Characteristics and description of the Pushkinskaya chicken breed, maintenance rules

Pushkin chickens are a breed that is popular among farmers due to its ease of care, productive egg production and high-quality meat. This breed will be an excellent choice - both for a large poultry farm and for a private farm. Let's look at the advantages and disadvantages of Pushkin chickens and figure out how to properly care for and breed them.

History of the origin of the breed

The Pushkin breed was bred in the second half of the twentieth century in the city of Pushkin, Leningrad region. The main goal pursued by the breeders was to create a classic country chicken, capable, with minimal care, of producing a large number of eggs and tasty meat. Crossed for selection motley and black Australorps with the Leghorns.

Initially bred chickens showed low productivity until breeders crossed the breed with the Russian Broiler-6 breed. The result was strong, striped hens that laid eggs regularly.

Appearance, standards and varieties

Pushkin chickens are characterized by the presence of long legs and an important posture due to the erect tail. The bird's head is long, with bulging eyes and a pink crest. The beak is bent down. The wings are fluffy. The body of the bird itself is large and strong. Hens are characterized by a gray color interspersed with white, while roosters, on the contrary, have a dominant white color with rare gray spots.

St. Petersburg line

Females of the St. Petersburg line weigh two kilograms, males reach a weight of up to three kilograms. One laying hen produces more than two hundred eggs per year. The weight of the eggs reaches sixty grams. Roosters of the St. Petersburg line are characterized by a much lighter color than hens, so they are easy to distinguish from each other.

Moscow line

Males of the Moscow line are distinguished by much more colorful plumage than representatives of the St. Petersburg line. However, Moscow line roosters are still lighter than hens, so they are also not easy to confuse.

Advantages and disadvantages

Farmers fell in love with the breed due to its many advantages. The main advantages of birds are:

• adaptability to different temperature conditions, both in adult representatives and in chickens;
• unpretentiousness to food;
• frequent egg production and high-quality meat;
• a high percentage of egg fertilization and chicken survival;
• immunity to disease.

The disadvantage of Pushkin chickens is that they are inactive and cannot run, which can negatively affect the chicken’s body.

Productivity and egg production

Pushkin chickens are fruitful in terms of laying eggs, and their meat is of high quality and excellent taste.

Meat

Pushkin chickens are birds with massive dimensions. The female reaches a weight of two kilograms, the male grows up to three kilograms. The carcass lends itself well to plucking. The bird's skin is durable. The meat itself has excellent taste and is suitable for making broth.

Eggs

Oviposition in females begins already in the sixth or seventh month. Pushkin chickens demonstrate one of the highest egg production rates, second only to egg breeds.

One adult bird produces more than two hundred eggs annually, and under the right temperature conditions, proper food and lighting, a chicken will produce up to three hundred eggs per year. They lay eggs even in winter, and in summer they lay eggs almost every day, with the exception of the molting period.

In the first months, a mature laying hen produces eggs weighing up to fifty grams, and after a year of life, the eggs begin to reach seventy grams. The eggs themselves have a dense white consistency and a bright yellow yolk.

Keeping chickens

The Pushkin breed is undemanding to living conditions. The main thing is to give the birds a warm place to spend the night and winter. An insulated shed is not required, but it is important that the room is protected from drafts.

Chicken coop

The room must be equipped with warm bedding.Chickens can also be kept on regular roosts. They should be located at a height of approximately 0.8 meters and equipped with a ladder for climbing.

To lay eggs, you need to equip separate special boxes covered with warm straw. Sawdust is not suitable as a bedding material, as chickens love to dig in it, so the sawdust will be quickly thrown away. You shouldn’t put them on the floor of the barn either; birds will rummage through them and dig them out, no matter how tightly they are compacted. In addition, sawdust will enter the respiratory tract of chickens, causing lung diseases.

Yard

Although the breed was initially declared by breeders to be flightless, this trait could not be established. Modern representatives can easily fly over a fence one and a half meters high. Therefore, the yard for walking chickens should be covered. Such an enclosure, among other things, will protect the birds from predators, since Pushkin chickens are slow, cannot run and do not have time to react to the sudden approach of danger.

Drinkers and feeders

The size of the feeder depends on the number of chickens you raise and the size of the coop. If you plan to raise birds in winter, the feeder should be placed inside the chicken coop. Chickens need both dry food and wet food, so you need to equip feeders for both types of food. Hopper-type feeders are suitable for dry food, and open troughs for wet mash.

Structures must be stable and durable. Chickens are constantly pushing feeders, so feed should not spill through them - this entails unnecessary feed consumption and poor sanitation. Feeders must be cleaned and refilled with food regularly.

How to heat a chicken coop in winter?

Poultry does not tolerate cold temperatures well, therefore, when keeping chickens, heating in the chicken coop is indispensable. In most cases, artificial heating is the only way to provide birds with optimal conditions.

The exception is temperate climate zones and warmer climate zones - here, as a rule, natural heating is sufficient.

The safest and most economical way to heat a room is to use electric heaters. Air heaters, oil heaters, electric convectors, ceramic panels, infrared heaters are suitable.

An alternative can be gas and stove heating systems. Each method has its own advantages, disadvantages and conditions for proper use, but, in any case, such heating of the room will help cope with sudden drops in temperature.

Bird diet

The egg production and quality of chicken meat depends, first of all, on a properly formulated diet. For this breed, a regular diet for laying hens is suitable.

Chickens

After birth, small chicks first consume the internal embryonic clot as food. Two hours after hatching, the chickens should be fed boiled dry millet. This will allow the chicks to open their beaks so that they do not suffocate in the future.

During the first days, the chicken should be fed with boiled yolk. Subsequently, animal food is excluded from the diet. Chicks need fresh water and greenery. You can add a small amount of milk to the feeder.

The first ten days of a chick's life should be fed every three hours. After a week of age, the chicks can be fed with potatoes and grated carrots. From the tenth day you should include chalk in your diet.Chicks over a month old willingly eat mixed feed, chopped greens, and various mash.

Large vegetables should be chopped. Every four hours it is necessary to change the water in the drinking bowl.

Adults

Adult chickens are fed grain, mixed feed, and herbs. Food must be fresh. Feeding twice a day is optimal. Different types of grains should not be mixed with each other; they should be given to birds alternately. Chickens need to be walked regularly.

The diet of chickens must include fine gravel. It will grind food in the bird's body. Containers with gravel should be in places that are easily accessible to chickens. Also, to avoid biting egg shells, chickens should be given calcium-containing foods. For roosters, as an addition to the diet, preparations containing vitamin A are suitable.

Breeding rules

Determining the sex of chicks of the Pushkin breed, as a rule, is not difficult. It is best to purchase adult birds of both sexes. You can buy several adult pairs and a couple of small chicks. You should buy birds from a factory, as buying from your own hands runs the risk of getting unhealthy chickens.

Factories, as a rule, provide certificates stating that the chickens have received high-quality genes and do not have diseases. Bird prices vary depending on whether you are purchasing a laying hen, a rooster or a chick.

The most important thing in maintaining Pushkin's hands is to provide them with a sufficiently warm place to live. The chicken coop must be reliably protected from drafts and excessive humidity. In the summer, it is better to keep birds in the fresh air, not forgetting the need for a covered aviary.

Diseases and their treatment

Despite the high immunity of chickens to diseases, farmers should check their birds for the presence of diseases. Pushkin chickens are susceptible to plague, psittacosis, paratyphoid fever, pullorosis, and eimeriosis. These diseases are infectious in nature, and one affected bird can infect the entire chicken coop.

Birds are often affected by parasitic diseases, such as rickets and prostagonymosis. It is often difficult to distinguish a sick chicken from a healthy one, so if any symptoms appear, you should immediately contact a veterinarian.