ALMOST BEEKEEPING - RELATED TOPICS > FARMING & COUNTRY LIFE
Egg eater
Kathyp:
I have a hen that I can't break of it. She'll have to go down the road. She's one of my best layers and a really nice tempered girl.
Before she goes away or into the pot, anyone have any tried and true methods of breaking them of this? She even pokes holes in her own eggs as soon as she lays them.
iddee:
Feed her oyster shells. She is calcium deficient.
SiWolKe:
Put some plaster eggs into the nest and hope she will learn she can?t poke holes.
Oyster shells will work if there is sunlight, hens need Vitamin D to use calcium. Drops will be ok too.
How old is she? The first year they mostly do not sit. I must not remind you she needs a rooster, I believe. And some solitude. :cheesy:
Acebird:
--- Quote from: kathyp on January 29, 2019, 11:01:28 am ---I have a hen that I can't break of it. She'll have to go down the road. She's one of my best layers and a really nice tempered girl.
Before she goes away or into the pot, anyone have any tried and true methods of breaking them of this? She even pokes holes in her own eggs as soon as she lays them.
--- End quote ---
How much work do you want to put yourself through? It is normal for the hen to peck the egg to test how hard it is. They don't want to waste their time setting on eggs that won't make it (they assume it is fertilized). Stopping them from eating them can only happen if you know their laying pattern and be there when it is laid to take it away. Letting them eat it will encourage others to join in and pretty soon you will get no eggs for yourself.
Separate the hen from the flock and make sure there are no others eating her eggs. Lop off her head when you no longer want to put the effort in. You will not stop the habit.
CoolBees:
When I was young, I helped my grandfather do it this way: take an egg, drill a hole in both ends (maybe 1/8th" diam), blow on one end to force the contents out the other. The tape one end shut. Using a small funnel, fill the egg shell with mustard powder, and tape the 2nd end closed. Repeat with 1 or 2 dozen eggs. Place these eggs in the laying boxes. ... and listen for the screaming chicken. This would break the hen(s) of the habit about 60% of the time. We left these modified eggs in the coup for a couple of years, just to catch any hen that decided to take up the habit again.
Ace is right - a hen that does this will teach the others to do it also.
Yes, hens need oyster shells mixed in their diet.
With all that said, here how I solve it today - soup pot. Period.
I'm too busy to deal with it. It's easier to hatch new chicks, than headache with re-training old hens, imo.
Alan
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