What do you do with hens that lay bad eggs or no eggs at all?

[Nicole01]

Do you keep them, cull them or re-home them?

My wyandotte is well over a year old and not a single egg, nor is she broody. She does the egg scratching and squatting, but nothing comes out. If we can't cull her this weekend, we will have to re-home her. She's got attitude and feather picks all the hens below her. I highly doubt I'll ever get another wyandotte. My neighbor has younger ones then I and the eggs are on the smaller side. We like Jumbo of Large eggs.

Here she is on the nest.

Outside. She's a nice looking hen too, but I'm not keeping her either way.

Here's my other layer that lays bad eggs. There are calcium deposits inside the egg whites. I feed her eggs hard boiled back to the flock, plus she's sweet and low on the pecking order. Once in a great while I'll get a good egg from her, not often.

Inside egg white. The egg cracked during cooking. I do not feed her oyster shell, so her eggs are on the weak side.

Calcium deposit ball. Usually there are 3-4 big balls like this. If you eat it, it's like eating egg shell. Bleh!

Here's my dud layer, the EE in the middle. At least her eggs are useful!

I find it bad luck/odd getting two bad layers out of 8 hens. The rest are great layers! I bought a few more hens to replace these two for better egg production.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

They'll all make great chicken & rice. Or bed them down with some dumplings.

 

[teach1rusl]

Well, mine are pets, so they're here whether they lay or not...lol. I did find ironic though that my GLW is also a meanie! But at least she lays fairly well.
If you rehome her, I'd just be upfront about her egg habits. Someone may want just a pretty pet. Would it be worth the time and effort to process her??? For just one bird, I don't think it would be for me...

 

[Nicole01]

Sure, processing is no big deal for one hen. There are only 3 of us home to eat her. We'd process her in the morning, clean her and cook her that evening. I've always wanted to try a free range chicken. If they are excellent, we will raise a few broilers in the future. We will see if we can actually do it. I just don't know if someone would keep a non laying hen that isn't nice to other flockmates. She would be posted on Craigslist for free, I bet someone else would eat her too.

 

[teach1rusl]

Sure, processing is no big deal for one hen. . She would be posted on Craigslist for free, I bet someone else would eat her too.

Most likely. Honestly, I know this is the wrong attitude, but it's just not worth all the hassle of one stew bird for me - I'd rather spend $5.00 at Kroger. So for me, even if I knew she'd be eaten by someone else, it'd be worth just GIVING her away to someone.
I actually did consider rehoming my bully GLW hen because she was so nasty at times toward flockmates (all except my lead hen). But she's really mellowed with age (she's three now), and she's pretty, so in the end I'm glad I kept her.

 

[iheartchkns]

Yeah, I have a brown leghorn that rarely lays. She's always been a very light egg layer, but she hasn't laid an egg in a while now and she's only two years old. She also isn't popular with the roosters. She's pretty, though. I just keep her as a pet. The other hens make up for the eggs she doesn't lay anyway. They are all free range, so she isn't costing me much of anything in feed.

 

[NovaAman]

Maybe you need to no feed that calcium back to that particular hen... See if maybe the deposits lessen. AND at least you can pick the calcium deposits out of the egg before cooking until the issue resolves itself.

Now... About the GLW... Are you sure she isn't laying? Has she NEVER EVER laid? I wonder if she'd make a good broody even though she doesn't produce. I'd not process her and eat her right away. I trust my butcher on this one. She tells me that with DP/PRO birds, its best to let them sit a few days in the fridge first, let the enzymes in the muscles break down first. I didn't listen the first time, and boy... it was very gamey tasting. A 5 month old cockerel tasted like I had him for years! SO, if you process her, let her sit a few days then slow cook her for 4 hours or so. Or give her away for free to some one who wants lawn ornaments. There are people here bouts that like pet chickens and don't mind much not getting the eggs. I have a hen right now who does what yours is doing, only I am sure she is getting out of the nest box and then laying it else where because she totally disappears for a while then shows back up. LOL. Now if only I could find that nest... Only... I know the raccoons and opossums are having feasts on them.

 

[Mrsfoote]

I have a Colombian Wyandotte who is a hatchery bird she is going to be 2. NEVER laid an egg in her life. BUT she sits on the nest box, sings the egg song and the roosters mount her and we just play along and pretend that she is as wonderful as the other layers. If you bought your birds for the purpose of not having to buy eggs...then maybe the best thing to do is either cull or rehome. Sometimes introducing them into a flock with more dominant hens will calm her down if you rehome her, its a tough decision, but if she has bad habits maybe culling is the way to go.

Mine are pets, who just so happen to give me eggs. As for as wyandottes go, don't let one bad egg have you think poorly of the breed. They wonderful mothers,with great personality BUT like you said, I have a few hatchery girls who lay a bigger egg than my breeder birds do, but even at that the wyandotte eggs aren't very impressive in size and I have 4 Large frame and one bantam mix.

If you want some large or Jumbo eggs...I'd go with a barred rock. Mine isn't as flightly as the leghorns and california greys and such but she lays L-Jumbo egg EVERDAY consistently and was an early layer. 17 wks or so. I'm really happy with her. My next biggest layer is my Giant cochin but she isn't a frequent layer, and My wellsummer I love she lays a huge egg every other day.

 

[Pele]

In my experience, hatchery Wyandottes are just not very awesome . We gave ours away on Craigslist, but we had no reason to believe that she was a poor layer (she was just a miserable nasty cuss).

If you do put her up for sale, be straight with the buyer that her eggs suck. Otherwise you might end up with a nastygram from them if they're thinking they are buying a layer. My vote would be to stew her as well, no reason to put up with a freeloading featherpicker. Your other ladies might even step up production to thank you!

 

[Nicole01]

Thank you for the fridge tip! I'll let hubby know.

I'd never sell a hen that is a no/bad/poor layer. They'd always be given away for free. We are keeping the EE that lays the bad eggs, she never gets extra calcium. That's why her eggs crack when boiling them, they are weak. At least her eggs can be used as protein for the hens or our dogs. They don't mind the egg shell inside the cooked egg. She lays daily too and is a sweet girl to rehome.

I did buy 3 more hens this spring to replace the two I'm missing out on for us. I'm hatching a barred rock/EE under my broody now to replace the green egg. Actually I have 3 green eggs under her, but I think only one or two will make it. I hope they all make it actually. I have 7 total eggs and the rest are going back to the neighbor. Unfortunately, she gave me an egg that was 6-7 days ahead of the rest, so I made a homemade incubator to hatch the rest.

I don't want the wyandotte, she's too mean to the others to keep. I have no idea how hard it is to pluck the feathers. Hubby and I will work on this project together if we can go through it.lol. I don't need another broody though, my Cochin was very easy and quick to go into the broody mode. I kept eggs in the nest, two days later she was sitting. It was a miracle because my neighbor and I were going to buy an incubator and split the cost. I hope the EE I hatch is female and gives me green eggs to replace my other EE. The green eggs are very popular amongst everyone.