Should I buy eggs or wait it out?

[katatonic123]

Glad they are safe @lynnc1120! Scary thing with you right there.

 

[lazy gardener]

Oh yes, he will be back. I had one tear 2 of my girls to shreds.

 

[lynnc1120]

I am so sorry lazy gardner, losing one of our babies is so hard. I lost two ladies to a raccoon this past summer. Heartbreaking.

 

[georgiayankee]

Chickens are in a perpetual state of searching, scratching, looking, tasting, catching, anticipating, fighting over, expecting, hoping, waiting for FOOD.  Pretty much anything they can get down their gullets is fair game, if they're hungry enough.  They are not, however, genetically programmed to eat an egg.  Were that the case, they would eat themselves right out of existence!  The egg eating chickens we hear about are almost always a result of nutritional deficiency (more protein, please!) or weak shells (can't let a broken egg go to waste!).  A true egg eater is quite rare, but once they see eggs as a source of food, it's difficult to get them to stop.  Your EE is naturally curious (Got something for me to eat, ma?), maybe had never really seen an egg, and was just checking it out.  You know, just in case...   



A good broody hen will eject certain eggs from the nest.  I have seen one give the eggs a little tap with her beak while turning her eggs. I think they can detect bad eggs that are porous, thin shelled, or have hairline cracks or weak spots.  On a nice, thick shelled egg, that little tap could not cause any damage at all.  Maybe your EE was doing a quality control check!

My bantam is broody now!! I noticed her pecking a few eggs and then rolling them like she was counting them. When I took a few from the lower nest she pecked those like "hey thats mine!"

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Quote:
Hi there, Georgia!

(That's not your name, but we all do nicknames here.

)

Congratulations on getting a broody! I guess, if that's what you want! The upside is you can have her hatch some fertile eggs and raise the chicks- no incubator or brooder required. The downside is, after she lays her clutch, you will get no eggs from her while she's broody (and beyond), she will be cranky and peck you and anyone else too, and she will hog the nest box! They will sometimes roll eggs up under their wings, too, so be careful if you need to move her.
What breed do you have? Do you have plans for hatching? I have 4 broody (and ornery) Serama and a broody bantam Cochin, who is sweet all the time. The one rooster I have does not seem to be fertilizing eggs, so no hatching for me. I'm good with that, because getting rid of the extra cockerels was really hard.

But the chicks were soooooo cute!

 

[cheeka]

hey everyone, yes, I'm fine... we had snow and ice yesterday... it will take a few days to melt, as we're due to go back into the 40's for the rest of the week... work has been rough with the knee, so I've called to have a note putting me out until my surgery. hopefully I can pick it up today.
flock is great, if bored due to lack of free range, puppies haven't been introduced to them yet... they are too rambunctious still, but really good. (well... Peri chews everything she can get her teeth on, including my blue tooth ear bud, which is somewhere in the vicinity because it's still connected to the phone. I would think her stomach acid would cause it to stop working should she have swallowed it... fingers crossed!

naughtiest cutie ever...

 

[BullChick]

Pugs are interesting little critters.

 

[cheeka]

she hasn't even met the chickens yet and somehow she has learned to give Big Stink Eye.

Happy New Year!!

 

[BullChick]

Happy new year

 

[Debby27]