Rooster
– a male
chicken.

Roosting pole
– see perch. It can be constructed and put inside the
coop.
Rumples
– a chicken breed that does not have feathers on their
tails.
Run
– an area connected to the coop where chickens can roam around
freely.
Scratch
– a kind of chicken feed composed of different grains. Also
refers to the chicken’s habit to dig up either worms, bugs,
rocks, and tiny little insects that are inside the
ground.
Sexing
– determining the sex of a chicken.
Shanks
– part of the chicken’s leg between the claw and the first
joint.
Sickles
– what is called to the rooster’s tail feathers.
Spur
– a sharp pointed protrusion that is seen on the back of a
rooster’s shanks.
Started pullet
– a hen that has just started laying eggs
Starter feed
– it’s the complete feed that is formulated and made especially
for baby chicks.
Vent
– an opening at the chicken’s rear where eggs, poop and other
waste matters pass.
Waterer
– delivers and holds the water supply.
Wattles
– it’s similar to a chicken’s comb: red and rubber-like, but
found under the neck of the chicken.
Wheezer
– in colloquial terms, it’s what they call a chicken’s
butt.
Wormer
– a medicine to protect against or get rid of internal
parasites like worms.
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