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Author Topic: Egg eater  (Read 9578 times)

Offline Kathyp

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Egg eater
« 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.

Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline iddee

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Re: Egg eater
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2019, 11:46:12 am »
Feed her oyster shells. She is calcium deficient.
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Offline SiWolKe

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Re: Egg eater
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2019, 12:25:45 pm »
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:

Offline Acebird

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Re: Egg eater
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2019, 12:41:21 pm »
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.
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.
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Offline CoolBees

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Re: Egg eater
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2019, 01:25:31 pm »
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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Offline blackforest beekeeper

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Re: Egg eater
« Reply #5 on: January 29, 2019, 01:26:59 pm »

Offline Kathyp

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Re: Egg eater
« Reply #6 on: January 29, 2019, 01:44:26 pm »
They have oyster shell and fake eggs.  I caught her at it yesterday and marked her with car touch up paint (it was handy).  I hate to cull her.  She's a really nice hen, but I think I am out of options with her.  And yes, she will teach the others to do it. 

Guess I was just hoping that someone had an unknown magic cure  :grin:
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Offline CoolBees

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Re: Egg eater
« Reply #7 on: January 29, 2019, 01:58:47 pm »
something like this.
https://www.agrarflora.de/tierzucht/gefluegelhaltung/legenester-zubehoer/1803/legenest-fuer-5-huehner-mit-schraegem-dach-5-nestmatten-oberteil-fuer-kleine-und-mittlere-rassen?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjOHAo8GT4AIVS-h3Ch0_OQT4EAQYAiABEgJYrfD_BwE
hen goes in, lays an egg. when she gets up, the egg rolls into a drawer underneath where she cant reach.
not all hens use it, though....

I built 1 just like this when I built the big coop we have now (circa 2010). I patterned it after the commercial egg producer plants that surrounded the area where I was raised. It worked for a while. As soon as it gets dirty, the egg stops rolling, and the chicken can get to the egg quickly. I played with design changes for 5 yrs. Sometimes I'd sit outside the cage all day and watch what was happening, so I could make adjustments to the design. I cleaned it constantly so the eggs would roll properly.

I've seen hens peck other hens eggs as soon as their layed, simply because they don't want that hen having offspring. Chickens are smart and mean.

1 day I had enough, and I found what worked best - a hatchet. Mmmm - fresh chicken is so good! We no longer have a problem. :)
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Offline Kathyp

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Re: Egg eater
« Reply #8 on: January 29, 2019, 02:49:25 pm »
Quote
1 day I had enough, and I found what worked best - a hatchet. Mmmm - fresh chicken is so good! We no longer have a problem. :)

I think that's where we are headed.  I don't really need more meat though.  Full freezers.  I'll give her to someone else if they want to eat her.
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Offline The15thMember

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Re: Egg eater
« Reply #9 on: January 29, 2019, 02:58:15 pm »
One of my favorite websites, The Spruce, has an article about this issue.  Here's the link, if you'd like to take a look.  Don't know if any of it will work.  We've thankfully never had this problem with our chickens.  https://www.thespruce.com/why-chickens-eat-eggs-stopping-it-3016829
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Offline Kathyp

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Re: Egg eater
« Reply #10 on: January 29, 2019, 03:39:47 pm »
Thanks.  The only things I have not done are changing to roll away boxes and clipping her beak.  At this point, I think it is easier to send her down the road.

Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline Acebird

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Re: Egg eater
« Reply #11 on: January 29, 2019, 04:27:47 pm »
It usually happens after the chicken is over 2 years old.  After 2 years the egg laying tapers off anyway.  If you are feeding organic feed you are paying way more in feed that what you can buy organic eggs anywhere.  So the bottom line is after two years kill them or give them away for pets.  I suppose you could sell them as pets if you don't have too many.
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Offline Kathyp

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Re: Egg eater
« Reply #12 on: January 29, 2019, 08:17:47 pm »
Quote
After 2 years the egg laying tapers off anyway.  If you are feeding organic feed you are paying way more in feed that what you can buy organic eggs anywhere.  So the bottom line is after two years kill them or give them away for pets.  I suppose you could sell them as pets if you don't have too many
.

This is a young hen.  I have older that are still good layers, but I don't put a light on them in winter.  I let the quit laying.  I think it extends their laying life and I can save plenty to get through winter.  And no, I don't pay extra for organic food.   :grin:
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Online Ben Framed

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Re: Egg eater
« Reply #13 on: January 29, 2019, 09:00:08 pm »
Kathy wham I was a (young-un)  small boy, I made some extra money by having my own chickens 🐔. I use to have my daddy drive me to one of the country stores and sold my eggs wholesale to the store owner. This worked out good for me, making this extra money and learning the value of negotiation at such a young age. I say worked out good for me , that is until slowly, One by one, I began having to deal with laying hens turning into egg 🍳 eaters. I had sand and grit readly  available, this didn't work. I did as Sibylle suggested to you, I added orster shells to their diet. Wasn't no time,  and I was back in business!! I hope this works out for you as well! Let us know..
Phillip

Whoops just read your post # 6 They, oyster shells, completely worked for me. Any more I don't know. Maybe as some suggeated (cook pot)?  :shocked:
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Offline SiWolKe

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Re: Egg eater
« Reply #14 on: January 30, 2019, 02:34:34 am »
Quote
After 2 years the egg laying tapers off anyway.  If you are feeding organic feed you are paying way more in feed that what you can buy organic eggs anywhere.  So the bottom line is after two years kill them or give them away for pets.  I suppose you could sell them as pets if you don't have too many
.

This is a young hen.  I have older that are still good layers, but I don't put a light on them in winter.  I let the quit laying.  I think it extends their laying life and I can save plenty to get through winter.  And no, I don't pay extra for organic food.   :grin:

I have mutts from races which are layers and meat race both, and they are adapted to nature. I don?t enforce laying. No lights, a heat lamp only when it?s relly cold. My chicken coop is not isolated.
The woman friend I got them from always breeds mutt chickens. She uses the older ones for that. She separates them from the egg layers and sets them on fake eggs, then after they start seriuos work she gives them different eggs from her others, so some will be fertilized ( not all are). She uses the roosters for food and keeps the old hens to watch and teach the kindergarden.
Both of us have no pecked eggs, we use straw and hay nests. I feed organic, so it?s no gain, but the eggs are extraordinary well tasting, so I don?t care.

Offline Acebird

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Re: Egg eater
« Reply #15 on: January 30, 2019, 09:19:57 am »
And no, I don't pay extra for organic food.   :grin:
That doesn't come as any great surprise to me but then one begs the question why compete with commercial production.  You are still paying more for the same thing.  I also wouldn't eat the chicken if it were not fed organic.  Poison level is too high.
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Offline Kathyp

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Re: Egg eater
« Reply #16 on: January 30, 2019, 11:15:00 am »
Quote
That doesn't come as any great surprise to me but then one begs the question why compete with commercial production.  You are still paying more for the same thing.  I also wouldn't eat the chicken if it were not fed organic.  Poison level is too high.

Mine taste better and are fresher.  I sell enough of them to pay for the chickens.  Our feed is locally sourced, not made in China  :grin:
Most Organic is a racket.  Much higher cost for questionable gain. 

I do watch where all my animal feed is sourced.  That part does make a difference, but I am not paying twice as much for feed just because someone slaps "Organic" on the label and tells me it's better.  I have enough farmer friends to understand that it usually doesn't mean what people think it means. 

I have mutts from races which are layers and meat race both, and they are adapted to nature. I don?t enforce laying.
Quote

Me too.  I have swapped out roosters several times and hatched my own chicks, so mine are mutts also
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Offline iddee

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Re: Egg eater
« Reply #17 on: January 30, 2019, 11:30:37 am »
ORGANIC. I fed my chickens live mice and watched them peck them to pieces and eat them. Did that make my eggs organic?
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

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Offline SiWolKe

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Re: Egg eater
« Reply #18 on: January 30, 2019, 12:47:27 pm »
ORGANIC. I fed my chickens live mice and watched them peck them to pieces and eat them. Did that make my eggs organic?

 :rolleyes:

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Egg eater
« Reply #19 on: January 30, 2019, 12:52:40 pm »
>ORGANIC. I fed my chickens live mice and watched them peck them to pieces and eat them.

I didn't feed them on purpose, but the chickens got some now and then... the first chicken to catch it never got to eat it...

> Did that make my eggs organic?

Absolutely!
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