Hello *(I'm frustrated beyond belief)

Bonnie Jo

In the Brooder
Jul 18, 2015
10
0
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Hello, I have seven hens and one rooster and I am about to purchase three more hens for my flock. I have been raising chickens for less than a year and for the most part I have been successful. I LOVE my ladeis and my gentleman. I also have a couple of dogs a herd of 5 goats and a cat.

Now I'll get to the frustrated part of my introduction. I recently went on the first vacation in three years. I found someone responsible (I thought) to watch my property, Two of my most trusted neighbors who are grown adults. I walked them through and showed them exactly how to feed and water my chickens. I called and checked with them to see how everything was going on my small farm.

When I came back my chickens were STARVING!!! Upon further investigation I realized there was food in the water dish that was rotting and no food in their feeder at all. Luckily I have 2 water dishes so they had water otherwise I'm sure they would be dead. I have been back for over a week now and they still have not started producing. My guess is they went without food for a week! GRRRRR!!!!! I'm never leaving again!

Now I think I have a bigger problem because I have a broody hen and the eggs (I marked them when I got back) under her have started disappearing. I don't think I have critters getting in and snatching them considering the hens are fine, but I do think they are getting eaten by the flock. I don't know who the perpetrator is. Is it likely they have all resorted to eating eggs in order to survive??? Are my hens ruined??? I have them on oyster shell, they have plenty of egg layer food and I'm adding cat food to up their protein and a few table scraps here and there...

What should I do next? Should I continue to wait to see if they return to normal? How should I deal with the broody hen and her eggs? Do I leave them and watch them continue to disappear? I've read up on the golf ball trick and filling the egg with mustard or dish soap or food coloring etc. Do any of you have any suggestions? Have you ever faced this in your flock? I am currently working on getting a second coop, but for now I only have one.

Please, HELP me.

Bonnie Jo
 
Hi there, I can only imagine have mad you must have been
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You could try some of the tips on this thread perhaps ...https://www.backyardchickens.com/newsearch?search=egg+eating+chickens

Best of luck.
 
Could it be the broody hen who is eating the eggs she is sitting on? The last one I found half eaten had a baby chick partially formed in it.
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Oh gee how disturbing. I would think they learned to eat their own eggs out of starvation. Or their eggs might have been soft from lack of nutrition, so easy to break into and gobble up. If you have a rooster, and your hen has fertile eggs. I would suggest you take them away and hatch in an incubator. It may take quite awhile for your girls to recover and realize they have good feed now and don't have to resort to egg /chick eating.

What a horrible, horrible episode they went through. It is beyond me how stupid, lazy and inconsiderate their "caretaker" was. Even if you don't know about chickens, animals need clean, fresh water and fresh food daily. I could see if they wouldn't bother cleaning up after them - but food and water basics anyone could handle.

after re-reading your post, I am really shaking my head, I can't believe adults did this, I was certain it would be some young person.
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! Sorry about your poor flock. There is a nice article in the Learning Center on dealing with egg eaters, you might want to go right to trying the curtains and even pinless peepers if it looks like you have an ongoing problem now. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/six-tips-on-breaking-your-egg-eater
Bad broodys will eat their own eggs and they will eat the hatching chicks etc since they don't know quite what is going on and think they are getting rid of something "strange" in their nest. If you can, you might want to try and cage off the nest so the other hens do not have access to the broody and her eggs (that way you at least know who is destroying them).
 
Yeah, I've been shaking my head too. All I can do now is never have them watch my chickens again and pray my ladies return to normal.
 
I went out to the coop this morning and found another egg had been eaten (luckily there was no chick in that one). There was another egg that look like it had been destroyed, but there was a chick in it. I think I am close to hatching day so the chick could be hatching. I am unsure. While I was watching, the momma chicken started eating the possibly hatching chick. I didn't know what to do so I snatched the half hatched egg and the rest in the nest and stuck them under the heat lamp. I candled the other eggs and it looks like out of the 4 left 3 may be viable.

I am clueless here since I wasn't planning on hatching a clutch I am totally unprepared, that is if by some miracle they survive. Any advice? At this point in hatching I don't have to turn them right? I just leave them alone and let them get positioned for the hatch. The chick in the half hatched egg is still moving a bit so I have some hope.
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