The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: northfifeduckling on May 08, 2009, 01:05:18 pm
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I'm asking this for a friend - can't find the old thread about this topic.
My friends' hens have started eating their eggs. She had tried everything with her previous lot without success, same problem.
I read somewhere, I think it was here - to do something with mustard, and reading it at the time I thought this was the only thing she hadn't tried - can someone remind me with my ever so poor memory? :&>
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Hi, it was March 12th in the poultry section headed, ''Help...hens eating eggs''.
Good luck JD
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I;m not sure about any past articles but I know what you mean.What you do is blow an egg then fill it with mustard and place it back in the coop,If you not sure what chicken it is just leave it in there and who the unlucky one is who pecks at the mustard egg will soon be put off.It might be worth doing a couple of eggs.Good luck
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There's that man with the lovely name again! Where did your folks get it from? My daughter just picked it from a book, but they hadn't realised that their church was in Keir Road, and that the Keir roundabout was just up the road too
As to hen pecking lol, I fund an egg with a hole in ti again today - ex batts up to their tricks again. Must keep an eye on them!
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lol thanks very much,My names Kieran but kier for short its of irish/gaelic origin and means black.Its the name of a 6th century saint who was admired for his generosity.
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dubh is black in irish never heard kier used before.
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Dubh is black in Gaelic too - as in the Dubh Loch near Lochnagar
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or as in dubh linn Dublin (black pool)
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Ah, I wondered about that ::) so Blackpool IS in Ireland! ;)
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dont know of any Blackpools in ireland (dubh linn as in a black pool/pond)
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'Twas a wee joke so it was
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Ah, I wondered about that ::) so Blackpool IS in Ireland! ;)
Yeah there is Blackpool (or what ever the same was in gaelic) in Ireland is the beach in Dublin (it was on coast not so long ago.)
Nothing to do with hens eating egg so i'll shut up.
Linz
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im from dublin and i can say that i have never heard of a beach called that.
again nothing to do with chickens eating eggs so i'll shut up also
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/coast/programmes3/06_galway_baltimore.shtml think it was this edition which mentions about the black pool but couldn't get a iplayer for it
Linz
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I've noticed that these hens have eaten some eggs but only when the eggs are broken. I have a barn that's 250 year old or so and the floor is made of brick lay English bond and the eggs break when a certain hen lays them out of the coop. Maybe this is the problem?
P.S Will this give the hens a taste for egg enough that the may break they? I was told to cook the eggs the hens are laying for a week or so and feed them back, shells and all....? Any ideas?
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as far as I can tell as the observer is that they have developed a habit, maybe following an accident like that ?? They obviously get a taste for them to turn into cannibals. Seems to be a widespread problems with hens (I'm glad I've got ducks myself!). Do you mean that cooked eggs put them off?
:&>
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as far as I can tell as the observer is that they have developed a habit, maybe following an accident like that ?? They obviously get a taste for them to turn into cannibals. Seems to be a widespread problems with hens (I'm glad I've got ducks myself!). Do you mean that cooked eggs put them off?
:&>
Not sure I would call it cannibalism to eat their own mense fluid, after all use humans have been known to eat after birth for goodness.... The reason you feed them cooked eggs and shell is to put goodness back into them. The hens just eat the eggs that have broken when layed by the largest who keeps dropping them on hard ground and don't break into them.
At first ex-bats eggs are runny so during this time of recovery I was told to feed them their own eggs and shell, cooked.
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I didn't fancy eating my placentae at the time (we did watch the River Cottage episode though), but we buried them and planted trees on top. Both trees have not been doing too well, lol, but the kids are ok, that's the main thing!
Back to the eggs and hens - we fed boiled egg yolk to fading ducklings for strength last year, yes, it is a great supplement for weak or recovering birds (didn't save all but one duckling) . But these hens I am enquiring about are well fed and thriving, from organic stock, fed with pellets, grain, kitchen scraps and are free range. My friend did try the mustard egg trick, but they just left those eggs alone and ate all the others...Any other suggestions to stop them are welcome. :&>
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As I said before the only way I stopped it was to split the hens into two lots, then agin, then again till I got the offending one. Then put stone eggs on with her.
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I'll pass that one on, Annie! :&>
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i was convinced my chooks were nibbling on their eggs til i seen the culprit in action. crows. now i have to lock them out during the day unless they all lay during the night. crows still a problem as they munch on their feed. have to get myself a pellet gun or i might try a scarecrow first.
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I have today been on a poultry keeping course, the question about hens eating their eggs was asked, the answer was that the chicken needs more calcium. not sure if this is helpful ive never even kept a chicken yet .