Chicken breeds

[seedcorn]

@Smart Red wish it was nurture vs nature. Remember story of frog and scorpion. Some hens are by nature flight ire, meaner, etc.

 

[thistlebloom]

So what's the story of the frog and the scorpion?

I think it's true that it's more of an inherited characteristic.
I've had chicks that I handled every day and some will mature and be docile, and others in the same group (and breed) will be pugnacious and aggressive with the other hens.

 

[seedcorn]

Frog and scorpion were on edge of stream. Scorpion wanted to go to other side. So frog made a deal with scorpion to not kill him and he'd give him a ride to other side.

Half way over, scorpion stung the frog. When frog asked why? Scorpion responded:

What did you expect? That's what scorpions do!

 

[valley ranch]

If I may add to Easops fable: Each time the scorpion struck the frog, he would say, "Sorry that's my nature." The third time he struck, the frog dove deep under the water. The scorpion asked as the frog swam away, why have you left me to drown, to which the frog answered: " Sorry that's my nature."

 

[valley ranch]

For years we ,in an home made incubator, hatched our own chicks.
a couple years back we bought a few Sex Linked chicks, These are the best, sweetest hens we've had.
Of course, the girls have uncovered a EGG EATER she has one day and one day only to come to her sense or she is history.

 

[Beekissed]

Don't kill her. It's just the time of year for softer shell quality as the chickens gear up for another laying season. As soon as shells firm up, your "egg eater" will disappear into the ranks. Any and every chicken will eat an egg if it breaks under them and that's natural and it happens about twice a year...early spring when laying starts after winter slow down and again in July/August when shells thin again as chickens move into molt and laying slow down.

Each year you will see posts on these forums about "how to break an egg eater" and such at these times of year but I can tell you all you need is time. Let her eat the broken eggs...it will only give her more protein and calcium to lay stronger eggs. She's just keeping the nests clean and that's normal and natural.

 

[ninnymary]

Beekissed, glad to hear a different opinion on egg eaters. I have one and all I've read is that you have to cull as others will pick up the habit. This was my plan and I have a suspicion on who it may be. I was just waiting to catch her red handed. The thing is that it doesn't happen every day. It's more like every other day. I've been checking for eggs every couple of hours to get them out of there as soon as I can. Some days I have found 3 and they are cold which tells me that they've been there for a little while. Yet no one ate them. I will try to give it time as you suggests. After all I am getting enough eggs for our use.

Mary

 

[thistlebloom]

Don't kill her. It's just the time of year for softer shell quality as the chickens gear up for another laying season. As soon as shells firm up, your "egg eater" will disappear into the ranks. Any and every chicken will eat an egg if it breaks under them and that's natural and it happens about twice a year...early spring when laying starts after winter slow down and again in July/August when shells thin again as chickens move into molt and laying slow down.

Each year you will see posts on these forums about "how to break an egg eater" and such at these times of year but I can tell you all you need is time. Let her eat the broken eggs...it will only give her more protein and calcium to lay stronger eggs. She's just keeping the nests clean and that's normal and natural.

That's a sensible approach.

What do you think of a hen that is eating eggs that haven't broken in the nest?

 

[ninnymary]

Thistle, that's a good question. I don't know if the eaten eggs were broken in the nest because of thin shells or if she just kept pecking till she broke it and then ate it. Hmm....

Mary

 

[Beekissed]

That's a sensible approach.

What do you think of a hen that is eating eggs that haven't broken in the nest?

Been keeping many breeds and many flocks for nigh 40 yrs and have never had a dedicated egg eater, so not sure what I would do in that case. I'd say if that were a common occurrence in the chicken as a specie that there wouldn't be a chicken on this planet.

It takes a lot of effort to crack a normal egg shell....I know this because I have to tap quite hard to get them to break for cooking and even then I don't often get it the first time. A hen that is hitting on eggs THAT hard is just not likely. Now, a hen that has learned that there are thin and easily broken shells in the coop just might capitalize on that for as long as it lasts but I've never seen that happen either. Usually it's a result of thin shells that are cracked or broken altogether when the hens get into or off the nest.

ANY chicken will eat an egg if given the opportunity because they are opportunistic eaters. It's not a learned habit but a built in instinct. No amount of feeding them shells or even feeding them broken or damaged eggs is going to produce a chicken or flock that suddenly turn into cannibals over their eggs, of this I have become convinced.

I know this because for three generations in my family~that I know of, could be more~we have done that very thing without having "egg eaters" result from it. And we don't keep little itty bitty flocks of three in a coop in the suburbs but flocks of 20-50 or more of varying breeds down through the years spanning three generations...since the late 1800s, in other words.

Oh, I'll hear a story now and again about how someone "caught" a chicken actually breaking and eating strong shelled eggs on a continuous basis but I always take that with a grain of salt. If it were that common I'm sure we would have encountered it by now after thousands of birds kept.

That's why I always tell folks to hold off and give it time. No need to kill a good bird over something this normal and natural, as you might find yourself killing a bird over it every year about this time.