Mostly Asked Poultry Farm Interview Preparation Guide

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Chickens in small flocks live several years if conditions are correct. A life span of 6-8 years may not be unreasonable. Most commercial layers are kept for 2-3 years.

Roosters are VERY noisy, and contrary to popular belief, they don't just crow in the morning. They crow all day long. Hens are much quieter -- you basically won't hear them until they've just laid an egg, or if they're threatened.

You can get grown chickens from a local farmer, or you can get baby chicks from a hatchery.

Take it to a veterinarian that specializes in avian medicine or farm animals.

You shouldn't. Chickens are social creatures and they will not do well alone. I advise a minimum of two.

Certified egg production flocks are those flocks that comply with the guidelines established by the United Egg Producers organization. To be certified, flocks must meet requirements in housing and cage space allowance, beak trimming, molting, transportation and handling.

No, all eggs have the white spot called the germinal disc. It is almost impossible to determine if an egg is fertile without first incubating it for several hours.

No! Chickens take dust bathsthat keep them clean and free of pests. However, if you plan on showing your chickens in a Poultry Show, you'll want your bird looking her best, so you can wash them with a gentle cleanser and blow them dry.

Vent sexing by an experienced chick sexer can be done at one day of age. This technique is difficult and requires a great deal of experience. If a fast feathering gene has been introduced into the breeding flock, chicks can be sexed by observing the differences in the appearance of the primary wing feathers. The feathers on the wings of the female will be a little longer and in a different pattern than those on the males. Most chickens can not be sexed in this manner.

The chicks develop from the true egg, seen as a small white spot (germinal disc) on the yolk. If the egg is fertile and incubated at the correct temperature, cell division will continue. The egg white protects the developing embryo and offers some nutrition, however, the yolk is the primary nutrition source.

Yes! Chickens will come back to the same place to sleep every night -- so you can let your chickens roam your yard during the day and when it gets dark they will return to their coop to catch up on their beauty rest. (A "roost" is a pole they perch on, which they much prefer to sleeping on the ground.)

Salmonella bacteria are spread in fecal material from all kinds of animals. Animals may also pick up bacteria from the soil or perhaps from contaminated processed feed. The organisms then live in the intestinal tract of the host and may or may not have an effect on the animal. As food animals are slaughtered and processed, there are times when some of the bacteria from the intestines have the opportunity to contaminate uncooked meat products.

Generally speaking, about 20 to 26 weeks. However, there are other factors that may affect it- breed of chicken, weather, time of year, etc. I have had a spring chicken start as young as 16 weeks.

Different muscles in the body of the bird are used at various rates. Since chickens and turkeys do not fly, the breast muscles (which are used in flight) are not used as much as the leg and thigh muscles and do not require as much oxygen. The oxygen transport mechanism is myoglobin and is present in dissimilar amounts in the muscles which results in the color contrast.

No. A rooster is only needed if you want fertilized eggs. Just imagine how you would get a rooster to service all those hens in battery cages! As usual very few male animals are needed except for meat puroses.

In the vast majority of cases, no, but you do hear of this once in a while. Most cats are more intimidated by grown chickens than chickens are of them. Baby chicks are more at risk because they're helpless, but again in our experience cats aren't interested in them. Better to take precautions, though!

Beats me! It's just the way mother nature operates! It's probably because as the eggs develop, they are too large to remain inside the hen.

This is more complicated than it seems! There are usually only about one nest box for every 4-8 hens, they share nests. Hence, the eggs a hen sets on may not all be hers! If she is able to sit on a clutch of 8-10 eggs for any length of time, she may decide to "go broody" and try to hatch them. The process takes about 21 days during which she stops laying. Therefore we collect eggs as soon as possible, to prevent her from becoming broody, and going out of production.

No, not by choice but only as foisted on them by their human "keepers". A chicken free ranging in the yard/field will eat many insects, worms etc. I have even witnessed them eating mice that they encounter. That is like a fight over the last 'hot' christmas gift on Dec 24th or an active rugby game. Watching them fight over and run with the poor mouse in the beak is amazing. They will also eat their own eggs if cracked- all these are animal products.

Egg quality is judged by the size of the air pocket at the top of the egg and the stiffness of the white of the egg. It is usually determined by candling (Passing a bright light through a small hole in the "candler" through the shell of the egg). White eggs are easily candled. Brown eggs are more difficult.The smaller the air pocket and the stiffer the white, the higher the quality. Because the shell is porous, the white can evaporate over time, increasing the size of the air pocket. Commercial eggs are usually sprayed with a fine mist of oil to prolong shelf life.

When a rooster mates with a hen, the semen is stored in the oviduct for later use. When she gets ready to lay the egg,a sperm fertilizes the egg before the shell surrounds it. The sperm is viable for about a month in the oviduct.

Some references list the egg laying interval as 27 hours. However that number is across all breeds, all conditions, etc.(If this were true, in practice we would have to alter egg collection by 3 hours each day. This is just not so!) In general, a chicken lays an egg every 24 hours.

It is not something they can prove 100%! We divide matter up into 3 categories - animal, vegetable and mineral. Animal includes all critters that can move on their own- this includes oysters (we use oyster shell for grit and extra calcium), insects and other critters. If a chicken breaks an egg they usually will eat it. If they catch a mouse in their travels they will rarely pass it up as a meal! The more free range a hen is, the more likely she will have animal products in her diet! The Federal Govt. forbids PROTEIN PRODUCTS OF RUMINANTS (cow, sheep, goat) to be included in chicken feeds (not ALL animal byproducts)[title 21 CFR589.2000]

Everybody loves chicken! Daytime, we have hawks, cats and dogs. most predators are nocturnal and include fox, opossum, skunk and raccoon. By far, my worst one is raccoon. They are persistent, clever, can climb or dig and their paws can manipulate. Any opening is a challenge,and they will keep at it until the whole flock is gone.

All eggs sold in the state of Maryland must be sold by the following weight classes as specified by USDA standards (The minimum weight of each class increases by 3 oz more than the one smaller than it):

EGG WEIGHTS
SIZE OZ/DOZ
Small 18
Medium 21
Large 24
Extra Large 27
Jumbo 30