Well, my 9 year old bantam (hence the antique title) looked healthy enough but was not laying, that is until I started feeding boiled crushed eggs. Laying 3 or 4 eggs a week for a small chook 9 years old I think is pretty good. Shells are strong and smooth. She has always been my best sitter/foster mother so I want to buy some day old barnevelders this spring to put under her. I think she will start going clucky about the beginning of October, so 2-3 weeks after that should be perfect for some day old barny pullets.
Did you know, that what you thought I said, was not what I meant :S
WillEyre;386604 wrote: but in my neck of the woods we've always had the idea that this would encourage them to eat their own eggs. Ed
Chooks aren't that clever, once an egg is not an egg they don't recognise it, I boil mine hard for 10 minutes, break them in half, flick out the yolk then halve the bigger part again, never had a nest box egg eater yet. They go crazy for them and it is 'free' food. Ideal for sickly chooks who have lost their appetitie for pellets as well.
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Save the Earth... it's the only planet with chocolate!
Those same scientists that seek perpetual energy, would also argue that chooks are smart, cause they can teach them to peck buttons to get fed, but I have this theory that it is only learned behaviour with a food reward and nothing to do with intelligence. However, yes there's always an however! My theory has holes in it, cause how did a chook teach itself to push open the cat door and walk right in to clean up the cat biscuits? [:0]
Did you know, that what you thought I said, was not what I meant :S
kaybe;386614 wrote:
Thanks for the offer of the recipes but I have them all already, unfortunately my kids hate egg recipes and the ones I like are just too fattening for me
Chocloate eclairs? Do your kids hate them? I am forever being asked to make chocolate eclairs, bacon and egg pie or lemon cake. I can make other things but those recipes use lots of eggs. I usually make eclairs with 4 eggs. I can't imagine kids not wanting to eat eclairs[:0]. I have a young friend who is diabetic and whenever I go to a meal at her family's place she requests eclairs. I make them with no suger, reduced fat cream and diabetic chocolate. She can have desert that looks just like everyone else's and won't send her blood glucose through the roof.
Cinsara;386657 wrote: Chooks aren't that clever, once an egg is not an egg they don't recognise it, I boil mine hard for 10 minutes, break them in half, flick out the yolk then halve the bigger part again, never had a nest box egg eater yet. They go crazy for them and it is 'free' food. Ideal for sickly chooks who have lost their appetitie for pellets as well.
When it comes to chooks, I'm not all that clever either.
But ...... wasn't all that mad cow disease trouble a little while ago ascribed to having 're-fed' the animals their own dna?
Ed
I liked Occam's Razor so much, I bought the company.
But ...... wasn't all that mad cow disease trouble a little while ago ascribed to having 're-fed' the animals their own dna?
Ed
That BSE was caused by feeding diseased material from bovines back to bovines which are not naturally carnivores anyway!
Feeding eggs to chooks is OK, as long as they are not full of something like Salmonella (!) as chooks are omnivores and likely to eat that sort of food anyway.
However, because eggs are mainly a protein source-you will need to feed them more than eggs, or they will stop laying-a vicious circle. Too much protein can be as harmful as not enough!
Sue
Labrador lover for yonks, breeder of pedigree Murray Grey cattle for almost as long, and passionate poultry person for more years than I care to count.
Sue;386762 wrote:
Feeding eggs to chooks is OK, as long as they are not full of something like Salmonella (!) as chooks are omnivores and likely to eat that sort of food anyway.
Hardly think that even if a wiff of salmonella about, the fact that I boil them ought to take care of any such problems.
Sue;386762 wrote: However, because eggs are mainly a protein source-you will need to feed them more than eggs, or they will stop laying-a vicious circle. Too much protein can be as harmful as not enough!
They do not have just eggs. Those are a couple of times a week. the rest of the time it's free range grass, free bugs, free last seasons chokos and then there's the layers pellets I buy every second week.
Did you know, that what you thought I said, was not what I meant :S
Yeah SB, totaly agree that salmonella would get killed by cooking-if it was even present in the first place-just trying to clarify that BSE had to be present, before it could infect the animal that ate it-and in this case it was cooked meat being fed to cows that normally don't eat meat-except afterbirths!
But it's a good idea to supplement your hens diet with extra protein-because by diluting layers pellets with veg and grass they fill up on fibre and don't get enough protein and energy-so yes, you do keep the cycle ticking over nicely by using the surplus eggs as feed!
Sue
Labrador lover for yonks, breeder of pedigree Murray Grey cattle for almost as long, and passionate poultry person for more years than I care to count.
It's getting better and better. Today, my ancient bantam laid two eggs. She ran with legs crossed to her favourite nest first thing this morning when I let her out and this afternoon I collected two eggs from the nest.
Now before I hear scoffing coming from you all, I know there were no other eggs in the box when I collected her yesterday egg and as she's the only bantam, there could be no mistake about who had laid the eggs. Normal size with no aberrations.
So, my girl, whose name BTW is "Little Nasty":rolleyes: has laid 5 eggs this week instead of her 3 or 4.
Gee, if feeding eggs back to the hens gets them all laying two eggs a day, I'm onto a winner.
Did you know, that what you thought I said, was not what I meant :S
I fully expected that my hens would go into shut-down mode when we shifted them two weeks ago. Firstly because they were contained in small coops for a week while they acclimatised to the new area, instead of the free range backyard they were used to, but this has not been the case. They are still laying very well, just not getting as many helpings of free boiled eggs, since sales have sky rocketed. Seems the word has gone out on the quality of my girls eggs, and my regular customers are keeping the backlog to a minimum.
Did you know, that what you thought I said, was not what I meant :S
and the ones I like are just too fattening for me
