Chicken breeds

[Ridgerunner]

I have a different take on it. I did have one hen that would break an egg on purpose to eat it. Other hens would help her eat it after she broke it, but it was just the one that was breaking them. I did not consider the other hens a problem. They are just doing what is natural like Bee said. No the eggs she was opening were not thin shelled, though I think the way she learned was a pullet was laying from the roost and one cracked/broke when it hit the floor. She was not opening every egg in the coop, usually only one or two a day. It took me over a week to figure out which one it was.

Would she have quit if I'd left them alone? I don't know, I didn't try that. Would she have taught the others to open eggs. Maybe, over time, Maybe not. Would she have stopped if I filled an eggshell with mustard for her to taste. I did not try that. Would putting golf balls in the nest get her to stop when she tried pecking into one and hit something that hard. No, I always keep a golf ball in the nest anyway. I've had snakes eat the golf balls and not be able to get back out of the coop through the hole they cam in. I've also had snakes eat eggs and leave the golf balls in the same nest.

All I do know for sure is that when I ate that hen no more eggs were broken to be eaten. That's the only time I've ever experienced a hen opening eggs to eat them, either growing up on the farm or since I started keeping them for myself.

 

[bobm]

Just how do chicks extract themselves out of their own egg if not by pecking themselves out of it with their tiny beaks ? I have seen many a chicken ( as well as Chinese Ringneck Pheasant hens too, that I used for breeding in a pen 50 ' x 200' . Captive Pheasant hens lay their eggs anywhere that they happen to be at the time that they need to lay. Also, I had a female canary in her own cage that would eat her own eggs right after she layed an egg in her own nest for 3 clutches- culled. ) start egg eating at any time of the year when the eggs are laid with quite hard shells . These type of hens are prone to eating their own eggs and once the one starts , others get the taste for it and start their own egg pecking / eating. The cure is when you identify the offending culprit is off with her head. Yes, I come from a l - o - n - g line of farmers that had inherited their farms for many generations and kept chickens .

 

[Beekissed]

Guess my family has just been incredibly blessed for generations! Chicks are breaking OUT of an egg, not into one. It's all about concave or convex surface strengths, the age of the shell, the fact that the chick is not just using a beak to break that egg but their whole body, etc.

So, I stand corrected and we've come to the conclusion that the original post about the egg eating chicken can indeed have a chicken addicted to eating eggs and she can teach the others so it's advisable to kill her and any others that may occur. I'd get right on that before the dreaded behavior grows like a cancer and infects the whole darn flock!!! Heck, if left unchecked, it could spread throughout all the poultry in the world. Just imagine it....

 

[valley ranch]

couple years back we had a rooster that we really liked. He started opening eggs and calling the hens in to eat the egg, you know how the do. I talked to him, told him: I love you big fellow, don't do that, it's a bad thing. But he knew better. So he had to go, beautiful roo.
I hope we can keep this hen, but I just heard they found her up where they would keep the baby chick, eggs had been set up there and not yet carried into the house and she had egg on her face and beak. We'll see.

I was raised on a ranch, poultry was a cash crop, we've always had hens, I've never seen this problem solve itself, but I told the girls what you said. We'll see.

 

[so lucky]

I have one hen who has always laid thin shelled eggs. Sometimes they survive being sat on for a while, sometimes they don't. Frequently I find her egg with a small hole in it, just pecked through the shell, not the papery film that protects the insides. Sometimes she lays from the roost; naturally these thin-shelled ones break on impact. Right now the eggs are surviving. They have a cloudy albumin, very thick, and a pale yellow yolk, as opposed to the golden orangey yellow of the others. Still good eating.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Are you sure that hole is not from a claw from the hens walking on it. They are not real careful where they put their feet when in the nest.

Some hen's internal egg making factory is just not right. Maybe their digestive tract does not absorb the calcium the way it should or they don't process it right. Putting that egg together is a fairly complicated process and some hens just don't get it right. I think it was Bee that said sometimes you have a hen problem and sometimes you have a flock problem. If it's a hen problem you don't treat the flock.

I keep chickens more for the meat than anything else, though I also like to play around with genetics. The eggs are mainly a real nice side benefit. I get way more eggs than we can use so I give the excess away, either to friends or relatives or to a food bank. if I had a hen laying an egg like that, I'd thank her for making my decision on which one goes to the table next really easy. But different people have different goals. I wish you luck.

 

[Beekissed]

There could be another aspect to this practice that just occurred to me. My flocks free range all the time and get opportunities to forage and fulfill that instinct. Maybe that's one reason they don't forage in the nests for opportunities to peck at and gain food? They are rarely even in the coop unless it's just to lay and get right back out to the pasture. Maybe having more opportunities than just the eggs in the nests is a factor.

Another reason could be that I do a yearly cull of undesirable traits (not culled one for egg eating yet)but it's a possibility that in that yearly cull I net those that would resort to this type of behavior~possibly they do it due to some nutrient deficiency that is genetic? I cull for lack of high production, lack of feed thrift, temperament, healthy appearance, age related production slow downs, abnormal egg production such as continually thin shells, soft shells, etc. It could be that this yearly cull naturally eliminates a potential habitual egg eating chicken, who knows?

I'd say if someone has frequent egg eaters it might be due to management differences as opposed to it being a common thing in most flocks, as I'm just not convinced that it's that common simply because the law of averages...if it were that common we would have run across it in one of many flocks over these many years if it were a frequent occurrence. I don't think we just have magical flocks that never produce this "common" phenomenon.

 

[catjac1975]

There could be another aspect to this practice that just occurred to me. My flocks free range all the time and get opportunities to forage and fulfill that instinct. Maybe that's one reason they don't forage in the nests for opportunities to peck at and gain food? They are rarely even in the coop unless it's just to lay and get right back out to the pasture. Maybe having more opportunities than just the eggs in the nests is a factor.

Another reason could be that I do a yearly cull of undesirable traits (not culled one for egg eating yet)but it's a possibility that in that yearly cull I net those that would resort to this type of behavior~possibly they do it due to some nutrient deficiency that is genetic? I cull for lack of high production, lack of feed thrift, temperament, healthy appearance, age related production slow downs, abnormal egg production such as continually thin shells, soft shells, etc. It could be that this yearly cull naturally eliminates a potential habitual egg eating chicken, who knows?

I'd say if someone has frequent egg eaters it might be due to management differences as opposed to it being a common thing in most flocks, as I'm just not convinced that it's that common simply because the law of averages...if it were that common we would have run across it in one of many flocks over these many years if it were a frequent occurrence. I don't think we just have magical flocks that never produce this "common" phenomenon.

I just got rid of my egg eating wellsomers.. The roosters were the most vicious I ever had.

 

[catjac1975]

My first Lavender Orpington chick of the season.

 

[baymule]

I am down to 7 geriatric hens, only getting 2-4 eggs a day from these slackers! But I had to reduce for moving. Got 12 golden comet chicks from feed store so we'll have eggs this winter.

I still want Delawares. Hopefully we'll get a good coop going and can order chicks next spring.