Anti egg-eating project goes all out

If you read the post about our startling egg-eating discovery, you know how distressing this is. If we can't get them to stop, the end result is chicken dinner. No one wants that - us or the girls.

So off to the Backyard chickens and our local Mad City Chickens Facebook group for some help. I got lots of good advice on why they may have started to eat their eggs:

• boredom, they aren't going out in for yard forays
• not enough protein
• nest box isn't comfy enough.

Boredom
I went to Farm & Fleet and found a hard plastic ball that comes apart. You fill it with treats (scratch grain in our case) and they roll it around. They figured out how to empty it in less than an hour.

I also bought a scratch block (think a cubic food of compressed grain and other yummies that they peck at) and put it in the run.
My brother gave us a chicken toy for Christmas, which we've been putting vegtable scraps in for them to peck at.


 





Not enough protein
The "layer" feed mix has 16% protein. I read that in the winter they could go as high as 20%. I found a 22% mixture for "meat birds" and after consulting Jay for some math help, figured that 2 parts of the high protein feed with 1 part layer feed got me to 20%.


 

 


Nest box
The egg they attacked was laid outside the nest box. This happens occasionally. When an egg is laid in the box, there really isn't much room to get at an egg, AND it's heated so the eggs don't freeze in the winter - two reasons we want them to lay in the boxes.

So Jay got out his mom's trusty Singer sewing machine and whipped up four curtains from an old table cloth and we stapled them in front of the boxes to make them a bit cozier and more private. We really hope they find the box preferable to laying outside in the coop or in the run.

Jay using his mom's sewing machine ca. ???

A bad chicken day

People have been asking how the chickens fare in this frigid, polar vortex, weather. Frankly, they're fine. They have down coats on, and our job is to keep the draft off and keep them dry. Check. Check.

Today I am home sick, but wanted to check on eggs because they do freeze fast in this weather. Our nest box has a seedling heating mat on its floor, which is on a timer to keep the nest box warm during the day. This is less for bird comfort and more to keep eggs from freezing, but we were hoping it would entice birds to lay in the nice cozy comfort of a warmed space.

Throw that idea out. Today I found three eggs. One in the box, one frozen solid on the floor of the coop, and one - oh shit - broken and being eaten by three of the birds on the floor of the run. I quickly scooped up the runny mess and threw it in the compost.

I returned to the coop to remove the frozen egg off the floor. I could see see it an access window. I went to open the window and the latch broke in the locked position. I literally couldn't get to the egg. I went into the house to get a screwdriver to remove the latch and open the door. By the time I got back, the birds were circling the egg in the coop. I don't know if they had tried to crack it open because it was frozen solid but they were definitely interested in it.

Any chicken owner knows egg eating is one of the horrors of owning chickens. Once they taste the warm goodness that's inside, it's hard to break them of the habit. And one egg eater will teach the others. This is a big problem.

I'm not sure what to do and will scour web pages to see what others have done. Was I supposed to do what dog trainers do when a dog does something bad, scare them and make them think the world is about to end? And how do we get them to lay in the box?

Anyway, thought I'd share with you that it's not all roses over here in The Eggplant, more to come.