Arizona Chickens - Page 2714

Same thing here - mine seem to be opportunistic egg-eaters.  If they drop them and crack them, they often eat what's left.  When the birds arrived here in October they were full-grown layers, and they were all short on calcium.  Have been having difficulty getting them back to normal-thickness shells.  They don't seem terribly interested in the oyster shell.  Feeding their own thin-shelled eggshells back to them doesn't help much either.  Yogurt and extra protein seem to help some. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arizonachicken 

Uh, oh, Mikey.  Anyone, please correct me if I am wrong, but here's what I would do.  For the egg-eaters:  Up their protein, a lot.  They MAY be eating their eggs because they need the extra protein.  

 

I had one episode, well actually two, of this.  The first was when my broody ate two of her eggs.  I gave her mealworms one day, canned salmon the next day, and scrambled egg the third.  She never did it again.  

 

Second, my kids fed the hens a raw egg (after I told them NOT to )  It was a good learning experience for them, because the next day there were egg shells in one of the nesting boxes.  It hasn't happened since, but I have kept a really deep layer of pine shavings in the boxes.  What was happening was that the egg would sometime crack as it dropped from the hen (the hen would scratch all the pine shaving out of the way and lay the egg on the exposed wood).  So what I think happened, is that the hen laid her egg, it broke, and there you go.

 

Good luck, get their diets back on track and go from there.  I would definitely offer extra protein and extra calcium.   

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arizonachicken 

Uh, oh, Mikey.  Anyone, please correct me if I am wrong, but here's what I would do.  For the egg-eaters:  Up their protein, a lot.  They MAY be eating their eggs because they need the extra protein.  

 

I had one episode, well actually two, of this.  The first was when my broody ate two of her eggs.  I gave her mealworms one day, canned salmon the next day, and scrambled egg the third.  She never did it again.  

 

Second, my kids fed the hens a raw egg (after I told them NOT to )  It was a good learning experience for them, because the next day there were egg shells in one of the nesting boxes.  It hasn't happened since, but I have kept a really deep layer of pine shavings in the boxes.  What was happening was that the egg would sometime crack as it dropped from the hen (the hen would scratch all the pine shaving out of the way and lay the egg on the exposed wood).  So what I think happened, is that the hen laid her egg, it broke, and there you go.

 

Good luck, get their diets back on track and go from there.  I would definitely offer extra protein and extra calcium.   

thank you AZ chicken.  I will add more protein - they have had oyster shells available all this time so I'll add it to their feed

Quote:

Originally Posted by MagicChicken 

Same thing here - mine seem to be opportunistic egg-eaters.  If they drop them and crack them, they often eat what's left.  When the birds arrived here in October they were full-grown layers, and they were all short on calcium.  Have been having difficulty getting them back to normal-thickness shells.  They don't seem terribly interested in the oyster shell.  Feeding their own thin-shelled eggshells back to them doesn't help much either.  Yogurt and extra protein seem to help some. 

 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arizonachicken 

Uh, oh, Mikey.  Anyone, please correct me if I am wrong, but here's what I would do.  For the egg-eaters:  Up their protein, a lot.  They MAY be eating their eggs because they need the extra protein.  

 

I had one episode, well actually two, of this.  The first was when my broody ate two of her eggs.  I gave her mealworms one day, canned salmon the next day, and scrambled egg the third.  She never did it again.  

 

Second, my kids fed the hens a raw egg (after I told them NOT to )  It was a good learning experience for them, because the next day there were egg shells in one of the nesting boxes.  It hasn't happened since, but I have kept a really deep layer of pine shavings in the boxes.  What was happening was that the egg would sometime crack as it dropped from the hen (the hen would scratch all the pine shaving out of the way and lay the egg on the exposed wood).  So what I think happened, is that the hen laid her egg, it broke, and there you go.

 

Good luck, get their diets back on track and go from there.  I would definitely offer extra protein and extra calcium.   

Will add in yogurt as well.

Well one of my 20 week old EE'er was making quite the racket this morning.  She was running around squaking loudly.  I checked the nest boxes and nothing.  She was checking them out though.  When my daughter came home from school this is what she found.

This is my first ever egg as a chicken owner/farmer.   My daughter calls it the mini egg since it is only about 1 3-4 inches long.  Do they get bigger?  Also, the egg is from an EE'er and it is a taupe color with some brown speckles.  Is that a normal color?  I have 3 other chickens too that are the same age (1 is an EE'er and the other 2 are Brahmas)  Is it ok to feed the other 3 layer food although they aren't laying yet?  The Brahmas are a larger breed and may not lay for another couple months or so.  Thanks in advance for your responses.  You are all great and I appreciate all the info.

Congrats Nova on getting back in the chicken business.  I hope you have much better luck this time around.

Mikey, add Apple Cider Vinegar to their water, also.  It helps them metabolize the calcium.  And yes, I would mix the oyster shell into their feed.  You can also give them some hi-calcium grit from PetSmart or PetCo.

Nova, that looks like a gold laced bearded polish.

What a great surprise when I got home today. Mama Hen Gretchen had just come out to stretch her legs and I went to check on her eggies. This little one just popped out and I ran and grabbed a camera before Mama came running back to sit on her.

Baby EE chick hatched at 4:45 pm May 3rd! I am so EGG-Cited to have seen it happen.

The eggs are due 5/5/12

Not the greatest picture but look at these two eggs! A friend knows this old guy who's chickens free range and pretty much lays where they want to. He gathered this tiny egg up with the other eggs. It is darker than the other egg with tiny speckles you can't see to well in the picture. The egg size of the normal egg is large regular chicken egg. I think his chickens are production reds. So what you all? Is this a chicken egg or did some wild bird lay it? I put it in my bator just in case its fertile from a wild bird. Other wise it won't be because the old guy doesn't have any roos.

 1 hour old   EE/Mottled Cochin

Aren't you glad that I said that they are so much fun.  Just wait til there is more and they are following mama around!!