This is the second year we've had naked-neck chickens – and not because we have Turkens! Someone in the flock is a feather-picker, and four of our Red Sex-Links are the targets.
I've also wondered if we have an egg-eater in the flock. Not infrequently I find an egg smeared with yolk or a wet spot in a nest box with no shell fragments, but it's hard to know if a crime has been committed. One day I did catch a hen eating an egg in a nest box. I didn't note her leg band color, and I questioned whether the egg had broken accidentally and she was simply reacting to the surprising results.
Last week, though, I caught a hen red-handed, so to speak. When I checked the henhouse, she was standing up and peeking between her legs at an egg as hens sometimes do right after they've laid one. I reached under her to collect it – and found a neatly pecked hole in one end and all the whites gone. You can be sure I noted leg band color THAT time:
We're watching the nest boxes as closely as possible now. One more strike against White Leg Band and she's a gone girl. :-/
That's it for today from . . .
6 comments:
Sounds like a candidate for the stew pot! I've got one to & I don't know which one it is....if I figure it out we'll be having stew too!
If you lived closer I'd contribute to your dinner; we're vegetarians!
Thanks for providing a lighter moment....hopefully the bad girl starts to place nice.
Hope you have a great weekend!
Them's fighting words! :) I have an egg-eater, too, although she seems to have been distracted by spring. However, she is not laying so she is on the short list.
Once a picker and egg eater, always a a picker and egg eater. Find a neighbor that would appreciate a nice stew bird and stop the violence!! lol Naughty girl.
So sorry you've got a misbehaving chicken. I've heard there are many reasons why chickens eat their eggs. I hope your offender "gets better"!
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