Eggs and Chickens
Sorry have not blogged for a while, I will be doing some catching up next weekend. But there is something I do have to tell you about.
Chickens like eggs. I did know that from reading about this in magazines and books, but I have now witnessed it for the first time.
This egg eating by the chickens occured yesterday (Monday) and it has to do with the structure build and the location of the chicken coop.
Chicken coop structure. We have two small latches (one on each side) where we can remove the eggs, but at present the coop is located against some bales of straw (I use straw as the boundaries of my vege patches). The position of the coop is my future strawberry patch. So on Monday the chickens laid their eggs on the opposite side to where I could get easy access. Normally this is not really an issue as we just gently knock the eggs (using a piece of wood) across to where we can pick them up. This time we cracked one of the eggs. It was a free for all, the chickens raced to it and started to devour it. Luckily we got the other two eggs out.
Now my understanding is that the chickens should not get the taste for eggs, if they do they will start to eat them all the time. So today Lee-Ann is going out every hour or so and grabbing the eggs, so far she has two of the three we normally get. My thought being if we go a few days removing the eggs straight away we should be OK. Otherwise it may be stock for them.
August 9th, 2009 at 7:31 am
As long as none of them initiated the cracking of the egg with their beaks, they may just veiw the food as anything else you would bring them. Once they start cracking the eggs for themselves, then it becomes a big problem.
It’s a good idea to collect eggs as soon as possible anyway. I check first thing in the morning when I open up the pens, then check again before locking them up at night. I will often do an afternoon check if I’m in the yard too.
I think there is a big chance though, that they won’t equate the whole egg to what they sampled of the broken one. Let us know how it goes though.
October 5th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
When is a chook too old to eat
October 5th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
You could probably always eat it – but older chickens are better for stock or a chicken stew. I would not be roasting an old chicken. As far as when is it to old I would say depending on breed but estimate approx 30 weeks
October 30th, 2009 at 8:03 am
This is a wounderfull post. Keep it up…