Talked to an old timer at the feed store and he changed how I feed my layers

I was picking up oyster shell last Saturday and this guy in his 70s told me he feeds his hens scrambled eggs every other week. I always thought that would make them cannibals or something. He said as long as you cook them good, it's just protein and calcium that beats any store supplement. Has anyone else tried this with their flock?

2 comments

2 Comments

west.alice9d ago

Scrambled eggs once a week isn't going to turn them into cannibals. Chickens are opportunistic eaters by nature. They'll eat a sick bird or a broken egg if they find it, cooked or not. The old timer's logic makes sense - cooking denatures the protein so they don't associate the taste with their own eggs. I've been feeding mine scrambled eggs for two years now, usually when I have extra from breakfast. Never had a single issue with egg eating or aggression. The calcium and protein boost is real too, especially during molting season. People get way too worked up about what you can and can't feed chickens.

amy8589d ago

I totally get what you're saying about thinking it would turn them into cannibals. That old timer was right though. I started giving my girls scrambled eggs about three years ago when one of my hens had a bad molt in winter. I just cook them up plain with no oil or butter and crumble them fine. Their shells got noticeably harder within a month. Now I do it once a week like clockwork and my egg production has stayed steady even in the cold months.