Hens go broody when you don’t want them to… and won’t go broody when you do. 
The culprits are two white leghorns. They literally stand right at the nest boxes and wait for hens to come out then run in and eat the eggs. We have cameras on the nest boxes but they're eating the eggs before I can even get out there (I have to go through a locked door, a locked gate, and the locked coop door).
There are wooden eggs in each nest box. The hens free-feed oyster shell and 18% protein layer pellets by Scratch & Peck. We put 20% protein starter mash in two treat dispenser toys once a week and also use that occasionally as scratch.
We're in the desert so there's little to nothing for them to forage. They get grubs once a week. We toss in a handful of frozen peas, frozen berries, etc. a few times a week. As every day greens, they get a little wheat grass, oat grass, spinach or broccoli. Dandelions grow wild on our property and we feed them those when in season.
They have ~18 sq ft per hen and the runs are cluttered with boxes, boards, tunnels, toys, bricks, palm fronds, branches, roosts, line-of-sight breaks, swings, etc.
My roommate who can build anything is keen on building some rollout nest boxes but she's busy right how adding an extension to the run.
These two leghorns have been a royal PITA (never getting leghorns again!) but they're also my best layers. We tried filling egg shells with mustard and that didn't deter them. In another thread someone suggested dish detergent but wouldn't that make them sick? I want them to lose interest in the eggs but I don't want to make them ill.
Is there something else we can fill egg shells with?
There are wooden eggs in each nest box. The hens free-feed oyster shell and 18% protein layer pellets by Scratch & Peck. We put 20% protein starter mash in two treat dispenser toys once a week and also use that occasionally as scratch.
We're in the desert so there's little to nothing for them to forage. They get grubs once a week. We toss in a handful of frozen peas, frozen berries, etc. a few times a week. As every day greens, they get a little wheat grass, oat grass, spinach or broccoli. Dandelions grow wild on our property and we feed them those when in season.
They have ~18 sq ft per hen and the runs are cluttered with boxes, boards, tunnels, toys, bricks, palm fronds, branches, roosts, line-of-sight breaks, swings, etc.
My roommate who can build anything is keen on building some rollout nest boxes but she's busy right how adding an extension to the run.
These two leghorns have been a royal PITA (never getting leghorns again!) but they're also my best layers. We tried filling egg shells with mustard and that didn't deter them. In another thread someone suggested dish detergent but wouldn't that make them sick? I want them to lose interest in the eggs but I don't want to make them ill.
Is there something else we can fill egg shells with?
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