I know this sounds weird, but it works beautifully - boil the water first and then put the eggs in (lower them in gently with a ladle or slotted spoon.) Boil chicken eggs for roughly 14 minutes and then drain and add cold water (you can use ice but cold tap water works fine for me). Keep draining and adding cold water until the eggs are cool. No need to add salt or anything to the water and the shells come right off. Learned it on another thread posted here somewhere and you can take an egg right out of the nest, boil it, and peel it using this method.
To feed them to the chickens though, don't bother peeling. Just crush everything up and let them have at it. Feathers are all protein and when chicks are young or moulting, feathers are a delicacy. If they are plucking from the others and eating, I agree it is a deficiency. Dry cat/kitten food is high in protein and they love it.
