Maine

[chickinpecker]

Hmmm I'll have to try and figure it out. Im gunna go out and try to find some false eggs. I will separate her tonight and see if I can modify her behavior. She is one of my smarter hens and has always followed me around the yard while I work. Ill figure somethin' out!
And no...no one has ever even hinted that I can't be a "manly" chicken keeper. Just having some fun...thanks for your advice everyone!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Hmmm I'll have to try and figure it out. Im gunna go out and try to find some false eggs. I will separate her tonight and see if I can modify her behavior. She is one of my smarter hens and has always followed me around the yard while I work. Ill figure somethin' out!
And no...no one has ever even hinted that I can't be a "manly" chicken keeper. Just having some fun...thanks for your advice everyone!

You could also get her something to do - like a flock block or something in a suet container to peck at. May be she's just bored. Also increase the protein in their food. I keep at 18% through winter.

 

[hoppy]

It always makes me wonder why putting tabasco in eggs would keep a bird from eating it when parrots eat hot peppers all the time. they can't taste hot. you could however fill one with yellow mustard and the one with the yellow face is your egg eater.
when parrots eat fresh eggs, I cook up a few (scrambled) and the egg eating stops. maybe they are needing extra protein? never give them fresh eggs, as that just encourages them to get their own.

 

[Chambertin]

Sorry for all the losses and bad news.
Maybe its just that time of year because things have been less than steller on the other side of the ocean too. Luckily its just problems with me and my chickens are fine.
I always feel sad even when the chicken dies for my table. However the table chickens at least serve a purpose, losing one to disease (even that angry hen who always hoggs the nest box) is never fun and just feels so pointless.

I recieved a couple more qualification letters in Wyoming and Nevada, but I guess you were all right about jobs being tight in Maine. Not a word.
Also thinking about the posibility of going back to school for CNC. I did it back in high school and with about 1 semester of training I'd be qualified for a job. I'm just not too excited about being "shop *****" when I'm in my 30's.
Oh well, its a guarentee at a job. I still havent gotton a job offer, just notice of making it to the final round for all the others.

Good luck with ticks, mites, lice and the like. That's probably the one really nice thing about haing the coop 19 floors up.

About spicy things to deter birds, I always heard that the birds dont even have the taste receptors for capsacian so they never notice spicy foods. So its a good way to keep other stuff out of their feed with cayanne pepper.

 

[annabananaandfamily]

Clearly I spend entirely too much time on BYC. I had a dream last night that every egg in the incubator hatched...BUT THEY WERE ALL NAKED NECKS!!! ACK!! It was terrifying. But I remember thinking very clearly in my dream that it would be ok, I would just give them all to SCG!

Anyway, as much as I love winter, I am really REALLY looking forward to swap season and the hopes that I will find the birds I am searching for at a swap somewhere.

 

[VioletBlueIvy]

Quick question and a comment...not necessarily in that order. First off, I am a male and will stand up and say I my chickens are pets as well. Although I may not cry at their death, I do feel horrible and do get very sad. I also spoil my birds rotten and the thought of butchering them turns my stomach. Doubtful I will ever get to that point. It should be noted that I am an AVID hunter, and a definate man's man. Though no one has said it, chicken keeping and caring can be a man's task too!!
Now, my question. I believe I have at least one egg eating hen in my flock. I think I have narrowed it down to which one or two. Anyone have any suggestions??

They make special nest boxes that lock up the egg. Trap nests or something like that. There is a way to make them yourself too.
I have heard it can be caused by feeding too low protien.
There could be a hen laying thin shelled eggs that break easily, they will clean up any broken eggs and any messy adjacent ones too in their zeal. Any conflict over nest boxes can do it too, if you have hens climbing over each other in the nests or fighting over the boxes eggs get broken. So it may not be one hens deliberate effort. I suppose you have probably already covered these options if you have it down to two possible culprets, but I just thought I would throw it out there. I had it happening and did quite a bit of research. I had the too many hens using one nest problem. I had 6 boxes, and they all used one nest. Rearranging the nests so there were more 'preffered' spots fixed my problem. Now I watch to see which nest they preffer and try to duplicate that one. They are picky little buggers!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Clearly I spend entirely too much time on BYC. I had a dream last night that every egg in the incubator hatched...BUT THEY WERE ALL NAKED NECKS!!! ACK!! It was terrifying. But I remember thinking very clearly in my dream that it would be ok, I would just give them all to SCG!

Anyway, as much as I love winter, I am really REALLY looking forward to swap season and the hopes that I will find the birds I am searching for at a swap somewhere.

That would be sooo, soooo sad.

I hope it happens. I would give them a good home, and make that sacrifice for you.

They make special nest boxes that lock up the egg. Trap nests or something like that. There is a way to make them yourself too.
I have heard it can be caused by feeding too low protien.
There could be a hen laying thin shelled eggs that break easily, they will clean up any broken eggs and any messy adjacent ones too in their zeal. Any conflict over nest boxes can do it too, if you have hens climbing over each other in the nests or fighting over the boxes eggs get broken. So it may not be one hens deliberate effort. I suppose you have probably already covered these options if you have it down to two possible culprets, but I just thought I would throw it out there. I had it happening and did quite a bit of research. I had the too many hens using one nest problem. I had 6 boxes, and they all used one nest. Rearranging the nests so there were more 'preffered' spots fixed my problem. Now I watch to see which nest they preffer and try to duplicate that one. They are picky little buggers!

Yes, great idea. I made some "curtains" for the nextboxes to make it darker in there and less easy to spot and eat an egg. I put one on only half of the boxes. Some hens prefer the dark boxes, some prefer the lighter ones, but doing all of them might be an option for an egg eating flock.

 

[buckabucka]

Crossing my fingers that we don't lose power during this storm! My eggs are on day 13. We do have a generator, but not enough propane to run it all night. I figure my other option is to drive the eggs to school and plug in the incubator there. Waterville doesn't lose power as frequently.

I hope I don't have any of those scary naked-neck dreams!

 

[ashandvine]

I must be crazy because I am learning that there ARE a couple kinds of NN that I don't think are so bad.... and it helps that they creep the crap out of SO LOL! I just love it. FTR the blue laced ones with the black skin are pretty. Anything else... well, it depends.

Got the bator going. I could use some tips for how to get up and keep up the humidity during the last week.

 

[kinsey228]

Crossing my fingers that we don't lose power during this storm! My eggs are on day 13. We do have a generator, but not enough propane to run it all night. I figure my other option is to drive the eggs to school and plug in the incubator there. Waterville doesn't lose power as frequently.

I hope I don't have any of those scary naked-neck dreams!

My eggs are on like day 15 so I hope we don't loose power either. We don't have a generator, but we do have a wood stove to keep them warm. Out here in the sticks, we loose power every now and then.