Larsen Poultry Ranch - homesteading journey

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

I have been working from home this week, and heard a ruckus from the chickens today, the sound they make when they are being chased. I ran outside and saw a glimpse of something gray and fluffy ish looking. I think it was a fox. I'm really glad I built the chicken cage as an aviary instead of a traditional pen otherwise I would have lost birds. Good news is that I spotted today's eggs before they had a chance to eat them, so I got 4!!

We also moved the rest of my chickens over to our house, so mom doesn't have to deal with them anymore. It is a surprise for her 60th birthday, she will see tomorrow when she gets back in town.

I was able to gather 4 more silky eggs too. Incubator is going to be full...

 

[Baymule]

If you have an egg eater, that is so frustrating. Look up plans for a roll out nest box. There are plans for that on BYC. If I ever build my dream coop, I want a roll out nest box.

 

[Bruce]

I've got an egg eater too. Never had one before and NEVER has she eaten eggs in the past but this year she's decided cleaning out eggs is a good thing to do. She will be 3 in June and now lives in solitary confinement. It is one thing to feed a hen that is no longer laying, another to feed a hen that gives you negative egg counts.

A customer of DW's loaned us a white ceramic egg. Presumably the hen is supposed to try to break it open, can't and gives up eating eggs assuming all are like that. It is light in weight but dang it sure looks real. The first few days in solitary Daisy buried it deep in her nest box. She seems to have given up on that now. And she ate the one egg she laid. If she has laid any more she has not only cleaned it out but eaten the shell as well.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Yeah, usually any egg eaters I have dealt with eat the entire thing, leaving behind almost no evidence. The ceramic eggs are nice, I need to get some for my house and replacement ones for mom's house. We had some there and they slowly disappeared. We weren't sure if a critter was making off with them or if they were accidentally included in a dozen that was given away to friends or family.

 

[Baymule]

Egg eaters go in the soup pot.

 

[farmerjan]

99% of the time you cannot break an egg eater that is breaking, eating and totally cleaning up the eggs. We use the fake eggs to get the hens to lay where we want them to, and it helps to discourage any pecking of their real eggs. The only way to pretty much stop it is if they are in a contained coop and you have roll away nest boxes. It is not a guarantee but it helps. Unless she is a valuable hen for breeding purposes, egg eaters get their neck wrung. At least one good thing about chickens, the chicks don't learn bad habits from the hen if they are hatched in the incubator.

 

[Mini Horses]

My DD cals them "self feeders". I call them soup stock.

 

[Bruce]

Daisy laid and cleaned out an egg yesterday. There are suggestions to blow out an egg and fill it with mustard or mustard and dish soap. I might try that though I don't know how many "ICK!!!!" eggs she would have to break into before she decides to quit (if she does).

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

I will probably create a roll away nest box, they have actually been laying in the same spot the past few days. I got two eggs yesterday, and three the day before. So I am thinking the one hen I lost might have been the instigator and the rest just helped. At least that's what I hope. I have lost fewer eggs since she passed.

I have over a dozen eggs from that pen now, I think close to 3 dozen total, so hopefully this incubation will be more successful with my leghorn project eggs. The one that lived from this last incubation only lasted a few days as it had navel issues.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

More pics of the successful graft.