Author Topic: Advise pls.. (Read 3284 times)

Maria1969 · « **on:** January 31, 2012, 12:53:09 pm »

Hello All

My 9 x battery hens (which Ive had for around 6mnths now) have took to eatting their own eggs, I have tried putting fake eggs/golf balls in the nests, they have grit/oyster shell, they have the peck bars to keep em busy, Ive tried to check for eggs as often as possible but they contine to do it and Im lucky if I get 1 egg per day. (I feed them x Bats Pellets)

Any advise would be gratefully received as I miss my eggs

Maria

Brijjy · « **Reply #1 on:** January 31, 2012, 12:58:57 pm »

In my experience I have found it nigh impossible to stop egg eating hens. I was never sure which one was doing it. I had my suspicions but couldn't prove who was the culprit. The fox sorted out that problem though. He ate all of my warrens

OhLaLa · « **Reply #2 on:** January 31, 2012, 01:07:09 pm »

Mine are going through a phase of doing that at the moment too.

Besides getting the eggs out as often as possible, these are some of the options you can try:

*Make the nest area dark.

*When you find the next broken egg, mix some really hot chilli sauce into it and leave it insitu (the idea is they will find it, have a peck and be put off the taste).

*Check for rats! Quite often rats are the culprits, not the hens. The hens eat what the rats have left behind and this is the bit you see - the rats having done a runner before you see them.

*Change the nest area, again keep it dark.

Once they get a taste for eggs it is a habit that is hard to break.

manian · « **Reply #3 on:** January 31, 2012, 06:57:41 pm »

Quote from: OhLaLa on January 31, 2012, 01:07:09 pm

*When you find the next broken egg, mix some really hot chilli sauce into it and leave it insitu (the idea is they will find it, have a peck and be put off the taste).

when ours started doing this we were loosing up to 6 a day !!!!!!
we did the hot chilli sauce thing and they all tucked in and seemed to love it !!!!

we separated the 3 culprits and hubby was going to cull them, however they have had a reprieve as now they are not with the main batch they have stopped altogether
Mx

daddymatty82 · « **Reply #4 on:** January 31, 2012, 07:02:29 pm »

get a few mustard eggs in there and give them some corn and layers pellets could be that there not getting enough protein . have you got a way of making a roll away nest box that way you could put a barrier up so hens wont get to the eggs

Maria1969 · « **Reply #5 on:** January 31, 2012, 07:09:45 pm »

Hi

They have corn (dont touch it) and they are on x bats pellets already, have been looking into the roll away nest boxes and I think thats the way to go, dont want to cull them.

May I ask how you do the mustard eggs??/

Many thanks for all the help so far :0)

Maria

jaykay · « **Reply #6 on:** January 31, 2012, 07:26:50 pm »

Blow an egg (small hole in one end to blow through, large hole for the contents to come out of). Make powdered mustard up as thick as you can pour still, through the larger hole. Stand the egg with the larger hole upwards while the mustard sets a bit.

But I'd second checking for rats. If it's hens, they usually leave shells. If rats, the whole things disappears and you may find a stash of shells in a strange place that rats have taken them too to eat.

daddymatty82 · « **Reply #7 on:** January 31, 2012, 08:27:24 pm »

my chooks eat the hole egg if one is smashed they love the extra grit. what comes out goes back in. what corn are you feeding them? are there shells hard enough not to break as what usally starts it off is a smashed egg and then that leads to egg eating..

princesspiggy · « **Reply #8 on:** January 31, 2012, 09:11:06 pm »

my ex-commercial (freerangers) did this, they ate the whole egg, not a scrap left, one egg was swopped on by 20 hens sooo quickly, it took me ages to work out why i was getting no eggs. i tried for 6 mths to cure them but ended up culling them.