BOSS ends egg eating

[adoptedbyachicken]

Thought I'd share this. I heard feeding Black Oil Sunflower Seeds would end egg eating. Had a problem a few years back and tried it, seemed to work but often these things are a cycle of boredom or habit anyway so I wondered if the BOSS really had anything to do with it. This winter the hens seem totally unwilling to go outside, it's been wet and mucky rather than our usual clear cold. They got into egg eating again and I was loosing about 2 dozen a day, I'd find the mess and empty shells instead in the nests, so I was down to about 6 dozen eggs a day. Got a bag of BOSS and started feeding a grain scoop morning and night (to about 80 hens) and in 2 days they stopped.

No idea why it works but if you need a cure there it is. BOSS is high in protein and calcuim so I guess it could be dietary, or the fun activity of finding the BOSS all through the straw. Last time I kept feeding it till the bag was done (50 lbs) I just tapered off it towards the end so there was not a sudden stop.

 

[Imp]

This sounds like a logical, sensible potential solution to a common problem.

Imp

 

[pips&peeps]

I went out today and threw all BOSS out to all my breeding pens........

They all just stood there looking at me as if I had threw a handfull of rocks at them.

 

[MandyH]

Do you use the BOSS that's in the shell? That's all I've ever seen.

 

[Chook-A-Holic]

pips&peeps :

I went out today and threw all BOSS out to all my breeding pens........

They all just stood there looking at me as if I had threw a handfull of rocks at them.

Thats what mine did the first few times I gave BOSS to them. I then mixed it a few times with scratch until they figured out it was edible.​

 

[squeakyballs]

Both eggs and sunflower seeds are high in omega-6 fatty acids. I wonder if that is the key nutrient they are low on?

If that is the case, I bet adding Safflower Oil or Grape Seed Oil would also cause them to stop eating eggs.

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

Yes I use the BOSS in the shell. I agree, some chickens will not eat it till they have it with scratch, or mix it in their feed then fill the feeder, they need to get the idea. I had a few older birds that knew it so them running to grab it all up gave the others the idea to try it.

 

[1mommahen]

Mine looooove it!

 

[mxitman]

I'm going to give this a try, all of a sudden I'm losing all my eggs to the chickens eating them...

 

[kimntep]

I, too, have one or two who are eating eggs and I've not been able to figure out why. I do feed boss, but not terribly often. I'll try every day for a bit and see if I have any luck. I'm willing to try anything. Thanks for the tip!