Judging Laying Hens

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Judging Laying Hens

• An Easy To Understand Guide To Judging Laying
  Hens

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The Four Factors for JudgingLaying Hensin order
of importance

• Pigment Loss
• Handling Quality
• Body Capacity
• Molt

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• Look at the class as a whole.

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What To Look For As A Group

• 1. Look for birds that are
• - Alert and vigorous layers
• - Dull appearing non-producer
• 2. Observe their heads

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• Here you see a vigorous hen, with a large red
  comb and wattles, and a bright alert eye. This
  hen shows she is in good production.

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• Here is a bird that shows a lack of vigor by the
  way she holds her head. The comb and wattles are
  shrunken and white, her eye is dull. These
  conditions indicate she is not in production.

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• After making distant observations, you are now
  ready to handle the birds.

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• After removing the hen from the coop we will
  learn how to examine her for pigment loss,
  handling quality, body capacity, and molt
• Remember she will be upset as you try to catch
  her.

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Removing hen from coop

• Reach in with one hand, place it on her back and
  firmly, but gently, hold her to the coop floor.
• Gently grasp one wing and turn her head toward
  the door.

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• 3. Quickly thrust the other hand under the hen so
  that the keel sits in your palm, her head toward
  the door. Hold her in both hands to make the
  bird comfortable.
• 4. Lift her off the floor.

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• Supporting the hens weight in your palm, and
  giving balance with the other, remove the bird
  from the cage head first.

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Holding the bird for examination

• To examine the bird, hold her head down with her
  back against your stomach. Hold the legs just
  above the hocks with the thumb around one thigh,
  the first finger between the hocks and the second
  finger around the other thigh. Your other hand
  is free to gently examine the bird.

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Pigment Loss

• Pigment loss is the most important factor to use
  in deciding which hen is the best layer. The
  diagram on the next slide gives the order of
  pigment loss, you will need to know this very
  well (hint, hint).
• The more pigment loss the more eggs the hen has
  laid.

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The Vent

• Move the feathers away from the vent so you can
  see its shape and color.

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Eye Ring

• Hold the bird up in your palm and grasp the head
  gently with your free hand.
• With the thumb, pull down on the face skin so you
  can see under the eye. The eye ring is the edge
  of the eye lid. This allows you to look at the
  pigment in the eye ring.

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Ear Lobe Beak
Move the thumb down and stretch the ear lob. A
creamy color indicates the presence of
undesirable yellow pigment

• The first finger of your free hand makes a good
  background for contrast in looking for pigment in
  the beak. Look at the base of the beak where my
  thumb is pointing and move towards the tip. It
  is best to look along the edges of the beak where
  they meet.

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• With the bird against your stomach, grasp the
  foot gently to expose the cracks in the skin
  between the toe joints. When the feet are dirty,
  this lets you see the pigment on the bottom of
  the foot.

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The Shanks

• Hold the hen with her back against your stomach,
  turn the bird sideways and gently twist the feet
  upward so you can see the front of the shanks.
  Use your free hand to cover the tops of the feet
  to hide any pigment that would distract your
  perception of yellow color in the shank.
• Pigment loss from the front of the shank begins
  at the top and fades downward toward the top of
  the foot.

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Back of Shank

• Return the hen to a normal holding position and
  cover the bottom of the feet so you can better
  see pigment loss from the back of the shanks.
  Loss should begin at the bottom of the shank and
  move up to the hock.

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Toe Tops

• Again turn the hen sideways, and look at the top
  of the toes. In some high producers, pigment may
  remain in the top of the foot.

This completes the examination of the hen for
pigment loss. Remember, as color is lost from
more of these skin areas, the better the layer.
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The next factor in importance is handling
quality. The pubic bones should be flexible and
thin with sharp edges. The abdominal skin must
be velvety thin, while the shank scale are rough
and there is a groove down the side of the shank.
These conditions indicate the hen is not putting
on body fat. A fat hen is a poor layer.
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Locating Pubic Bones
My fingers are depressing the abdomen just below
the vent, showing the two pubic bones.
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• Now we look for the rear tip of the keel bone.
  You will need to know this later to measure body
  depth. It is located to the right of my finger.

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• This picture shows how to hold the ends of the
  pubic bones to check their flexibility by
  pressing outward with a finger while pressing in
  with the thumb. Be careful not to break the
  bone.
• By moving the fingers along the bone edge, you
  can feel its sharpness or absence of fat.

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• Just below the pubic bone, very gently roll the
  skin between the thumb and finger. Thin velvety
  skin is a desirable indication of a lack of fat.

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Body Capacity

• Body capacity is third in importance, and
  indicates an ability to lay large eggs. It is
  measured by body width and depth.

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Body Width

• Here we see a body width of two fingers between
  the pubic bones.

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Body Depth

• Body depth is measured between the pubic bones
  and the tip of the keel. This hen has a body
  depth of three fingers.
• Put width and depth together for a body capacity
  of two by three fingers

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Molt

• Molt is the last factor in importance for
  judging.
• A hen molts when she stops production. Therefore
  molt can be used to determine how long her laying
  year was.
• Some birds molt faster than others, multiple
  feathers at once.

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• Hold the bird level with her head toward you.
  Grasp the front of the wing and open it like a
  fan. Locate the axil feather, the short one
  raised in the middle of the wing.

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• Now observe the primary flight feathers outside
  the axil feather. They are replaced from the
  inside out.
• This hen has old feathers, worn on the ends,
  indicating she has not molted, and has been in
  production a long time.

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RECAP

• The judging factors in order of importance.
• Pigment loss
• Handling quality
• Body capacity
• Molt
• The order of pigment loss.
• Vent
• Eye ring
• Ear lobe
• Beak
• Bottom of foot
• Front of shank
• Back of shank
• Hock and top of the toes

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Vent of a GOOD layer

• This hen has lost all the pigment from the
  outer skin in the vent. While the vent itself is
  moist and loose in appearance.

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Vent of a POOR layer

• The vent of a poor layer will be tight, dry
  and show yellow color in the outer skin area.
  This slide shows a typical vent of a poor
  producer.

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Eye ring of a GOOD layer

• Here you see the white chalky appearance of
  the eye ring and lower lid of a good layer.

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Eye ring of a POOR layer

• Notice the yellow color in the edge of the eye
  ring and lower lid of this poor producer.

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Ear lobe of a GOOD layer

• Leghorns like these have white ear lobes.
  This good layers ear lobe is chalky white in
  appearance.

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Ear lobe of a POOR layer

• Note the smooth waxy appearance of this ear
  lobe. Sometimes the color is so deep the ear
  lobe will be creamy yellow. This hen is such a
  poor layer that you can also see a yellowish cast
  to the red face skin and wattles.

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Beak of a GOOD layer

• This good layer has lost all pigment from the
  beak which appears translucent compared to my
  finger.
• Remember, the farther down the order of
  pigment loss color has bleached, the better the
  layer.

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Beak of a POOR layer

• Note the yellow pigment in the corner of the
  beak just above my thumb. Follow the edge of the
  upper-beak, you can see the pigment carries
  forward to the tip of this poor producers beak.

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Bottom of the foot of a GOOD layer

• Notice the pink tone of the web and bottom of
  the toes indicating a lack of yellow color. She
  has laid more eggs than a hen that has lost
  pigment only through the tip of the beak.

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Bottom of the foot of a POOR layer

• In the case of this poor layer, observe the
  yellow cast to the skin of the web and toes.
  This means she has laid fewer eggs than the hen
  who is bleached through this area.

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Front of shank of a GOOD layer

• The color begins to fade at the top of the
  shank and move down toward the top of the foot.
  The yellow on the top of the foot of this hen is
  why you cover this area with your hand. This
  good layer shows a loss of pigment from the front
  of the shank to just above the foot this is good.

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Front of shank of a POOR layer

• This poor layer has lost some pigment from the
  top of the shank. If you look closely, you can
  see that the color extending upward to about the
  middle of the shank. She has not laid as many
  eggs as the hen in the previous picture.

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Back of shank of a GOOD layer

• This good layer shows a loss of yellow from
  the foot to the hock. In this area, color starts
  to the fade near the foot and moves up toward the
  hock.

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Back of shank of a POOR layer

• The yellow of a poor producer can be easily
  seen in the back of the shank of this hen.

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Hock of a GOOD layer

• Pull the feathers away from the upper hock.
  This hen is completely bleached as shown by the
  translucent of the scales. A hen bleached
  through this point has perfect pigment loss.

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Hock of a POOR layer

• This poor producer has pigment in the hock
  scales. Even though she may be bleached in all
  other areas, she has not laid as many eggs as one
  that has no pigment.

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Toe tops of a GOOD layer

• Remember, pigment is lost from the top of the
  toes at the same time that it is lost from the
  hock. This good layer is a fine example of
  bleaching from this area. Note the yellow where
  the foot joins the shank. Modern layers will
  often retain pigment here even though they are
  heavy producers. So dont get excited about this
  condition.

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Toe tops of a POOR layer

• The yellow pigment in the top of the toes of
  this poor laying hen can clearly be seen in this
  picture.

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• To check for flexibility of the pubic bones, I
  will gently press outward on the bone with my
  thumb. Notice that my thumb moved over in line
  with my finger. This indicates a high degree of
  flexibility of the pubic bones. At the same time
  run your fingers over the edges of the bones to
  feel their sharpness. You should notice an
  absence of fat around the pubic bones.

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Flexibility of pubic bones in a GOOD layer
Notice how my thumb lines up with my finger.
Also notice this good layer does not have fat on
her pubic bone.

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Flexibility of pubic bones in a POOR layer

• Gentle pressure on the pubic bones of this
  poor layer shows little flexibility. Also, the
  bone is surrounded with a heavy layer of fat.
  These are both undesirable conditions.

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Rolling abdominal skin of a GOOD layer

• Another indication of good handling quality is
  the velvety abdominal skin between the thumb and
  finger. You want to feel the absence of fat in
  the skin.

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Rough scales and side groove on the shanks of a
GOOD layer

• The absence of fat under the scales of the
  shanks also indicates good handling quality.
  Note the groove formed down the side of the shank
  because of the lack of fat under the skin. This
  groove and rough scales indicate there is no fat
  in the shank of this good layer.

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Smooth scales and filled shank groove of a POOR
layer

• The groove is filled with fat and the shank
  scales fit together smoothly. This indicates an
  ample amount of fat under the scales. This hen
  has been converting her feed into fat instead of
  eggs.

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Body width of a GOOD layer

• This good layer has a body width of three
  fingers between the pubic bones.

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Body width of a POOR layer

• This poor layer is only two fingers wide.

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Body depth of a GOOD layer

• This good layer is almost four fingers deep
  between the pubic bones and the tip of the keel.
  
• This good layer has a final body capacity of 3 x
  4 fingers.

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Body depth of a POOR layer

• This poor layer is only three fingers deep,
  for a body capacity of 2 x 3 fingers.

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Open wing of a GOOD layer

• The feathers of this good layer are old and
  worn, and there are no new replacements. This
  indicates that she has laid ten to twelve months
  without molting.

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Open wing of a POOR layer

• The flight feathers of this poor producer are
  similar to those of our good layer. This says
  she has had a long laying year of very low
  production.

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• Put together for your use and benefit by
• Adina Choat
• January 2003