Help to cull or not to cull?

[Ericasl]

I need help!!I have a broody silkie two years old that has started eating the eggs she is sitting on I have caught her red handed, she has food right by her 16% laying crumbles and water. She has eaten Two eggs in the last two days she does not eat the shells just the insides, also she has not stopped laying she still lays an egg each day.

I really do not want an egg eater in my flock so should I cull her? It is really hard when it comes down to it. I hate to do it I feel bad, but I know I need to be a tough farm girl. So anyone with advice please let me know. I also thought maybe she broke an eggby mistake the first time because she was still laying and had so many, so I took most of the eggs away and left her 4 eggs so she had more space under her and she still broke one and ate it.

What a hard thing!

Also she is by her self so I know it is her.

 

[speckledhen]

Erica, if she's still laying, she's not full-on broody right now, maybe just working up to it if she's grumpy. An egg eater cant be fixed unless you have a rollaway nest where the egg rolls into chute and she cant get to it. I think you probably need to get rid of her, IMO. Yes, mine will eat an egg if it is cracked on the ground, but they never break open eggs and eat them. If she's breaking them to eat, I dont believe she will ever change.

 

[lovethechickens]

An egg eater in my opinion can DEFINATELY be fixed. Make like you are having easter eggs. Only instead of filling the eggs with confetti, fill it with mustard. I have used this method, and it works. Try it. If that doesnt work, some cayenne pepper in the mustard will do the trick as well. No need to cull.

 

[lovethechickens]

Oh yeah, Also, if you decide you want to cull her, just send her to me, I ll pay for shipping.

 

[speckledhen]

I hope those things work for you, Erica, if you decide to try them. I'd love to be proven wrong on this one! My girls dont seem to have much of a sense of taste and will eat hot peppers with no problem so I dont think mustard would phase my own girls.

 

[jjthink]

Just curious about this little eggeater....
Could she be bored? Or does she have lots of other stuff to do, to explore, to eat?
If it comes to it, maybe someone who doesn't care about the eggs could give her a good home......

JJ

Edited to add that lovethechickens posted while I was typing, already offering a home!

 

[dacjohns]

Quote:
Cayenne pepper? The same stuff you put in bird seed to keep squirrels from eating it?

 

[lovethechickens]

Try this.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=66505

 

[Ericasl]

This little hen of mine I THOUGH she was broody!! She sat for 3 days never got off the nest she was sitting on NOTHING. So on the 4th day I went and bought some fertile eggs! Put the eggs under her on June 19th. Well on June 26th I found the 1st broken egg!! She has her nest in a very hard place to see she is all alone, well I made her get up, I marked all the eggs I put under her she had layed 5 eggs herself. How can she not be broody she will not get up for nothing and bites me when I get her up. I think she is sick of being broody and eating eggs. I am so confused. She sat for6 days before she started eating eggs. WHY WHY she has food right by her?

PS lovemychickens is Antioch close to elverta CA???

 

[rooster-red]

Cayenne pepper won't work because chickens do not have the taste buds to sense the hot & spicey things.

Test it for yourself, cook some rice and put alot of cayenne pepper in it, they will eat it all.