I'm "pretty" sure all the EEs are hens.

Don't tell that to this bad boy....

http://www.backyardchickens.com/breeds/images/easter_eggers/easter_eggers-24555-983340.jpg

Where did you get your eggers??

we got them at a Lumber 2.

Hmmmmmm... Just got in from collecting today's eggs a few minutes ago. In one side of the coop, all the gals were clustered around something on the floor pecking like crazy. My first thought was perhaps a mouse was stupid enough to go in there, but it was worse. EGG. Those stupid hens had porked out on an egg and the only way I knew was there was a TINY speck of yolk left on the shavings. No shell to be seen. This is not a good sign.

I might be getting me some of those cute little chicks sooner than I thought!

The best way to prevent that is to make sure you pick up your eggs right away.
You can even get phony eggs to put out that when they peck on them nothing happens. Watch your nests, there could be an instigator who will try and peck them all up. sharon

This puts a whole new spin on the "which came first" debate for me.

I did not know chickens cannibalized their eggs.

Mine eat eggs they are short of calcium (oyster shell). Sometimes I put out a pile of lime (barn lime) too, they eat some and their eggs get so hard that they can be tough to break...
Probably not the best if you are hatching chicks, but I find it helps break the habit.

They will absolutely eat an egg which falls or cracks on its own, and will often "test" the thickness of the shell by tapping it and if it is too thin and breaks, it gets eaten. Some folks say this is how the hens determine if it is stong enough to handle being brooded and hatched... I don't know if this is accurate or not.

Meredith, my chickens favorite treat? Hard boiled eggs. They go NUTS for it. I'll have to get that on a video and post it for you... talk about getting your hands bit, these gals would put a VERY hard working line GSD to shame.

I'm going to keep an eye on them and put more oyster shell (or dried, crushed egg shells...) in their feed. I have noticed a few thin shelled eggs when I've been rinsing them off so they might just need a bit more calcium.

On Sunday we were out burning wood and our older dog caught a mouse. She toyed with it for a while until Doug finally tossed it to the hens... HOLY COW. You would not want to get between a flock of determined chickens and a dead mouse is all I 'gotta say. Ugly, trust me.

Whoa. I am a chicken ignoramus.

Speaking of raising your own food, I'm watching a show on PBS about the plains homesteaders. Talk about hard work. I would have been dead in a week.

 Quote: Meredith Hamilton

Whoa. I am a chicken ignoramus.

Speaking of raising your own food, I'm watching a show on PBS about the plains homesteaders. Talk about hard work. I would have been dead in a week.

I may not have been dead, but I'd have been a flaming bitch. Those long, hot, skirts, layers of them, and me in the hot, blazing sun....oooooh, such a very, very bad combination.