Problems in the coop. The chickens are slowly starting to lay again. The trouble is, they’re not doing it in the right place. I don’t know whether it’s the cold that’s upsetting them (their water is still frozen every morning and has to be defrosted with a kettle of hot water), or the dark, shorter days, or whatever, but they have taken to laying on the roosting bars rather than in the nesting box.
We found one egg balancing on the bars yesterday that had got so cold it felt like it might have frozen. We’ll see how that turns out when we crack it open.
This morning, though, we found two, and both had been pecked open. Why? I don’t know. Perhaps they were bored. Maybe they were curious. Perhaps it was an accident.
Whatever the reason, it’s bad news for us. That’s three eggs lost in a week when we’re only getting about one a day anyway. We actually had to buy eggs yesterday, for the first time in ages.
I’m not sure what the solution is. If the hens are pecking the eggs themselves to get at the food inside then there are solutions: you can buy china eggs so that when they peck them they hurt their beaks and soon learn not to peck them any more. I have read elsewhere that you can also fill an empty egg with chilli, which obviously gets up their nose and puts them off (although this strikes me as cruel).
Most worrying, though, is whether these eggs are appearing when the chickens aren’t expecting them and they simply don’t have time to get to the nesting box. They have all had a chalky shell, rather than a smooth one, which suggests to me that there may be some deeper problem to blame.
Related posts:
Loading ...
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I just wanted to say thanks for your website. I have had my chickens for nearly 14 weeks and they turned 22 this week. I got my first egg today (on my birthday). Your website is what persuaded me to get some and now I’m addicted to Daisy, Iona, Lola, Dona(tello) and Oreo the rooster. Thanks so much. Keep up the good work! Maz x
Congratulations on your first egg. It’s a great feeling, isn’t it. There’s still something magical about it the whole time you have chickens, and I’m sure they’ll give you many years of fun and enjoyment (and egg, hopefully).
Are they getting enough calcium? You can bake the egg shells (to change the flavor) and feed it to them to return the calcium back to them. Get the porcelain eggs. Chickens eating their own eggs is a bad enough habit not to encourage even if there is a nasty surprise in store.
We used to bake their eggs and put them back in their feed (crushed, obviously), but we now use oyster shell to save us having dozens of egg shells cluttering up the kitchen waiting for baking day. Fortunately the thin shells seem to have cured themselves now, so it may just have been stress due to feather loss causing it.