The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Ghdp on January 12, 2016, 06:01:06 pm
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Hmm. I think one of the hens has discovered she can eat egg. Since last week we have found four pecked, and today one eaten. The hen run is open all day so i guess a visitor could come in but is that likely?
How do I tell which one (s) are responsible. Does it signify any deficiency in what we are feeding them with and is there anything I can do to discourage this. Will i have to cull culprit(s) ????
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Hi,
I found that if you fill an egg with wet mustard it puts them off - remove the original contents of the egg and ensuring that it still looks egg like when it is filled with mustard put it back where you have found them eaten.- its finding out which one is responsible as once one starts they can all join in.
Hopefully i will be as good a solution as it has been for us.
Minty
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Thank you.
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sometimes the egg eater will have dried yolk on its beak so look out for signs of this.
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Will look. Thanks dr p
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It could also be crows although I suspect they don't like mustard either.
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Crows tend to fly off with the eggs and eat them somewhere else at their leisure. Can you isolate each hen in turn, somewhere they can see and be seen by the others so there's no pecking order stuff when you reintroduce them? I've had a few egg eaters in the past and found they have a very short memory with regard to mustard eggs, so have always ended up culling them.
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I've had this a few times and never found out who the culprit is. I put a few golf balls in the nesting boxes and check/collect the eggs as often as possible for a couple of days. The pecking at eggs soon stops. Works for me!!! Good luck.
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I have found the culprit! I will try all methods to disuade her first!
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I think they sometimes can do this through boredom. Make sure you are giving them enough variety in their food - personally I never feed pellets, just grain (they never get fat by the way) and add some black sunflower seeds from your merchant, they love those, never white bread but brown as a treat only is fine (or they will become constipated) and corn on the cob (uncooked). Give them non eating things to scratch about at and jump around - branches, bits of wood, biggish stones etc. make it fun. They only have a short life and they're nice wee things.
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Thanks goosepimple. They are out all day light hours in about 2 acres of garden, paddock and dense bushes - so lots to do - but one comes in for a nibble of egg when she can. A suggestion has been made that in addition to the oyster shell that is available I should dry used their egg shells from the kitchen and grind them into a fine egg shell grit and make this available. Do other people do this?
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Someone once tipped that you should put any shells from eggs you use in the kitchen into a baking tin and occasionally put them in the oven when you are baking something else - they only need a bit of drying out and then you can smash them up easily. They are good grit - they don't have to be to a powder, just normal grit size (like broken seashells).
I think a previous poster's idea of mustard might work well. She's got character you might say - there are plenty of chicken owners on here that would just throttle her for doing it, so nice if you can give her a chance - we all like a treat!
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I've tried mustard and mustard + chilli powder and it made no difference. Trouble is once they get the taste for eggs they'll hang about the nest box for another hen to lay or come over when they hear one cackling.
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Sometimes its a protein deficiency as they start to come into full lay after the winter rest. The old cure was lots of eggshells from the bakers or spoilt eggs from the incubators. I guess thats not allowed now. I have cured an egg eater with milk.
A way to test for who is the egg eater is to place an egg in full daylight and see if one of the hens approaches and pecks it. In which case she is the culprit. Once one has pecked it all the others will join in to finish it off though, as it is natural for a bird to eat a broken egg because it would keep the nest clean.
Once you are certain of the culprit you can isolate her and give her extra protein, limestone powder and vitamin d (cod liver oil) Also the offer of a blown egg filled with Ecover or similar washing up liquid can do the trick.[/size][size=78%] [/size]
Sometimes what ever you do it is a confirmed vice and cannot be cured, but often it can and this time of the year when shell are thinner is the worst time for egg eating. Of course check its not other vermin.
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thanks DBE. I am fairly sure I have one culprit and will try as you suggest with her.
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Just a quick up date on how we have managed the egg eating problem. We have found that the problem only happens if the culprit can get back to the nesting boxes on her own. Now we do not let any of the hens out of the immediate confines of the run until they have all laid and we have collected the eggs - and only then open the gate so they can range freely over the paddocks . With the other hens present in the run the pecking has stopped.
I have watched this over the last few months and it is consistent behaviour.
It can only work as a system when all of the hens are laying everyday and I know that I have got them all of course but thought I would post in case it is of interest to anyone.
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definitely interested in this as I have the same problem. 4 eggs spoiled yesterday and 1 today. As soon as I hear one of them making a noise I'm off out there to get the eggs but if you have to go out then they get them first.
Does anyone have a coop with a sort of drop box for eggs?
I am trying to decide if this would work. How do they collect the eggs at a commercial place?
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A conveyor belt takes them away after they are laid.
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A conveyor belt takes them away after they are laid.
Thanks Annie, not sure I am up to attaching a conveyor belt for 5 eggs a day though :-(
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I'm wondering if I can get my son to devise a method of raising the nesting box and having a chute down to a box below to catch the eggs. Should save the rats getting them too
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You can get rollaway inserts etc for nestboxes, for example here on ebay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEST-BOX-INSERT-CHICKEN-POULTRY-ROLL-AWAY-Nestbox-Hatching-Eggs-/251518259817). Our hens wouldn't know what to do with a nestbox though, so it's not going to work for us!
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That rollaway insert looks good Womble. I will speak to OH (my designer) to see if he could fit it.
thanks