Chicken eating their own yolk

[Flame80]

Way back in the 60's (yes I still remember some of it) when I spent time at my grandmothers egg farm in south Texas I helped tend to approx. 1500 laying hens!! Is there any truth to something my grandmother always told me or is it an old tale? She said if a chicken eats her own egg yolk it would make her sick!! Is there ANY science to this??

 

[black_cat]

If a hen eats her own yolk she will get a taste for egg eating and any nutrients in the yolk. No sickness involved.

 

[HappyClucker7]

Chickens will not get sick if they eat their own yolk. Eggs are actually really good for them! But, you should only feed the cooked egg because if they eat the raw egg they could start eating their own eggs, which you don't want.

 

[Kiki]

Way back in the 60's (yes I still remember some of it) when I spent time at my grandmothers egg farm in south Texas I helped tend to approx. 1500 laying hens!! Is there any truth to something my grandmother always told me or is it an old tale? She said if a chicken eats her own egg yolk it would make her sick!! Is there ANY science to this??

No.

 

[Kiki]

If a hen eats her own yolk she will get a taste for egg eating and any nutrients in the yolk. No sickness involved.

Not true... Feeding chickens eggs does not make them turn into egg eaters.... If this is what you are implying.

 

[Kiki]

Chickens will not get sick if they eat their own yolk. Eggs are actually really good for them! But, you should only feed the cooked egg because if they eat the raw egg they could start eating their own eggs, which you don't want.

The bit about them eating raw eggs is not true.

 

[black_cat]

Not true... Feeding chickens eggs does not make them turn into egg eaters.... If this is what you are implying.

I am not saying eggs in general, I am saying raw eggs, especially if they are not getting enough nutrients. This is what I have read on BYC, I'm sorry if I'm spreading misinformation.

 

[HappyClucker7]

Chickens will not get sick if they eat their own yolk. Eggs are actually really good for them! But, you should only feed the cooked egg because if they eat the raw egg they could start eating their own eggs, which you don't want.

This is from my own experience. When my hens first started laying, one of them layed a jelly egg and they all ate it. For the next year, my chickens kept eating their own eggs until I finally got them to stop.

 

[Flame80]

Thanks all, my grandmother might of just figured it was easier to say it would make them sick rather than explain other reasons to a 9 year old! Hah! When I would accidently drop an egg and it would bust the other chickens SWARMED that egg on the ground. Maybe she was just trying to teach me to be more careful. It worked! I did some figuring for fun the other day. Not all of the chickens would be of laying age at one time but I figured we gathered approx. 500 eggs per day!!!