Ive Had it! I give up! This is the LAST STRAW!

[fistfulladirt]

My hens (about a dozen) do not use nesting boxes to lay. They all use the same corner of the coop, so gathering is easy. They love fresh eggs in the shell, or cooked, or in any form.

Egg cannibalism is not a problem with my flock, but boredom is. I try to let them run as much as possible. I also supplement their diet with baked crushed eggshell, or oyster shell. Their feed is 16 % protein. They get lots of table scraps, meat (raw or cooked), bread, etc...

 

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[smokeythecat]

Just got the lumber together, scrap boards for the egg roll thing. Not going to clip any beaks. Never know when I'll need the birds for home defense.

 

[jeff of pa]

hang the chickens by their necks or wings over a pile of deep cotton.



if doing the neck, make sure to use something that won't strangle the birds so they stay alive of course.

as the eggs drop down gather them up

or do like this




then just pick the eggs off at the end of the day.

wear a mask though. Lots of Gas flowing upwards

 

[smokeythecat]

I made the egg roll off device. No eggs were laid today. Too many gaseous vapors from the hot sauce I guess. They did wolf down a whole apple (slowpokes took almost 10 minutes to eat the last piece.

Wiley Coyote would be proud of me.

Here is Scrambles the Wonder Chicken.

 

[BagLady]

I have chickens, but am also learning about them. I do know if you over feed, you will have problems with egg production. I think the best short term option is to separate them. They learn habits from each other.

 

[BagLady]

Love my Buffs too!

 

[Oregon Viking]

We have a couple Barred Rocks, a Brahma.. 12 pounds at least...A Rhode island red, a couple Americana's and a couple golden buffs.

Fresh eggs....'bout 5 a day... are great!!

 

[rodbuilder]

I GOT 't!!!!!!~ Mix a little bit of Arsenic in with the chicken feed!!! Then when they eat it they won't like the taste of their eggs!!

But I bet you won't either!!!

Ok, Ok, Ok, here's a better one.......................Build yourself a Rube Goldberg-type device! Chicken lays egg.............electronic sensor in egg depository senses the presence of the egg............... causing a spring-powered piston to shoos upwards, whisking the chicken off her nest...........and a plastic bowl drops down over the egg until you get there to rescue it!!!!

 

[stefen]

In the event that anyone on this post has chickens and wants to prepare them for consumption.

As you know, the time honored tradition of dunking the bird into hot water then plucking them clean is a stinky and messy operation.

There is now available, a razor that is ether manually operated or there is a cordless-electronic version, that can be used to remove all feathers including pin feathers, very efficiently thus eliminating the age-old mess.

Its called a "Chicken Schick'....

 

[RGINN]

Interesting, I never heard of chickens eating their own eggs. Calcium is important, and we would buy 25lbs. bags of crushed oyster shell at the feed store for that purpose. You have not lived until you've been out to gather the eggs, reach into the nest and feel a big ol rat snake curled up in there. We also ate the chickens we raised. Many methods of dispatching them, wringing their necks was one way. My maternal great grandmother's claim to fame was that she could wring the necks of two chickens at one time, one in each hand. She was not a large powerful woman, but she had speed. It was a sight to see. She swooped in, snatched a couple up, and after about 6 spins it was done. I remember people from around the area coming over to watch her do that sometimes on Sundays.

 

[T.C.]

What is hilarious is to pick up a hen....stick her head under her wing and slowly rock her back and forth. Puts 'em to sleep every time!! Set 'em gently back on the ground so as not to wake 'em up. Back in the old days, ya had to figure out your own fun!!

 

[DigIron2]

Was getting ready to say, whatchu talkin bout willis. Was a good idea putting decoys. Only thing I can think of is gather the eggs quicker.

 

[coinman123]

I only have one hen right now, who is friends with my two Nigerian Dwarf Goats. I will be getting more chickens soon though. In the past I have noticed the same thing. Not as bad as when your semi free-range chicken "stops" laying eggs for a month, then a month later you find a pile of 20 rotten eggs in some "nest" they made in some obscure part of the yard. As you have probably noticed, chickens will eat ANYTHING. Once they develop a taste for eggs, it is hard to break them from that habit of cracking open and eating every egg they lay. It is possible though, you just got to have them lose that correlation between the eggs they lay and tasty food.

Good luck with you hens!

 

[smokeythecat]

I AM VICTORIOUS. Thanks to a piece of plywood, a board and my new jigsaw. Two HUGE eggs tonight safely resting under the false flood of the chicken house adjacent to the newly made "ramp".

 

[stefen]

Houston...all goes well

 

[Frankn]

Interesting, I never heard of chickens eating their own eggs. Calcium is important, and we would buy 25lbs. bags of crushed oyster shell at the feed store for that purpose. You have not lived until you've been out to gather the eggs, reach into the nest and feel a big ol rat snake curled up in there. We also ate the chickens we raised. Many methods of dispatching them, wringing their necks was one way. My maternal great grandmother's claim to fame was that she could wring the necks of two chickens at one time, one in each hand. She was not a large powerful woman, but she had speed. It was a sight to see. She swooped in, snatched a couple up, and after about 6 spins it was done. I remember people from around the area coming over to watch her do that sometimes on Sundays.

My uncle would grabthem by the legs, Hang there neck over a stump and chop there heads off. Then he would let them go and watch them run around. Their blood would be pumping out of there neck. Yes they would run into things. They couldn't see where they were going. Gruesome to watch!

 

[G.I.B.]

I see a new reality TV show in the making...

 

[stefen]

What is hilarious is to pick up a hen....stick her head under her wing and slowly rock her back and forth. Puts 'em to sleep every time!! Set 'em gently back on the ground so as not to wake 'em up. Back in the old days, ya had to figure out your own fun!!

Hold a chickens beak to the ground and scratch a line in the dirt...the bird will be hypnotized in that position for minutes... Real hoot when they wake up and begin to cackle...

 

[fistfulladirt]

Nineteenth-century butchering methods, yikes! Who still does it that way. Yikes!

 

[scruggs]

Glad you didn't quit hunting....good luck with the chickens!