need to install cctv

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karlooben

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think i need to install cctv into the hen house to work out wether the girls are eating thier eggs or just breaking them by accident then eating them for about 2 weeks now i have had about 1 -2 eggs daily but most days i havent had one egg :x :x i cant watch whats happening as i am not around during the day and i have even tried different forms of nest boxes but nothing is working so tonight i have placed a 6 inch peice of wood to the back end of the house which is removable to see if that makes a difference .
i am a bit doubtfull about buying the roll away nest boxes as they are quite pricey and i did try the plastic insert ones a few years back but still found the eggs got broken .
but by chance i spoke to someone from another site during the week and he asked me about my girls and i said they were driving me up the wall with breaking all the eggs and he said some guy on his site was having the same prob with thier birds ??? so i called him today and his only real reply was to get rid of the birds as its pointless keeping them while they are breaking the eggs but i cant get rid of my girls just for that reason .
 
Hi Karlooben.
I'm having a similar problem. Two of my aging hybrids often lay very thin shelled eggs, which all four hens then delight in munching. Last week an egg with a decent shell was also cracked open & eaten; this prompted me to buy the rollaway nest box inserts. It took the hens one day to work out that laying their eggs on the inserts made them harder to reach & eat, so they started laying in the coop instead :-)09
I've now got some English mustard & filled a shell with that. I'll put it in the coop tomorrow morning after I've poo picked, & see if that puts them off...
Like you, I don't have the heart to cull them, but I'm due to get a couple of new hens next month & don't want them catching bad habits.

I'll let you know if the mustard egg works. If you come up with another solution, please let me know too. Thanks.
 
i did try the pepper and something else mix in the egg cant remember what but it never worked for mine :( i will let you know if i can get anything to work but i doubt i will , wandering if the weather is having anything to do with it seeing that its gone totally pearshaped am sure i had this the same time last year but not as worse funny thing is though i am sure at the time i was telling someone outside the run and sort of shouted out that they will be culled if they carried on and within a few days they stopped doing it :lol:
 
Persistent, out of control egg eating is a very valid reason for getting rid of hens, particularly if you want eggs ! Cctv seems a bit extreme to me and would surely cost more than a roll away nest box. I supect at this stage, they are deliberately breaking the eggs. Have you got china eggs and are the nest boxes dark with a flap on the front
 
i would not get rid of my girls for the sake of them breaking the eggs as it doesnt really bother me if i get any or not and i would'nt really install cctv although it would be interesting , am going to have a look at different tpyes of roll away boxes but if they dont use them then it seems a waste of money .
 
Is it likely they are going into a moult. If the shells are thin and break whilst the birds are in the nest they will automatically eat them. Also check for any parasites which might be weakening the birds, but I am sure you will have done that anyway.

You can test to see if it has become a vice by placing a sacrificial egg on the floor of the run in plain view and watching their reactions. If they run over and break it and eat it then they may be egg eaters, the most eager is normally the main culprit.

This can sometimes be cured by making sure they have sufficient protein calcium and vitamins in the diet. Layer pellets are formulated for commercial laying hybrids in peak condition and do not always supply the needs of birds of different ages and types.

Limestone powder, oystershell grit etc are good sources of calcium, the vitamins in codliver oil help the birds absorb the calcium

If it is becoming habit rather than a confirmed vice then a blown egg with washing up liquid in can sometimes do the trick. But if the bird/birds have some sort of dietary deficiency this needs to be sorted first, and of course certain individuals may be genetically disposed to have dietary problems. In which case it would be wise to find and isolate her from the others, as it is learned behavior and once the habit is well and truly learned you will not be able to stop it and will never have any eggs as new birds introduced to the flock will quickly follow the others example.
 
i give the girls everything they need including herban which a lot of people seem to say works well , and they are also checked every other week for lice etc an the houses checked weekly for any signs of red mite .
this afternoon i have placed a pretty large cardboard box inside a shelter area which is dark inside so i am hoping they may perfer that compared to the royal mail boxes i was using and also instead of using them in the house i replaced them with a large plank of wood up about 1 ft away from the back of the house and this afternoon found 2 eggs and no evidence of broken eggs behind the wood so could it just be they were not happy with the nesting areas umm who knows i will give them a good few days with this new system and see what happens .
 
still getting no eggs considering i have offered them nicer darker laying areas thinking this might help its really annoying now . i know that if i place an egg on the floor of the run they will eat it so i sure this is a bad habit and not a diet issue as they get everything they need the only thing i have never tried is the codliver oil , tonight i have checked them over and all look lice free etc .
 
umm nothing that i know of chris but the foxes have been around a lot lately seeing more of them over the site now then ever before .
i'm going to try the golf ball trick and see if that helps but only managed to find 1 golf ball at the mo :lol: need a few i reckon , i think i know who the culprits are but its proving differcult to prove it , hopfully if i feel up to it the weekend i'll have a change around as now i have a duck i want another one to keep him company and was thinking of putting my big girls in with the banties which are in the roofed runs which then leaves me the large run which is already split into 2 and i was going to grass one side for the ducks then move them over and grass the other side , the banties run is 2 runs attached together but with a internal door so each group can be split of but i have just had to have my most treasured horse put to sleep and i really dont feel like doing anything at persent need to grieve from him for a while before i work out what to do with the birds .
 
Really sorry to hear about your horse Karlooben, just what you didn't need at the moment. Life can be a real bitch at times.
 
thanks guys feeling down aint the word for it as i cant cry near jack { my big dog as it really upsets him } i had to go and see the chocks and have acry with them but i know it was for the best even though i regret it he had bad allegry bronchitis last year and it was starting to come back the drugs only help settle it they dont cure it i knew he was suffering and my vet supported me 100% he also had to let his own horse go 6 months ago with the same condition now he can run around in horsey heaven without struggling to breath .
anyway a friend found a golf ball on his plot an tonight i put it down in the run to see if the girls would peck at it and they all surronded it in one big cicrle and totally all jumped back at the same time it was funny about the only thing thats put a smile on my face wander if they thought it was a egg or not ?? the mind boggles anyway have put it in one of the nest boxes so lets see what happens .
but on a good note i am rescuing a goose via the swan sanctuary to be a companion for my alyesbury it was neglected and then dumped now it will have a home with me some say they wont get on and others say they will but i think they will as they will have a happy home and sod the council if they say i cant keep it :lol: :lol: .
 
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