Hen eating eggs

[Manningjw]

Quote:
Maybe some straight Sriracha "cock" sauce? That stuff is just plain crazy hot, I cannot imagine any animal eating it straight.

 

[OvertheHenHouse]

Quote:
Maybe some straight Sriracha "cock" sauce? That stuff is just plain crazy hot, I cannot imagine any animal eating it straight.

Yep - that's the stuff I have. X2 - can't even imagine them eating it diluted!

 

[5Leepy!]

Stop trying with the pepper and hot sauce. My understanding is that chickens don't have the receptors on their tongue to taste the capsaicin which is the hotness. It might just mess up their stomach and esophagus.

Wish I had a solutions for you, though.
5Leepy!

 

[jeslewmazer]

You could try hanging a cabbage so the girls will have something to peck at.

 

[brokk]

So reading some more, I found that nutritional deficiencies might be my issue. After all, all the hen shells are pretty thin. Giving up on the hot sauce, I decided if she wanted egg shell, then egg shells she would get. So I crushed up every shell of every egg I used. Saved them all for her. Put them in a bowl in her crate.

I let her roost with the rest, but every morning I catch her before opening the coop and put her in the kennel. So far, these last two days she has laid an egg in her kennel and not pecked at it in the least. She is getting all the egg shell she wants in a bowl. I'm hoping this will solve the problem, but after reading the other poster who also separated the troubled hen, got good behavior, then when released the hen went back to egg eating... I'm still worried.

What is the typical lock down for these gals? A few days? A week? Two weeks?

To answer an earlier question: Yes, four nests. Yes, the pellets should have complete nutrition, but since they just started them in the last week, I figured it might take a bit to work into the system.

I had heard just the opposite. As a matter of fact I was shopping for new feed at the 18 week mark and was told just to keep feeding them grower until they are laying consistently. It won't hurt anything. Now I'm not so sure. At least start mixing the two together at 18 weeks.

Brokk...

 

[GhostRider65]

Well I did some more research on egg eaters today, found out that many things can cause it, an accidental broken egg, nest to low to the ground, noisy new pullets disturbing the hen laying. nutritional deficiencies in Vitamin A and D....... suggested feeding them whole vit. D milk for a few days, adding Vit. A to diet, crushing egg shells and baking, for them for extra calcium, make a roll out nest box so they can't get to the eggs....... this is the idea I'm going with.
I can't make myself butcher these 16 extra roosters, how in the world am I gonna make myself kill one of my favorite hens........I just can't do it, I also added the fresh milk and vitamin A today, and will continue this for 1 week, in the mean time I'm gonna build this cool nest box OPA posted on here. so will keep everyone posted. Hugz Kim

 

[brokk]

My wife felt bad for our locked up egg eater and let her out with the others yesterday. So far, 2 days with no egg eating. We are still crushing egg shells and putting them in with the oyster shells. They seem to really enjoy the egg shells much better, as they were hardly touching the oyster shells, unless it was in with their food.

Brokk...

 

[OvertheHenHouse]

Sounds promising - good luck!