PUNISHMENT idea for egg eaters

[junebuggena]

Going back to your degree in Education, if you have a child that is struggling to focus in class, what do you do? Do just constantly throw discipline their way? Or do you first try to figure out what is causing the focus issue? All the discipline in the world isn't going to help a child that is constantly underfed to focus. And it certainly isn't going to help the child with ADD/ADHD. The WHY matters.

 

[waddles99]

Okay, well, they are obviously eating eggs for a reason. If you have a chicken who is eating eggs, they are probably hungry. When my chickens were eating their eggs, it was solved simply by putting out more food. Starving your chickens and then forcing them to not eat the only food they have is just cruel. If the egg eating still continues after they get more food, try filling an egg with mustard. They don't like the taste.

 

[vivaciouswoman]

Quote:
Gosh! I hate to sound defensive, but your position kind of forces me to do a little educating. Pecking force is pretty substantial! Woodpeckers are a natural wonder for the fact that their little brains don't suffer damage from the repeated pecking force it experiences. Recent simulations indicate that a woodpecker's head can withstand something on the order of 1500 g's of force. Most humans pass out if their heads are subjected to 10 g's. Okay, so these are chickens, so maybe their pecking force is not as strong. Further, if you trim your girls' beaks (Egads, I hope not!!), then the increased surface area makes the force per area much smaller. But if your girls have nice pointy beaks like mine do, that pecking force is still concentrated on a little area, and it is easily enough to activate a throw bang. Chill. Nobody is feeding anybody a tray of explosives here. It's meant to be an entertaining thought experiment. If you aren't entertained, that's cool. Move along. Be nice.

 

[redsoxs]

Setting chicken psychology aside for moment, perhaps a roll-away nest box would help to curtail the egg eating without necessarily ever knowing why it was happening. Tons of examples and plans on the forums if you do a search. Here's a homemade version
http://www.southernagrarian.com/building-a-roll-away-nest-box/
And here's a manufactured one https://bestnestbox.com/collections...x-reversible?gclid=CMHmlMaOlM4CFcwlgQodgXIG2g
Good luck to you in solving the problem.

 

[vivaciouswoman]

Thanks! Unfortunately, there's no scientific evidence that chickens can taste or have an aversion to mustard. That's why I kept moving. Methyl anthranilate, however, *is* demonstrated to be something they dislike, which is why I've moved to the idea of coating the eggs with this.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

In my experience, as others have already said, egg eating is either from a deficiency or from boredom. Trying to punish them isn't going to work, it will just frighten them enough that all production will probably stop.

If you are feeding layer, try switching to a higher protein feed, especially if you are adding extra stuff. A boost of high protein treats can help get them started in the right direction, things live meal worms, cottage cheese, and canned fish.

Always keep a bowl of oyster shells out for them to regulate their calcium intake.

Keep nestboxes darkened and high enough that passing chickens can't look in and see a delicious treat.

Put fake ceramic eggs in them to make attempts unsuccessful which can break the habit.

Provide them with stuff to do so they aren't bored and looking for trouble. One of the many reasons I free range mine is because of boredom. My free range birds have zero behavioral problems.

To address the psychology part of it you need to understand why the behavior is happening as others have stated, just as a psychologist needs to understand why a human would be doing a behavior. Punishment is never a good answer, just a quick temporary solution.

 

[vivaciouswoman]

Setting chicken psychology aside for moment, perhaps a roll-away nest box would help to curtail the egg eating without necessarily ever knowing why it was happening. Tons of examples and plans on the forums if you do a search. Here's a homemade version
http://www.southernagrarian.com/building-a-roll-away-nest-box/
And here's a manufactured one https://bestnestbox.com/collections...x-reversible?gclid=CMHmlMaOlM4CFcwlgQodgXIG2g
Good luck to you in solving the problem.

I really love that idea! However, we're about to move (see earlier post), so unfortunately we don't have time to build that into their coop at the moment. Also, they've mostly abandoned the nesting boxes for a favored comfy spot in the straw right next to their coop entrance/exit, so it would be hard to get them to roll anywhere there. Instead, we end up with a nice pile of tasty eggs that, if I can't get to them often enough in the day, get attacked. We're pretty sure it started out with a cracked egg that got tasted. They have plenty of food and a variety of scratch grains and tossed-in plants that they enjoy like clover and borage. Oyster shells for calcium--check.

Nonetheless, when we move, we will be on ten times the acreage, and my hubby and I have our eye on this sort of solution. Future plans will probably move in that direction. The new place will provide them with space for REAL free range, and ohhhhhh the grasshoppers they'll find. I just need to get through the next 2 weeks until we can move them out there!

 

[ShrekDawg]

Sorry but I'm going to have to agree. I like the idea of modifying their behavior and all that and actually, I have no doubt it can be done, chickens are smart and there's even programs where people teach chickens to learn more about training dogs or teaching or whatever. If you can train one you can train just about anything. So I buy that. But like others said, you can't just coat it with stuff or punish them and expect it to just stop. And I realize you thought had a fun idea and are probably upset at some of the more personal attacks on your PHD and just in general but I dont think anyone meant it to be mean but it truly is a bad idea explosives near chickens, yes even the snapper things. And that said, no offense, but I think it is kind of irresponsible and maybe even a little bit lazy to just say "oh well we're moving soon and they'll be free range so all problems will be magically fixed and i dont need to do anything." That is NOT TRUE. You still need to resolve the issues. If it were mine I would be doing everything I can to figure out why something is wrong and resolve it. And besides, a few weeks is a long time to a chicken and plenty of time to fix issues. Maybe they need a bigger run or coop, which I realize you maybe dont want to do that and go through the trouble of rebuilding if you're moving, but you can do other simple stuff. Add boredom relievers. Mine are bored atm too and I plan to add more stumps, roosts in the rum, things to climb on and hide under, etc., maybe even a chicken swing, ladder, or some bugs and stuff to eat. It's not too hard to add stuff to make them less bored and it makes a huge difference. I'm making a dust bath too. And I don't know about you but mine can't free range every day so while yes it does help the boredom when the can free range, they can't always free range and are still bored when in the run so I'm actively working to fix it. It takes minutes. As for nutrition, I actually think free ranging could possibly make them MORE nutritionally deficient because they are eating less of the nutritionally balanced feed. What do you feed? It doesn't have to be super expensive all organic non GMO no soy whole grain from a mill whatever stuff. Sure that's nice if you can afford it but I just buy Nutrena and find it much better than Purina, Dumor, etc. I don't buy Country Feeds though I buy the naturewise. Was feeding the normal layer pellets but right now I am feeding Nutrena NatureWise Hearty Hen layer pellets. The reason I now feed Hearty Hen is because it has 18% protein instead of 16% protein which I prefer because the extra protein. If you free range or feed lots of treats like we do it can lower the overall protein level so good to feed a little extra protein. And at our feed store it only costs i think like $15 or $16. Not exactly crazy expensive. But TSC doesn't have it, our local feed store does, its technically an Agway. But you can also mix layer pellets with meat bird feed or just give them treats high in protein, maybe meat or fish scraps. And yes in that aspect with eating bugs and such free range can help but thst may not be the cause of the egg eating. Anyway, all this is simple and easily done whether youre moving or not js

 

[ShrekDawg]

Sorry, last reply i saw was waddles99, number 12 reply, so apologies if anything has been answered or if i came off as rude, which im sure i did, especially since i think maybe you've explained yourself more now, haven't read the other replies yet, but sorry if the way i said it was mean or rude, i normally try not to be but i was a tad concerned. But hopefully the actual content of the messagr, the suggestions of things to do, might help you, even if the way i said it was a little harsh

 

[aart]

I really love that idea! However, we're about to move (see earlier post), so unfortunately we don't have time to build that into their coop at the moment. Also, they've mostly abandoned the nesting boxes for a favored comfy spot in the straw right next to their coop entrance/exit, so it would be hard to get them to roll anywhere there. Instead, we end up with a nice pile of tasty eggs that, if I can't get to them often enough in the day, get attacked. We're pretty sure it started out with a cracked egg that got tasted. They have plenty of food and a variety of scratch grains and tossed-in plants that they enjoy like clover and borage. Oyster shells for calcium--check.

What are the protein and calcium percentage levels on their feed and scratch grains?
All feed in the US should have these on the label sewn into the bottom of the bag.

Fake eggs to encourage them to lay in the nests might help.