My hen is an idiot...

[TinkleTurkey]

My narragansett hen lays her eggs in a scratched-out hole in the corner of the roost house. She steps on 1/2 of her eggs and leave a huge turkey talon hole in it. Half of them! Good for the dogs who get an extra treat with dinner, but bad for me who is trying to hatch them!

I let her out of the pen once to lay her egg and she jumped into the hay bale, made herself a little hay-cup nest, laid an egg and STEPPED ON IT. again.

any suggestions to help her out, maybe she needs a better place to make her nest? A special kind of nest box? Are her eggs too thin? I don't think so because i have the darnest time breaking them open when I scramble it for the dogs. But maybe its not as strong as it could be?

 

[MissTurkey4]

Are your hens eating a turkey breeder feed? My hens lay in a mixture of straw and shavings. It is thick enough for a good cushion to avoid the eggs breaking. A few of mine use the next boxes for the chickens. They are just large cat/dog crates with a thick layer of clean shavings. I have to add a handfull of shavings everyday to make up for the shavings thats get knocked out.

 

[ChicksOMy123]

I have had this Happen a lot... I found if you place a wood egg the size of her eggs or even a few golf balls it helps.

 

[medan]

if you can clip her nails maybe use an emmory board to dull them

 

[Dogfish]

Sounds like an issue with calcium. Not getting enough. Out of 100+ eggs laid this year, I have yet to see one that got a hole in it.

 

[MissTurkey4]

Quote:
Thats why I was asking if the turkey was on Turkey breeder. Turkey Breeder has 4 times the calcium in it compared to chicken lay mash.

 

[Dogfish]

Quote:
Thats why I was asking if the turkey was on Turkey breeder. Turkey Breeder has 4 times the calcium in it compared to chicken lay mash.

Exactly. Supplemental oystershell would also be a good thing to have.

 

[TinkleTurkey]

Yikes - that's probably my issue then. I dont have her on any special diet at all, she lives in a cage with a bunch of yearling peacocks and guineas, I feed them a mix of game bird food and lay pellet. I could throw some oystershell in there.

 

[MissTurkey4]

If your feed store sells Ace Hi, they make a good turkey breeder feed. I still give oysters shells free choice.

 

[cowdogcadillac]

Ya can't fix Stupid!