First egg question

[T-lady]

Well, we're delighted and amazed that one of the ladies laid an egg yesterday. We weren't expecting it as the breeder said they're 15 weeks and likely to wait another 4 before any eggs. Still, she (Jenny Hen) does have a lovely pronounced red thingy on her head (can;t remember the word) and that's what the book said to look for.

However, the egg wasn't very nice to eat. It was sort of rubbery and a bit of a weird texture although the yolk was OK and the shell was normal. Is this usual? Should I have eaten it or am I doomed to a painful death? Will they be like this for a while?

[milly2306]

hi
when they first start laying you can often get rubbery eggs, odd shaped eggs and eggs with no shells at all. i personally would not eat these but usually give them to the hens to eat
xxxmillyxxx

[T-lady]

Really? - do hens eat eggs? and, if so, do you cook them first (and how do they like them)?

And how long do you wait til you eat them yourselves?

[Noodle]

Iwant to know the answer to these questions too! One of mine was laying when we bought her so that was all fine, but the other 2 are due to start any time now!

[milly2306]

hi
hens love eggs, mine like them hard boiled. wait until the eggs have proper shells on them before you eat them, usually they only lay a couple of silly eggs and then they start to lay properly, at least mine did. my hens also like bread, porridge oats. i break up a slice of bread, add a handful of oats, cover with milk and add a little boiling water, mix together and my hens will do anything for this mixture! i'm sure if i am telling you anything wron someone else with more experience will help. however, i have had my hens for 2 years now and they are fit and healthy and also laid all through the winter.
xxxmillyxxx

[Pumpkin Becki]

There are two schools of thought about feeding eggs to hens,
1) it's okay, the hens are fine (as per Milly's answer), or
2) it can trigger bad habits such as egg eating (the hens start to eat raw/just laid eggs). This can also lead to squabbling/ fighting, feather pulling and other unwanted behaviours etc etc and no eggs for you to eat yourself.

Some believe that the habit of egg eating starts because the hens are looking for extra calcium in their diet, I would prefer to feed a high quality layers mash supplemented with soluable and insoluable grit and a dash of poultry spice if need be, rather than cooking eggs and shells to feed them (which seems a bit canibalistic to me).

[MaureenHall]

I've got an "egg-eater", she pecks open an egg if there's one in the nest when she wants to lay. There's a choice of 4 nesting boxes between 8 of them so I suppose that one is her favourite and she doesn't like anyone else using it. They all go for squashy (no-shell) eggs so I do have to keep going out to collect the eggs as soon as possible after they've been laid. It's a bad habit I'm afraid even though they do get extra calcium in their diet as well as being on good quality layers pellets. I'm just learning to live with it - at the end of the day they're my pets and eggs are an added bonus

[Hilary B]

I don't think feeding COOKED eggs, chopped up, will encourage hens to eat eggs from the nest. Much the same goes for baked-and-crumbled shells.
If I had one hen stealing eggs I would either get rid of her, or put some 'booby-trapped' eggs where she would find them (get something nasty tasting in an eggshell, mustard is worth trying) in the hopes of spoiling the game. It is a habit which SOMETIMES spreads, and what you really don't want is others getting the idea.

[kirsty b]

Mine eat the occasional egg, if I have dropped one or if there is a soft/weak shelled one that has broken and so far I have found no signs of them deliberately breaking eggs to eat them.
They have layers pellets, grit etc too. Thankfully I don't get too many weak eggs now as they are all well settled, just need to work on my own clumsiness

T-lady, might your egg have been a bit weird cos it was a 'first' one? (dunno really, just having a guess)

[T-lady]

It certainly might have been her first ever egg. She didn't lay on Monday (got her on Sunday) but has done each day since. Don't know if she was laying before then as she came from a dealer who had just taken delivery of the chickens on the Saturday.

Thing is - I've not dared cook either of the other two eggs as the first one was kind of gross. Suppose I just need to get over it and have a go. Perhaps feeding them back to the chickens if they are still rubbery?

Mind you, yesterday's egg certainly has a slightly darker shell - maybe that's going to be the indicator?