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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22941 Posts
Alee
Worland
Wy
USA
22941 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 22 2014 : 07:20:18 AM
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Hey Ladies!
Wow, life has kept me so busy! I haven't been able to stop in for a while. But I need your helpful advice!
I bought my first chicks in late October and for the past few weeks they have started to lay. Some of the eggs taste fine- normal farm eggs. But there is at least one hen if not more than one that is laying eggs whose yolks taste like dirt. Like I had licked the ground and then taken a bite of egg yolk. Not yummy at all.
Their coop has a natural floor. It is actually in the corner of a unused horse barn. It has been an awful winter and the ground is just solid mud everywhere. Their coop floor is even a bit damp just from the moisture in the area.
I put down wood shavings which is what they were raised on. They are fine with them but keep scratching in the dirt in the horse stalls. I am not sure what is causing the dirt taste. The whites of the eggs don't taste bad, only the yolks. I make sure they have plenty layer feed, scraps occasionally and they are free to range all over the ranch so they are already out getting early bugs and seeds and such.
Any ideas? We are moving back to town and I am only taking 5 hens. The other 9 hens and rooster are going to a different home. I would rather not pass on a chicken that makes "dirt eggs" if that is what all of her eggs will taste like but I don't want her either so she would need to get butchered. However all the hens share a nesting box and they all lay dark eggs so I have no idea who is laying the nasty eggs!!!
Please tell me that there is something I can supplement their diet with that will make this go away, or that I just need to be patient and once the grass starts growing it will go away.
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
www.allergyjourneys.blogspot.com
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Dirt Eggs
