Single hen

[koo2cat]

Every morning my 3 daughters have a poached egg for breakfast. They often leave part of the white ! Is it okay to feed this to my other 3 girls, the chickens I am trying to help them grow their feathers back after Hetty the Horrible was unkind to them so thought the extra protein may do them good.

 

By the way we went to see Hetty this weekend who is really happy in her new home. Watched her for about 10 minutes and noticed her pecking at the one eyed Cockerel who is twice her size! Hope he doesnt end up with a bare bum like my girls did!?!

[jomaxsmith]

I usually give my hens the bits of the egg my boys don't eat, and if an egg gets cracked or is too pooey for me to consider eating it, I scramble it and cook in the microwave then give to the hens. They love it.

 

I figure as long as it doesn't look like their idea of egg they won't be clever enough to make the link that their eggs are edible!

 

However, there is a recent thread advising not to feed them their eggs if the hens are on medication such as anti-biotics.

 

Jo

[Sandychick]

Mine had egg fried rice last Saturday - scoffed in seconds

[Leicester_H]

Hi

I wondered this too.

I was/am concerned its a bit like the BSE issues - aninals eating their own 'produce' - could 'concentrate' any problems ??

or are eggs different ?

H

[Steve.]

Should be okay - it's fit for human consumption, and a tiny fraction of the percentage of their yearly intake.

 

They probably eat more of their own poo than their own eggs.

[Snowy]

I feed unusable eggs back to the girls, scrambled. I figure that the egg was designed as food for the chick so must be OK. BSE was due to feeding bits of the brain and spinal cord back to the animals.

[RubyReckless]

I think it is fine. Lots of birds are egg eaters - I had trouble with two of my chooks scoffing eggs before I had time to collect them!

 

It's totally different from BSE - that was feeding animal remnants to herbivores. Chickens are true omnivores - they'll have a go at anything at all.

 

(for a demonstration of speed eating, chuck in anything left around the garden for ages, like a disused flowerpot or some planking. The chooks will have the woodlice and worms scoffed in seconds flat!)