What is the strangest thing your chickens ate? Mine just ate crawfish Monica and aligator tail

[chickenlover432]

When my girl layed her egg and It was soft-shelled, I decided to throw it on the ground. As soon as the girls hear the SPLOTCH they came running. I didn't think they would want to eat raw egg, but they did. My Penny grabbed it and ran off, with Henny and Doris chasing her. Somehow, I just don't like the thought of chickens eating what fellow hens have laid. Guess it reminds me of somebody eating their friend's babies

 

[KayTee]

When my girl layed her egg and It was soft-shelled, I decided to throw it on the ground. As soon as the girls hear the SPLOTCH they came running. I didn't think they would want to eat raw egg, but they did. My Penny grabbed it and ran off, with Henny and Doris chasing her. Somehow, I just don't like the thought of chickens eating what fellow hens have laid. Guess it reminds me of somebody eating their friend's babies

egg = protein, and chickens have some sort of inbuilt radar that can detect any type of edible protein the minute you walk out of the back door with it!

Come out with a bowl of cauliflower and they're like "meh - leave it there we'll look at it later"; Come out with a bowl of fish scraps / scrambled egg / cottage cheese and they will leap up at me before I'm even halfway down the steps to the garden! Raw egg on the ground and they will not only eat the liquid egg, they will also eat the grass, sand, shavings or whatever else is covered in egg!

If you want to give them eggs that you can't use (soft shelled, because they're on medication and you can't eat them, or just because you have more eggs than egg-eating friends and neighbours) then it is best to cook them - hard boiled, scrambled, whatever, but not raw. If you let them eat raw eggs (and they will every chance they get) then you risk getting egg-eaters in your flock. Don't let them get used to eating raw egg - make sure it's cooked.

If I ever get a shelless egg in my coop (which occasionally happens as I have girls of all ages) then I clean it up immediately. I frequently give them cooked egg (yes, I spoil my girls!) but touch wood I have never had a problem with egg eating in the nests.

 

[roseyred]

When my girl layed her egg and It was soft-shelled, I decided to throw it on the ground. As soon as the girls hear the SPLOTCH they came running. I didn't think they would want to eat raw egg, but they did. My Penny grabbed it and ran off, with Henny and Doris chasing her. Somehow, I just don't like the thought of chickens eating what fellow hens have laid. Guess it reminds me of somebody eating their friend's babies

Lol we eat there babies too. Sometimes mine lay poopy eggs and since I don't wash my eggs till I use them I dot want poop in the fridge I just throw the poopy eggs into the wall and SPLAT and then all the hens go crazy pecking the dripping yolk. Yummmm. I have a mouse in the house and when i catch it im gonna let them play with it too. It destroyed my pumpkin flax cereal. It shall pay

 

[hhartsong]

One of my red sexlink pullets, Ginger, chases and eats field mice....lol. You should see when she catches one.. the others will come to see and try to take what she has caught from her and she will pick it up and take off running with it... they all chase after her!!! It is Hilarious! lol I am going to try to get video on it next time I see it.

 

[samnjoeysgrama]

My mother grew up during the depression and they milked 15 or 20 cows. When the milk didn't sell or it soured, the chickens ate it. They love milk, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc. The one thing I have found that they will not eat? Squash bugs. Unfortunate.

 

[gazoo35]

When I was little and it was butcher time I would stand by my parents waiting for them to get to the insides of the birds. My favorites were eggs that had no shell and the gizzards because they had some very pretty rocks inside. One rooster had a funny odd shaped gizzard and when my dad cut it open we found the plastic part of a ring pop. I remember the rooster and his neck and never would I have believed it was possible for him to swallow a ring pop without choking to death.

 

[samnjoeysgrama]

Avoid feeding them raw egg. Occasionally you will get an egg breaker who breaks her own or another hen's egg to eat it. Once they start, you may loose one or two eggs a day. They say there are cures for that, but the only one I have found is to make the egg breaker into chicken soup. A pretty drastic cure.
If you have extra or soft shell eggs, you can cook them and give them to the chickens. Chickens don't seem to associate the cooked egg with the raw ones in the coop. You can even feed hard boiled and finely chopped egg to chicks or molting hens for extra protein. Some people claim that throwing rotten eggs into the grass around the chicken coop keeps the predators out. I'm not sure I buy that, but I have had really good luck with a red blinking light near the chickens. Predators seem to think it is another predator's eye.

 

[Kluk-Kluk]

The strangest - and most wonderful thing, in a way - our chickens ate was a large Wolf Spider that got into the nest area. I HATE spiders, so she was my hero!

 

[moms3cuties]

Avoid feeding them raw egg.  Occasionally you will get an egg breaker who breaks her own or another hen's egg to eat it.  Once they start, you may loose one or two eggs a day.  They say there are cures for that, but the only one I have found is to make the egg breaker into chicken soup.  A pretty drastic cure.  
If you have extra or soft shell eggs, you can cook them and give them to the chickens.  Chickens don't seem to associate the cooked egg with the raw ones in the coop.  You can even feed hard boiled and finely chopped egg to chicks or molting hens for extra protein.  Some people claim that throwing rotten eggs into the grass around the chicken coop keeps the predators out.  I'm not sure I buy that, but I have had really good luck with a red blinking light near the chickens. Predators seem to think it is another predator's eye.

great advice thank you so much for sharing!! ♡

 

[gazoo35]

I threw my hens egg shells and cracked eggs and it was a huge mistake. I ended up causing some of my hens to start eating eggs. Some of the egg eaters would fly up into the nest boxes after a hen left after laying an egg and they would eat it. I ended up having to cull those hens from the flock because not only did I teach them that but they were teaching others to do it to. I will never do that again.