chickens eating eggs !!!

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by baleboy, Sep 17, 2005.

  1. baleboy

    baleboy Junior Member

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    i found my chickens eating a soft shelled egg that one of the younger chickens might have laid

    i have also recently had a an egg tat was cracked perhaps from a pecker

    any one got any theories to stop this

    i dont want to start losing all my eggs to the chickens !!

    also is it ok for them to eat their own eggs ?? :?
     
  2. ~Tullymoor~

    ~Tullymoor~ Junior Member

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    Don't stress mate, they're only babies aren't they? They'd eat a poo sandwich if someone made it for them, so a soft shelled egg would be a real treat. It doesn't mean they'll start breaking shells to eat eggs...necessarily.
    Try to collect the eggs when they lay them and just pop some golf balls in the nest/s and they'll soon get tired of trying to break them.
    Got some pics of your chookens??
     
  3. earthbound

    earthbound Junior Member

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    Does your chookery get a good supply of shell grit for it's occupants?

    A friend of mine had a similar problem and he increased their feeding and made sure there was plenty of shell grit and they stopped. He wasn't sure if it was the increase in feed or the shellgrit but it worked...
     
  4. ~Tullymoor~

    ~Tullymoor~ Junior Member

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    Good point Joel, but if they are only babies, just starting to lay it can take a wee while for their systems to get it all together.....they have a few boo-boos with the first few eggs and lay soft shell, no shell, weird looking things with solid rubbery insides....
    But, BaleBoy, you could buy feed named Peters Free Range Mix and it has shell in it and lots of other goodies...far more interesting and palettable than pellets! :D
     
  5. Tamandco

    Tamandco Junior Member

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    The risk here is that a one off occurance can become a problem later on so you need to eliminate any practices which might reinforce the problem.

    Egg eating can quickly become a habit as the chooks acquire the taste for egg so if you want to include egg shells as grit, crush it up really well so they don't recognise it for what it is. But then shell grit is so cheap, 'cheep, cheep' and lasts a long time, there's really no incentive to use egg shells instead.

    Try, if you can (if you're at home) to collect the eggs regularly to avoid any damage being done. If they get the opportunity to eat the contents, they can develop a real taste for it. The old saying, 'prevention is better than cure' so that's fine to accept it because they are young and still finding their feet, but make sure it doesn't become a habit.

    The reason I'm so cautious with this subject is because I've had a problem 'egg eater' in the past and eventually got rid of her.

    Mind you, a soft shelled egg could be attractive to the most gentle of mother hens and might genuinely be a one off.

    Tam
     
  6. baleboy

    baleboy Junior Member

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    yep they are young and they do get shell grit in their grain so i think the soft egg was just a false start

    i have used golf balls and other things in the nest before to encourage them to remember to lay but i think i will put the balls back just in case for the pecking prob

    man i love this site itis better than google fr finding information and you get to hang out with like minded people

    i used to think peopl who went online to talk to peopl were just a bunch of losers with nothing better to do

    not so at all it is just a great way to talk to people with similar ideas that are too far away to have a cuppa with
     
  7. barely run

    barely run Junior Member

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    More chook stuff....my chook tractor is up and running !!!! keep expecting a fox to get in even thou everyone says the netting skirt around the base will keep them out. Have 5 chickens getting only one egg a day but that is more than we need. The first circle is completed and I've planted pumpkins and cucumbers in it today. My question is I'm feeding scraps...nettles....extra weeds and some wheat seed every day. Will get some shell grit but our ground is very rocky. Is this sufficent for our chooks or do I have to get laying pellets??? or are they full of icky stuff.
    Cathy
     
  8. Tezza

    Tezza Junior Member

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    Weeds for Sale

    In 12 years of chookies Ive only used shell grit when it was given to me by the people i bought my stock from, after it ran out i never bought anymore.
    No 1 reason .......Never needed too..plenty eggs still
    No2 Insects and green feed eg weeds grass etc contain plenty of the things that give you the calcium to produce shell.If they have accsess to these valuable ingreadients it does away with the calcium shortage.
    As for soft shell eggswell i musnt get many i never see any wet spots,
    'yolky wetspots' i mean.And i get those smaller 1st few eggs from young pulletts....I honestly think that if anything was eating eggs thered be a smell of eggs or wet yellowy spots nearby where layed...eg snake,dog,crow etc.
    .
    I think the weed haters should get together with the soft egg shufflers
    and swap notes or feed ....
    Anything non poiseness is sutible to eat by chooks, funny how we get chook people with tonnes of green feed or no feed but a big bill for the roundup and STILL waste time,money,effort etc ...with pelletsetc.

    I thought this site was intended to maybe use the odd permaculture idea/theory in a bid to end all these Problems..The only if ever time i purchase outside food is in Summer time when no green feed around or as an emergancy feed in times of need...

    I must also mention that my chooks run without doors or locks and come and go 24/7this idea dont work as well if limited accsess to greens..
    On the insect front Heres one for christopher,,,,, Maggots are a great food and nutrient food apparently suitible from all ages 1day olds to grannys,Worms ecsess water plants from Joels aquapermaponics,slaters,
    the list is endless

    As for anything eating your eggs a great idea i was told years ago was to blowout "empty an egg" ,mix some real hot curry,chilli etc in with mixture push back in egg leave in a empty nest,,,For Putting of the Birdy population same can be used with the birds, they soon learn. there not that stupid, after all
    For the queeezzy members here eg Tully n Tamandco maybe they could leave a few eggs and leave somewhere to go off and stink.then put them outside somewhere near any dissaperences ....
    I wouldnt recommend golf balls if you like golf, cause you may loose a few.
     
  9. Tamandco

    Tamandco Junior Member

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    We're always finding golf balls in our paddock coz my mum uses our place as her par 3. :lol:

    We can only free range our chooks when we're home to supervise due to the fox problem here. At the moment, there's a vixen with cubs so she's desperate for food. She'll come right into our yard at 3 in the arvo, even when we're home, so if I let the chooks out, I make it a point to be working in the vacinity. They're locked up in their run for the rest of the time, so I just chuck all the weeds etc over the fence when I'm working around the garden.

    We've got tons of green feed all year round as we rest our paddocks and hard feed our animals with our home grown hay so as not to put any strain on the pasture. The chooks have heaps of access to various pasture mixes too when they are out, usually 3 times a week on average although it's been daily lately as I haven't had any money so have had to limit my outings. :roll: When the chooks are out, they can also forage through the compost bins which are made of hay bales, so they can scratch around to their heart's content and not make a mess. My 3 year old son likes to dig in the compost and feed the chooks the worms he finds.

    We've had a soft shelled egg occasionally, about one every 3 months or so, but on the whole, the egg shells are good quality. I provide them with ad lib access to shell grit though, but a small bag lasts a long time. I wouldn't bother but I do think they use it as the level does go down over time.

    The free range mix I buy is the cheaper version of Peter's. It also has shell grit in it, but I limit how much I give them because they've got heaps of food already, plus it's expensive. I use it mainly for preparing my show birds and for my broodies and as a treat in small amounts.

    They always have access to pellets and but usually don't touch them unless they've been confined for a few days, and for any number of reasons I haven't been able to throw them their scraps and greens. I usually only need to top it up once a fortnight but if I have a few slack days and they don't get out, or I don't go out, they need to survive on something and will eat it.

    Tam
     
  10. ~Tullymoor~

    ~Tullymoor~ Junior Member

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    :pukeleft: Me queeezzy???????????????? :pukeright:
    Pffttt what a load of old bollocks!! :lol:

    Just 'cos I plant my Taga seeds in dunny rolls!?? Just 'cos I don't like spidies?? WHY Tezza??? Why for you say this? :scratch: Where on earth did you get that impression? :lol: :lol: :lol:

    You wait til the First Annual Permaculture Forum Group Get-Together (at my place so I don't have to fly lol) and you will see the least queeeeziest sheila you'll ever meet, mate!

    Hey, I have a cast iron guts! I have sucked the mucous from numerous new born, but not breathing, puppies nostrils and given them mouth to mouth! I'm gonna eat my own pet rabbits /boy-baby goatlings and chooks! I drink red from a cask for crying out loud! I even ate blue vein cheese the other day AND loved it, thank you very much Mr Tough Boy Tezza of the steel capped thongs!!! :shock:
     
  11. Tamandco

    Tamandco Junior Member

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    I've been rabbitting with ferrets and broken their necks by hand, I smashed the heads of rats which fall into my feedbins (a trap I set regularly), I stab the heads of the flathead I catch in the bay, I pierced my own ears, using a sewing needle, I drowned rats in the dam while I was in labour for God's sake, and I chopped the head off my favorite rooster and ate him! I also mark and eartag my own steers.

    All MYSELF! I wouldn't call that queezy, would you?

    Oh yeah, and I'd like to see you go through labour and give birth with no assistance and no drugs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Tam
     
  12. ~Tullymoor~

    ~Tullymoor~ Junior Member

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    LOLOLOL :lol: :lol: :lol:

    GO TAM, GO TAM, GO TAM!!!!!!

    See, we tough bitches, don't mess with us! :shock:




    (I can say that swearing word 'cos I know Muzza's at a party tonight hehehe)
     
  13. christopher

    christopher Junior Member

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    Tam,

    Wow. Hmmmmmm, let me start by saying that I'm impressed! Back in NYC we used to say "brass huevos", which translates as, well, I think you get the idea. This is obviously gender innapproriate for you, but I am thinking cast iron ovaries! Stabbed in the head, neck broken, by hand! no less... drowned rats! Home birthing! I pity the poor unfortunate beasty who gets nicked trying to make a raid on YOUR chookery!

    Just wanted to send some props out for you. Big up! Up! Up! UP! TAM! 'Nuf respect!

    If you ever want a part time job in Belize safeguarding my chookery, drop a line. We could use some super tough sheila mercenary Aussie chook bodyguards to chase away tha jaguars and boas with machetes and brooms, guns and knives. Your resume as posted here leads me to believe you are overqualified for the job. So if you and Tullymoor are looking for an exciting job in an exotic local, we pay in eggs.... :lol:

    Cathy, keeping Mr Fox out is part of it, but keeping himaway is better. Chooks get wigged out by predators and will retain eggs, or stop laying if they have a traumatic experience (my experience, anyway).

    Also, laying pellets are full of nasty stuff from a nasty production system, high in industrial ag derived protein, they are the result of a terrible equation of petroleum, petrochemicals, seed and soil, resulting in this feed. Some types of feed for larger industrial chookeries have antibiotics and growth hormones, which get passed in the eggs, BUT they do help your chooks lay lots of eggs, and that is why people use it. I don't use the pellets, myself. Try your burnt beans and rice, whatever table scraps you end up with. If its good enough for you its great for the chooks.

    Also, if your chooks get out, either free range or in chook tractors, they should be getting plenty of calcium.

    Marcus, chooks will eat their eggs sometimes, usually as a result of outside factors, stress over food, etc, but if they develop a taste for them, you will have problems.

    What we do is check for eggs when we feed them in the AM and then an hour or two later. We haven't had this problem for a long time. The rock thing works, so does Tezzas suggestion of loading eggs with nasty stuff, and sand works well if in a shell.

    Baldcat is looking for info on chook breeds in another thread, but my experience is so limited to RI Reds and "local" chooks that I suggested he ask all o'y'all in Oz as you have such wonderful varieties, like those gorgeous Silkies, and the handsome Australorps.... any ideas would help him alot!

    Thanks Tam for your impressive self description. You tough!

    Christopher
     
  14. Tamandco

    Tamandco Junior Member

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    Thanks Christopher, you made me laugh. :lol:

    Now I'm speechless.

    Tam
     

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