We have 4 chooks bought as week old chicks last april for the last couple of months we have been getting 3 or 4 eggs a day and now none my wife was sure she saw one in the nesting box and went back to collect it 1/2 an hour later to find it gone .We are beging to wonder if they are eating the eggs before we get to them .Is this somethig that occurs often perhaps due to a dietry deficiancy or have they most lightly gone off the lay for some other reason.
hello, not necesessarily anything more than one chook that needs a small bit (tip) of its beak 'touched up' with an angle grinder....because it is a greedy egg eating bitch who will teach her bad habits to the others real quick. separate them,,,find the culprit,,,grinder/beak...and collect eggs promptly. regards, kimbo
angle grinder on a chook? the RSPCA will be there have a look here https://forum.backyardpoultry.com/ go to the experts and they will tell you what to do a bit of a thread from there "Debeaking is stupid. That's probably not a strong enough word. It'd be like cutting off your top lip - you could live without it, but what's the real advantage? Some commercial people might argue that it stops cannibalism and bullying, but if the hens had more room that probably wouldn't happen anyway. If these hens were debeaked (and probably ISA Browns or similar?) don't touch them. Get some purebreds, or crossbreds even." debeaking is used by cage bird farmers - ones too lazy to have free range birds - - to stop chickens from pecking each other - - caged birds will peck each other because with three in a square foot things are cramped and there's FA else to do it is hard to stop chickens eating eggs - they do it because of boredom/dietary shortfalls the only sure fire way I know of is to eat the bird - - but there may be something more on backyardpoultry - - have a look and listen to what they say - most are breeders and show bird fanciers
The missing eggs could be a snake or rats, perhaps? Are the chickens alllowed to roam about? Perhaps they need a chance to get out and forage a bit.
This is a problem experienced by breeders of all types of poultry. The problem often originates with dietary deficiency - usually calcium- but then becomes habit simply because, even when the diet is corrected, the culprit remembers what the egg tastes like. My chickens are industriuos workers. They know what tastes good and they know where and when to find it. Free ranging solves the problem if it comes of boredom, and often the improvement that free ranging gives to the diet provides the right kind of solution there. But the knowledge of the taste passes on to other birds, and that's hard to fix. Once they learn to, poultry like eggs for the same reasons we do. I have just touched up the edge of the beak (not de-beaking by any means) so that it becomes just a tetch more difficult to break the shell. This has been enough with my pheasants. De-beaking, well, that's not designed to prevent egg eating, albeit it does make it impossible to break the shell. Bad premise and horrible practice, however. To make best advantage of free range, the bird must have all its faculties. A handicapped bird is not going to gain by free ranging. Might as well put it in a cage.
pardon para i'm not suggesting you grind its head off man. i use an angle grinder on sheep, cattle, and poultry.....the indispensable tool for animal husbandry....dentistry amongst other things. this has got nothing to do with de-beaking. this is a 'touch' of blunt beaking....just as in cloudpilers post. the rspca will not be there, paradisi is paranoid. i imagine a real young fella, city boy, right hand soft from mouse use, callused thumbs from the space bar?? i'm in the desert bud, doing real life....i'm in to practicalities.....i'm not into cruelty.....but i don't pander to group think. and i don't like 'kid spit' on my posts. regards, kimbo
what a tool - You're in a dessert bud?? what sort?? blancmange? chocolate pudding? maybe you should read some more and find out what this kid spit is all about? Use a grinder on any animal and you deserve everything the RSPCA wants to throw at you. As I suggested to the OP - have a talk to the professionals not some jumped up hick lifer in a plate full of sugary food. The link is https://forum.backyardpoultry.com/. Strange thing is the people on that link actually know what they are talking about. The thing about the internet is that everyone will give you advice then it is up to those with intelligence to sort the wheat from the chaff. So how about you post a real life address so we can have the RSPCA check out your angel grinding fixation?
trol fix i made a typo....i wouldn't put out my address, I'm a recluse (with a grinder),,,,i am also way to cool to bite a trol.... but i did check your referred link ( quaint, pedestrian) and I visited your blog and hers....I have many questions...like how do you have advertising with no content?... "Read the blog and you'll get a good idea of what I am, though not necessarily who I am." ...unfortunately true (and you want my address?) we are the same age ( you old bastard ) and we enjoy some of the same things....Marvin. I suspect you are a christian though (australian christian lobby) link on your blog,,,and i am a pagan. I could get over the religious differences,,,,but, i can not get past the fact that you like "Gary Glitter"....that is gary the pederass. I would have pm'd you, but you have it turned off. I hope i have attacked the post and not the poster....and para,,,how do you spell 'Angle'? tool regards, kimbo
you look but you dont read - had to be expected. and I'd say the psot is very off topic as for being personal - who gives a toss? your colours are out. and angel is spelt angel unless its a deliberate poor pun??
