Part 0800.0005

[mivona]

I have just received two ex-battery hens and currently have them in a separate eglu. The new girls seem in good health and each have laid an egg for the last two days. The problem is that if they have any time with their eggs, they are broken and eaten.

 

How can I break them of this? Or will they gradually revert to more normal behaviour once they learn how to be pecking, scratching chickens again?

 

They have worked out the water supply, but I am not certain that they have worked out about the pellets. They are starting to peck at things, but quite inappropriately - the wire run, the grey parts of the eglu... At least they are not pecking each other.

[Egluntyne]

You could put a few ceramic eggs in the nesting box...they will hurt themselves pecking at them and learn not to do it.....or you could blow the contents out of a couple of eggs and refill with mustard, another often recommended remedy.

[mivona]

Thank you. I had considered both of those ideas but wasn't sure if they would work. I have a marble egg and will try with that first.

[GKH]

if they are having trouble with pellets, try them with layers mash, its what they are used to eating in the factory, if you dont want to get separate food for them you could try crushing the pellets for them

[mivona]

I will grind some up for them to see if that can entice them. They don't seem to be very "pecky" otherwise... They don't really go for corn or seeds scattered on the ground much, though one seemed a bit keener. They are also funny just walking on the hemcore - it is like they don't like having their toes in anything a bit messy!

[stoice]

They sound like they are doing what a young bird would do - peck everything it sees to find out what it is. Once they work out what is food and what isn't they'll soon stop bothering to peck random objects (Although painted nails are ALWAYS tasty!) They've never really seen an egg for long either as it would've rolled away before they investigated it. Everything is new to them. Carry on with your marble egg and they'll hopefully stop pecking at the real ones. I always came down the garden with treats and 'precious things' in the same treat bowl. They soon realised that anything from the bowl was yummy. Pretty soon they'll realise anything you're holding is yummy too. They learn off each other and hate to think one girl has got a tastier treat than the other - they run after each other especially when grapes are on offer! It's so funny. I started my girls on mash (Or you can grind up pellets as GKH says) then slowly added pellets to the mix. After a few weeks they were on pellets. I still have a small amount of mash as every now again they seem to prefer it, maybe it's more like a comfort food, plus sometimes it can be a boredom buster as it takes longer to eat.

 

Have you tried them on a warm porridge? I find it good to add poultry spice, cod liver oil, limestone flour or worming powder when needed. just add warm (not hot) water to mash or pellets and let it soak in, then add maybe some grated cheese for calcium, sweetcorn, mixed corn raisins, mealworms etc. I'm sure they'll love it.

 

Well done for rescuing some ex-batts. I find my two such characters, they really are a joy.

[Happy Hennie]

I've had great trouble in the past with ex-batts eating their eggs and once they start .....it is very difficult to stop them. I tried the decoy eggs and the blown eggs filled with mustard and tabasco - and for a few days it would work but then they'd be back to their tricks. The solution I found was a roll away nest which cost about £5. It was a little tricky to set up in the Eglu Cube but since then I rarely have eaten eggs - just 5 puzzled ex-batts

[ChrisP]

The solution I found was a roll away nest which cost about £5. It was a little tricky to set up in the Eglu Cube but since then I rarely have eaten eggs - just 5 puzzled ex-batts

 

What is the roll away nest? Sorry, I don't know if I'm being a bit dim

[Hen Watch]

What is the roll away nest? Sorry, I don't know if I'm being a bit dim

 

Not got one myself. But I did see this in a past post.

 

http://www.chicken-house.co.uk/nest_boxes.htm

[Happy Hennie]

You're right Hen Watch - that's the roll away I use. You could probably fit 2 in an Eglu Cube nesting area.

[mivona]

My new girls quickly gave up pecking eggs with the use of the marble egg.

 

They also soon learned exactly what really was food and good to eat and stopped pecking everything they could. They still follow us around the garden though, trying to peck the back of our legs.

 

I was so grateful for the loan of an additional eglu to help acclimatise them to life in our garden. The two of them were in the borrowed eglu, and my other two in their usual home. I let them out to free-range during the day together, and they all got on pretty well (some squabbles though). Eventually, when my daughter went out to close them up one evening, she found only one hen in our eglu, and found the other tucked up with the two new hens.

 

At that point, we reckoned they were getting on well enough together to all go in together. We extended their run and cleaned and dismantled the borrowed eglu, and away they went.

 

With the exception of one of our original hens having her comb pecked to bleeding once, everything has been fine.

[mivona]

Well, here I am again, months later and the girls are seriously getting into egg pecking now. The marble egg no longer does the trick, with them having a real go at any eggs that are left in the nesting box for any length of time.

 

So, I am looking for other suggestions. I thought I could try a mustard egg, but wanted to ask what kind of mustard I should use?

 

I am interested in a roll-away nesting box insert, but is there one that would fit in an Eglu?

[Egluntyne]

Colman's English.

 

 

I think ANH bought a roll away nest box