These last few weeks have been incredibly busy here and my sunburned shoulders are proof I have spent little time in the house these days. I did solve our little egg eater problem. It was much easier than I would have thought. I took an egg out to the hen house and set it on the floor close to one of the nesting boxes, as if it had just fallen out or been laid in the wrong place. No sooner had I set it down than one of the hens rushed over and started to peck at it. I grabbed her and put her in a covered box. I put the egg down again and another hen rushed over and did the same thing. She ended up in the box as well. By this time I was shaking my head and wondering if they were all going to turn out to be egg eaters. So, back I went to put the egg down again.
This time after waiting quite a while a rather timid hen walked over to it and rolled it underneath her and settled down on it. Sigh... No more egg eaters! What do I do with the ones who are?? I must say I seriously thought about just stretching their necks and making some stew, but then decided I would try an experiment. So, I put them in the barn with the goats. You know, every once in a while I do have a good idea. Later that day when I went to check on them I found two very happy hens pecking in the dirt and two... yes, count them, two eggs laid in nests dug deep in the straw. That's all it took! Its obvious they were just not happy in the coop, I'm still not sure why as it is a beautiful coop and the other chickens seem happy there. As for the goats? Well, having never seen a chicken before it took them a lot longer to get used to them but today they seem quite content to let them wander around their feet and while I'm not so happy with the messes they are making at least they are happy and I am getting an egg a day from each of them. Don't you love a happy ending?
Two nice surprises in the barn. The one sure has a funny shape though, see all the ripples on it? I've noticed one other laying eggs just like this in the coop. I'm thinking there is a deficiency here and will be adding things to their diet to try to fix the problem.
Not every ending turns out so happy. One of the little ducks on one of the ponds has been diligently sitting on eggs but the fox decided he needed to eat too... What a mess! I'm not sure if you can spot it in the picture but it looks like he not only ate all the eggs but the duck as well. She must have put up a fight.
Now - that IS a happy ending - clever girl :) Who knew that hens could be so fussy LOL
ReplyDeleteGlo, You fixed the hen issue and thats great news. Now you have another problem, a fox. Be careful, he will be back for more food. Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteI don't know whether this is true (I'm just learning about keeping chickens, myself), but I read somewhere online that this behavior indicates a calcium deficiency; the hens are looking for more calcium in their diets, which is crucial for good egg development, and, may be the cause of the deformities in some of the eggs (poor calcium levels). Check the feed they are getting. They may need a supplement until the "girls" are healthier.
ReplyDeletePS: I've also read you can use the shells of the eggs you gather to increase calcium in the hens' diets; just crush them and boil them first (to prevent salmonella) and add the finely crushed to their feed or let them peck away at it - they love pecking at things on the ground, you know!
ReplyDeleteI've always fed the egg shells back to the hens. I've never boil the shells first though. We just stick them on the back of the wood stove until they are completely dry then crush and mix with their feed. As I acquired these hens full grown I'm not sure what their diet was like but they can now free range and eat whatever they like so hopefully the problem is corrected. :)
DeleteI'm glad you were able to solve your hens eating the eggs problems. I used to have Silkie chickens, and they were so cute. I bought (at first) two hens and a rooster, and brought them home in a carrier in my car. So, I was interested in your chicken story! We went away over the fourth of July that year, due to our son playing in a baseball tournament. When we returned home, a hen was sitting on a nest loaded with eggs. We ended up with 28 hens and roosters! We now buy eggs from a local farmer, and they are wonderful.
ReplyDeleteWow! That is a great story. :) I wouldn't mind that happening here!
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