Because of school closures during the pandemic, elementary school embryology programs are not presented in classrooms. To fill the gap, The Livestock Conservancy, of which Cackle Hatchery® is a member, has teamed up with North Carolina 4-H Extension to develop a virtual learning experience. The series is called “From Embryo to Chick” and is offered […]
Continue Reading
Turkey poults and guinea keets are difficult to sex, and therefore are typically sold as straight run. The males and females of both species, within the same breed or variety, look pretty much alike until they are nearly mature. Sexing Turkeys As turkey poults grow, you can take an educated guess as to which gender […]
Continue Reading
One of the great benefits of keeping chickens is that it gives you an opportunity to expand your vocabulary. The world of chicken keeping is full of odd or potentially confusing words and phrases, like those in this mini glossary of chicken terminology. Bloom: The moist, protective coating on a freshly laid egg that dries […]
Continue Reading
Egg yolks get their golden yellow color from the same plant pigments that result in the skin color of yellow-skin breeds. These pigments are also responsible for beak and bill color in chickens and ducks, and for their brightly colored feathers. The pigments are of two main types— carotene and xanthophyll. Carotene is orange to […]
Continue Reading
Male and female waterfowl of the same breed and variety are difficult to tell apart until they are several weeks old. Except for a few autosex breeds of geese, the only way to determine the gender of waterfowl hatchlings is by vent sexing. Happily that is not nearly as difficult as it is for chickens […]
Continue Reading
Angel wing is a condition in which the flight feathers of one or both wings of a duck or goose twist away from the body. It occurs when either the primary feathers overlap in reverse order — over each other, rather than under, from outer to inner feather — or, more commonly, the entire last […]
Continue Reading
Four traditional methods are used to tell male and female chicks apart. Which method is most appropriate for any specific batch of chicks depends on their breed and variety, their age, and the skill of the observer. Vent Sexing Vent sexing, also called cloacal sexing, is a method of determining a hatchling’s gender by examining […]
Continue Reading
Autosex chicks have differing down colors at hatch, by which the males may be readily distinguished from the females. Autosex differs from sex-link in being a straightbred (purebred) characteristic, rather than the result of a hybrid cross between two separate breeds. Here is how to tell the males from the females in 22 autosex breeds […]
Continue Reading
Wild turkeys, indigenous to the Americas, were kept by Native Americans for centuries before the arrival of Europeans. Early Spanish explorers are credited with transporting American turkeys to Europe. There the birds were selectively bred for a couple of centuries before being brought back to America by early settlers. From those birds sprang the domestic […]
Continue Reading
British farmer Glenn Haggart is the latest to discover that playing music for laying hens reduces anxiety and stress, creating a safer environment for the chickens. After four years of playing music for his layers, he’s become a strong advocate. But what kind of music do chickens like? Music and Chicks Let’s start with embryos […]
Continue Reading