4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[mrs chook]

 

After the mustard egg trick the other day i found an intact egg, oh joy I thought. We moved the girls yesterday to nearer the house with great success as per my post.

 

I sat watching them from the back door, opened the eglu door to find them both devouring an egg!!!!! I wouldn't mind but I'd been keeping an eye on them for nearly an hour to beat them to it! I AM BEING OUTWITTED BY MY HENS!!!!!!!

 

As I have only two and one is not performing at the moment, we are desperate for any eggs we can get. The sad fact is I am going to have to buy more eggs in order to do the mustard thing again.

 

Now they obviously have a taste for them, will I be able to break this habit??

 

It's becoming a real pain and a battle of wills here

 

On a brighter note, they are happy with their move and the dog is good with them, thankfully!!!

[Gallina]

If they are breaking the eggs with their beaks, a bumper bit would do the trick, but you may think this is too drastic.

 

You are unlucky: not many hens are bright enough to work out how to do this, even though they will eat an egg that is already broken.

[mrs chook]

I wonder if I even tried bumper bits for a short while??? I don;t know and I'd rather not use them but would just like to remedy this asap.

[mrs chook]

I have only seen a pic of the bumper bit, are they mainly to stop them pecking at each other? Also, if they stood on the eggs could they still eat them with a bb????

 

I think with thicker shells it might give them something to think about?? Am doing my best on that score too......pesky varmints

[Gallina]

The bumper part of the bumper bit has the same effect as a car bumper: it stops them stabbing with their beaks. The bit part goes inside their beak and stops them biting tightly on feathers or the other hens' flesh.

 

Hens don't seem to be bothered wearing them. Obviously they are intended to stop hens attacking each other, but if they are using their beaks to get into the eggs they wouldn't be able to break in any more.

 

But if they smashed the egg with their feet, the egg would be lost anyway, so you may not want to try it. It would certainly be worth a go if you had a feather-plucking hen, as you could kill two birds with one stone (if you will pardon the expression).

[mrs chook]

thanks!

[hennymom]

we put china eggs in with our birds for weeks and they pecked at them and realised they could not break them... we have had a few on the poop deck shell less eggs and they are never ever eaten by the girls, we have 6 all laying now and never have damaged eggs....however we consider oursleves lucky as they absolutely adore scrambled eggs as a treat and it is gobbled up in seconds ...and even giving them that...they still are not interested in their own they just walk awaywhen they have laid!!!

[mrs chook]

Thanks for that! i will try anything or any combination of things to crack this Scuse the pun, I've got cracking on the brain

[hennymom]

also if you can catch them laying and remove the eggs instantly, they have not got the chance to explore what it is they have!! it's hard but maybe you can give it a go...not that you have nothing better to do of course!!! good luck with them

[Christian]

You could try hanging some hessian strips in front of the eglu door for a few days. This would make the eglu darker and they might not be able to see the eggs that have been laid.

 

Seems like a crack pot idea, but I have heard it work before!

 

Good luck.