feeding hens broken eggs

[galanie]

I think sometimes we think up things that make sense to us, logically, but no one told the chickens. Here are two things that are logical and so must be true, but aren't:

1. Fluffy birds will suffer more in the heat and should never be allowed to get wet when it's cold.
2. Feeding eggs to chickens will make them eat the eggs in the nest.

The above just simply are not true. I have big fluffies and little non-fluffies and no one gave them the memo about the weather as the fluffies dont' suffer any worse in the heat and love getting wet in a winter rain. I toss broken or badly soiled eggs to my chickens a lot and never had an egg eater. They will not eat any that I haven't already cracked or broken for them.

 

[NovaAman]

I feed the egg shells back to them. I don't rinse them, I don't even crush them up for that matter. I just stuff them one inside the other and then toss out the back door. They seem to prefer to eat egg shell over oyster shell anyway. I don't use layer feed... To many chicks running around the yard... ALL THE TIME!

If an egg is cracked, but not weeping, I don't toss it. I only toss them if the membrane is broke. My girls swoop in like its a free for all, but they've never attacked the eggs in the nest boxes, or any that have been layed on the coop floor because the favored nest box is full... I have 7 nest boxes, but only 3 ever get used, and thats with 13 hens...