Southern NY, Dutchess county and below

[smkchick]

I've gone through this problem with two different hens. The solutions I tried were many and varied. Completely cured the Marans; she was stopped the behaviour and never did it again. The Delaware hen however, refused to quit and I finally gave her away. She was being a terrible bully to the rest of the flock and I was not sorry to see her go.

Some techniques for you to try: drape a black cloth over the front of the nest box so that the hen has to push her way past it to get into the nest. She will then be in complete darkness, and if she can't see the egg, she may just hop on out of there as soon as she's laid the egg.

Make a rollaway floor inside the nest box. Just get a piece of wood, or even a stiff piece of thick cardboard, and cut it to the same size as the floor of the nest box. (Actually, make it a tiny bit smaller in size, so that you'll have no trouble fitting it inside the nest box, right on top of the original floor.) Now put something on the original floor right inside the front of the box, so it lies touching both sides of the nest box. Could be a stick of wood, or a rolled up piece of newspaper, etc. Then lay the new floor inside the nest box, with the front of the new floor resting on top of the stick or newspaper roll. The new floor will be slanted because it's higher in the front of the nest box. Now, when the egg is laid, it will roll to the back of the nest box. If need be, install a barrier near to the back of the nest box, so the hen can't reach all the way to the back of the nest to where the egg has now rolled. (The barrier has to be raised a bit, so that the egg can fit under it to roll down to the back of the box.) I did this, once with a scrap of cloth, and once with a sheet of wood.

There are special rollaway nest pads that you can buy online for about 6 or 7 dollars I think. They're gray plastic and kind of look like artificial grass with the "grass" blades curved to keep the egg rolling downhill. Just do a search on backyardchickens.com for rollaway nest pads.

Try to collect the eggs as soon as possible, so they eggs don't lie around to be played with. Also, put several fake eggs in the nest,(made of plastic, or wood or ceramic, etc.) so when they're pecked at, the hen gets no satisfaction.

I tried filling blown out eggshells with powdered mustard and red hot pepper, but frankly, it was a great waste of time. Hens kept right on eating their eggs.

Isolate the egg eater immediately, because as soon as the other hens see what she's doing, they'll all join in the fun of eating eggs.

Increase their protein, just in case it's a matter of nutritional need. I bought Ultra Kibble for Poultry, and I give it to the whole flock every day as an evening treat.

Examine the shell of the eaten egg. If it appears to be thinner than usual, it may be that the eggs are being broken accidentally, and the hen may simply have eaten it because there it was all smashed open and she pecked at it and liked it. Increase the calcium intake for the egg-eating hen. In addition to the bowl of calcium always available, I sprinkled some on her daily feed. My Delaware hen was definitely having thin-shell problems.

Give them more "stuff" to do. I took some stalks of fresh kale into the ChickArena and poked the stems out through the wire walls. Then I went outside and put clothespins on the stems to hold them in place. Kept the hens busy pecking at the kale for hours.

Hope something works for you.
-Caroly

Carolyn, I haven't had this problem (yet) but I think your suggestions are awesome. I've read about egg eating and the recommendations are what you suggested. But you made them much more interesting.

 

[smkchick]

Had a great time at Lambertville Flea Market today - got some neat stuff. Bobby added 3 walking sticks to his collection. He's a happy boy. Carol, wasn't it you who suggested it?

We had a wonderful dinner in Lawrenceville (KC Prime). We're spending the night at a Spring Hill Suites in Ewing, NJ - very modern but nicely high end.

Tomorrow Bobby wants to go back to the Flea Market because there weren't a lot of dealers there today - bad weather. Then we're going to New Hope PA before we head home.

Yesterday when I went to see my tutoring student, her mom gave me the number of a friend who needs tutor for her son. And she said if I was looking for more students, she wanted to put my name out there. So happy the business seems to be taking off!!

Life is good.

 

[queenchick16]

Had a great time at Lambertville Flea Market today - got some neat stuff.  Bobby added 3 walking sticks to his collection.  He's a happy boy.  Carol, wasn't it you who suggested it?

We had a wonderful dinner in Lawrenceville (KC Prime).  We're spending the night at a Spring Hill Suites in Ewing, NJ - very modern but nicely high end.

Tomorrow Bobby wants to go back to the Flea Market because there weren't a lot of dealers there today - bad weather.  Then we're going to New Hope PA before we head home.

Yesterday when I went to see my tutoring student, her mom gave me the number of a friend who needs  tutor for her son.  And she said if I was looking for more students, she wanted to put my name out there.  So happy the business seems to be taking off!!

Life is good.

You two always have such great weekends . Be safe coming home and enjoy New Hope.

 

[Imprfctme]

Had a great time at Lambertville Flea Market today - got some neat stuff. Bobby added 3 walking sticks to his collection. He's a happy boy. Carol, wasn't it you who suggested it?

We had a wonderful dinner in Lawrenceville (KC Prime). We're spending the night at a Spring Hill Suites in Ewing, NJ - very modern but nicely high end.

Tomorrow Bobby wants to go back to the Flea Market because there weren't a lot of dealers there today - bad weather. Then we're going to New Hope PA before we head home.

Yesterday when I went to see my tutoring student, her mom gave me the number of a friend who needs tutor for her son. And she said if I was looking for more students, she wanted to put my name out there. So happy the business seems to be taking off!!

Life is good.

Awesome! So happy for you Suzanne - you deserve good things.

 

[Imprfctme]

I've gone through this problem with two different hens. The solutions I tried were many and varied. Completely cured the Marans; she was stopped the behaviour and never did it again. The Delaware hen however, refused to quit and I finally gave her away. She was being a terrible bully to the rest of the flock and I was not sorry to see her go.

Some techniques for you to try: drape a black cloth over the front of the nest box so that the hen has to push her way past it to get into the nest. She will then be in complete darkness, and if she can't see the egg, she may just hop on out of there as soon as she's laid the egg.

Make a rollaway floor inside the nest box. Just get a piece of wood, or even a stiff piece of thick cardboard, and cut it to the same size as the floor of the nest box. (Actually, make it a tiny bit smaller in size, so that you'll have no trouble fitting it inside the nest box, right on top of the original floor.) Now put something on the original floor right inside the front of the box, so it lies touching both sides of the nest box. Could be a stick of wood, or a rolled up piece of newspaper, etc. Then lay the new floor inside the nest box, with the front of the new floor resting on top of the stick or newspaper roll. The new floor will be slanted because it's higher in the front of the nest box. Now, when the egg is laid, it will roll to the back of the nest box. If need be, install a barrier near to the back of the nest box, so the hen can't reach all the way to the back of the nest to where the egg has now rolled. (The barrier has to be raised a bit, so that the egg can fit under it to roll down to the back of the box.) I did this, once with a scrap of cloth, and once with a sheet of wood.

There are special rollaway nest pads that you can buy online for about 6 or 7 dollars I think. They're gray plastic and kind of look like artificial grass with the "grass" blades curved to keep the egg rolling downhill. Just do a search on backyardchickens.com for rollaway nest pads.

Try to collect the eggs as soon as possible, so they eggs don't lie around to be played with. Also, put several fake eggs in the nest,(made of plastic, or wood or ceramic, etc.) so when they're pecked at, the hen gets no satisfaction.

I tried filling blown out eggshells with powdered mustard and red hot pepper, but frankly, it was a great waste of time. Hens kept right on eating their eggs.

Isolate the egg eater immediately, because as soon as the other hens see what she's doing, they'll all join in the fun of eating eggs.

Increase their protein, just in case it's a matter of nutritional need. I bought Ultra Kibble for Poultry, and I give it to the whole flock every day as an evening treat.

Examine the shell of the eaten egg. If it appears to be thinner than usual, it may be that the eggs are being broken accidentally, and the hen may simply have eaten it because there it was all smashed open and she pecked at it and liked it. Increase the calcium intake for the egg-eating hen. In addition to the bowl of calcium always available, I sprinkled some on her daily feed. My Delaware hen was definitely having thin-shell problems.

Give them more "stuff" to do. I took some stalks of fresh kale into the ChickArena and poked the stems out through the wire walls. Then I went outside and put clothespins on the stems to hold them in place. Kept the hens busy pecking at the kale for hours.

Hope something works for you.
-Caroly

Thank you for this Carolyn, This is actually better than the article BYC has posted up. I think I will absolutely start with the cloth curtains and adding in some protein, maybe even crack open the cat food tin tomorrow. She doesnt' do it every day which is why I wasn't sure if she was doing it, so I'm hoping it is easy to cure. I do have rocks and golf balls in both the nesting boxes already, maybe that's why she doesn't try it all the time. The one that's eating the eggs is J. Lo, and she lays thin shelled eggs all the time, so I'm guessing this is where the idea happened. This morning she was squishing into the nesting box with Ruth at the same time and I think they probably stepped on the egg - but then J Lo had yolk on her beak. Busted.

Glad to hear the mustard thing was useless, I wasn't really relishing that little crafts project. I think I'll go cut up a towel in the mornign and duct tape it over the entrance to the box first. Hopefully we'll have no more of that nonsense around here!

 

[Imprfctme]

I picked the last of the basil today and made pesto and basil oil for the freezer. Normally this would make me sad but ha ha! Today I got to put it in my New Upright Freezer! So awesome. I am a little hesitant to put all my stocks in there just yet though, am waiting to see what happens in the morning with the pesto. It's supposed to be cold enough already but being empty seems weird.

We are hoping to buy some meat from our favorite organic farmer guy but have no idea how to do this. I don't think he knows either, he's only been at it 10yrs. We really like pork more than beef - should I just order half a pig? By the part? I'm only looking to buy in bulk if I save money, otherwise I'll just buy a small amount. Any suggestions?

 

[stoopid]

There's been alot of talk about this on the "who else is living frugal" or something like that thread.

 

[queenchick16]

Roberta , how's the girl?

 

[queenchick16]

Roberta, have you ever been to the Poultry show in West Springfield Ma?
I figure it's something to look forward to for January and I could get either eggs, chicks , girls or good connections to them .
Wanted to go last year but had signed up for classes at the Vogue show .

 

[magsrags]

love it!