They look innocent enough don't they? But don't be fooled by that soft nonchalant exterior because they are in fact CANNIBALS. Yes, a few weeks okay I happened upon them eating their own eggs, shell and all. What? The premium layers mash that I buy isn't good enough or something?
Obviously horrified by the discovery of this and the realisation that my chooks were eating their own eggs rather than providing them for me to eat, I did what an self-respecting chicken-owner would do. Yes, I Googled.
After reading many an Internet forum and even posting my own SOS on the Omlet message boards, I quickly realised there were two options.
Option One.
I have to say even before I read that egg-eating was a hard habit to break and it was sometimes dealt with by, well, doing the darn bird in, the thought of chicken-in-the-pot had occurred to me. If it wasn't going to be any use as a layer, surely it would be more use on the top of my salad drizzled with a bit of Caesar dressing?
I do however have a little compassion and I have grown to love my little brood, even if they do peck my toes when they are poking out from my Birkenstocks, so I couldn't quite face cooking them up. Besides, never mind cooking them, who was going to do the plucking?
So I turned to Option Two.
No, I didn't clobber them over the head with a jar of Colman's finest.
Mustard in an eggshell - who knew?
Apparently all we had to do was fill an empty eggshell with some mustard and it would bring an end to their savage cannibalistic tendencies. I admit, I was a little dubious and I left it a couple of days in the hope that they would decide that it was a bad idea to peck away at their own yolks but alas they didn't, so I was forced to break out the hard stuff, the English mustard.
Armed with an egg, a teaspoon, a straw (which incidentally was of no use whatsoever), some sellotape and a jar of Colmans I set to work and popped the egg into one of the nesting boxes and blow me down, if it wasn't an immediate triumph! We haven't had another egg-eating episode yet.
The little critters had obviously tried it and thought, WTF?! before nudging it into the corner of the nesting box and there it stays, as a constant reminder and warning to them should they feel peckish (excuse the pun) again.
So there it is people. If one of your chickens starts asking for some fava beans and a nice Chianti alongside their meal-worm, you know what to do.
love & kisses
You've just reminded me, via Twitter, that I meant to come back and comment! I had heard - somewhere in the mists of time - that chickens would eat their eggs, and in fact it reminds me that my Zebra Finches used to do the same thing when they were stressed. I certainly hadn't heard of the mustard ruse, however. Very impressed by that! :)
ReplyDeleteMy ladies do eat their own eggs occasionally. infact my 11 yr old dropped an egg in the pen the other day and they swarmed the broken egg like vultures. Thankfully it hasn't become a habit as yet so I haven't needed to use the mustard trick but I very glad to know it works just incase I need to use it.
ReplyDeleteHot egg lol
ReplyDeleteApparently it's something they do whenthey need more grit and/or calcium in their diet. I've never kept chickens so don't know from experience just what my mom has told me.
ReplyDeleteJust an idea.