Layer questions.

[AwlOrganikLizz]

Hello again! Thank you all for answering my silly questions.. but I have a few more.

1. One (white leghorn) has been laying every day around 10:45am. She lays in the feeder... I asked advise on this earlier and I got an answer to put the fake ceramic eggs in the boxes. I did! Gave it two days, but shes still squeezing herself inside the feeder and plopping it out in there.

Funny though, when I put the fake eggs in the nest one of my RIR hopped up there and plopped out her first egg! So exciting! But she hasn't laid one since? She even sat there for hours this morning and when I saw her out and about I went to check and no egg! So it's been two days since she's laid her first egg?

2. My naughty chickunns keep scratching the straw out of the nest boxes and throwing it on the floor

The boxes do have a lip on the bottom to (well... I THOUGHT it would) prevent that. What can I do? Every time I go inside the coop my boxes have very little straw in them and there's a lot on the floor! Gah!

 

[BayBay Peepers]

As for the RIR I wouldn't worry that she hasn't layed again yet. It will take a bit for her system to work itself out.

Next the straw: You can try to increase the ledge so less comes out, but in my experience it's just normal for chickens to scratch it around. Whether its for making the nest more "comfortable" for themselves or just out of curiosity.

Last, but not least, keep working on the white leghorn. Two days isn't very long to fix a habit. Just keep putting the fake eggs in there and hopefully she'll catch on. My leghorns were also the least likely to lay in a box, but it happened. Once in a while I have one that will lay in an odd spot, but 9 times out of 10 she's trying.

 

[AwlOrganikLizz]

Thank you! I have another, I can't remember where I read it but said that you can't eat an egg that's soiled. Well when I first discovered the eggs (3) from my leghorn she had buried them in the coop. So it's pretty safe to assume they touched some poop. I kept them in hopes they were okay to eat, seeing how there's ya know, a shell around the egg. Is this true? Can't eat dirty eggs?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Thank you! I have another, I can't remember where I read it but said that you can't eat an egg that's soiled. Well when I first discovered the eggs (3) from my leghorn she had buried them in the coop. So it's pretty safe to assume they touched some poop. I kept them in hopes they were okay to eat, seeing how there's ya know, a shell around the egg. Is this true? Can't eat dirty eggs?

You can eat a "soiled" egg - the egg itself is covered in a protective "bacterial bloom" that keeps undesirable stuff from penetrating the shell and contaminating the contents (designed to protect a developing chick, but also protects eggs for human consumption). The egg can be cleaned by wiping it clean, washing it clean (you'll have to decide for yourself if you are a washer or non-washer with your eggs - there are several threads on the subject available to reach here on BYC), buffing the waste off with sandpaper or if the dirty spots are not all over the egg you can crack the egg from a clean side and avoid the dirty bits touching the egg as it leaves the shell.

I'll scrape/flick minor bits with my finger nail or use a dry cloth, for stuff that doesn't pop off easily I'll use a damp cloth (for eggs I'm selling) or just store them and wash them clean just before use for our personal eating eggs.

 

[BayBay Peepers]

I agree. Especially if pick them up daily. I use a damp cloth as well. If one is heavily soiled I really clean it off and make sure to use it first. There's going to be instances where a little something gets on the egg regardless of where they lay. Sometimes it's on their feet and they drag it all around it just happens. If your not comfortable with it and you have a dog you could feed the eggs to the dog or just feed it back to the chickens

 

[AwlOrganikLizz]

Yay! Omelet time. Thank you, you two!

 

[BayBay Peepers]

No problem enjoy those eggs!