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chickens eating eggs--true or old wives tale? | (Read 282 times) |
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rachael hamblin
Posts: 129
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April 27, 2008, 10:31:49 PM |
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I've heard and read from several sources that if you let your chickens figure out that their eggs taste good, they will crack all their own eggs to eat and teach the other chickens to do the same, so you should never let your chickens eat eggs. However. I know a woman who worked in a farm sanctuary for several years, and although the volunteers and staff there would take home some of the eggs to eat, they would also crack some of the eggs for the chickens to eat (since it's extremely good for them). She says the chickens never started cracking their own eggs. I have since talked to several people who have said they feed eggs to their chickens and have never had a problem with chickens cracking their own eggs. So I am wondering, is the story of chickens cracking their eggs once they learn they taste good true, or a myth? What has been your experience with this and what have you heard?
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paul wheaton
Administrator
Posts: 1331
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April 28, 2008, 07:26:56 AM |
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Yes, chickens will crack and eat their own eggs. This is usually a sign of protein deficiency.
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rachael hamblin
Posts: 129
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April 28, 2008, 04:30:35 PM |
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But will it become an unbreakable habit once they start, assuming they have a well-balanced diet and are getting all of their nutritional needs met?
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paul wheaton
Administrator
Posts: 1331
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April 28, 2008, 09:16:10 PM |
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I think that it is better for them to never start.
As the folks responsible for caring for the chickens, we should never deprive them of protein.
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permaculture.dave
Posts: 113
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April 29, 2008, 10:43:31 AM |
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It seems like a behavioral thing. The chicken probably does not correlate the hard, white, ellipsoid thing they see in the laying box with the goopy, orange stuff found inside. In other words if they learn to peck holes in eggs to get food, that seems like a problem. However, if they are getting a bowl of beaten eggs, it doesn't seem like a problem.
At our place we feed them eggshells (it supposedly gives them calcium). However, we always crush them first so they don't get the idea of pecking through their own eggs.
Good thing they have tiny, little brains, no?
Dave
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