Today I went out after work and there were four eggs. three in good condition and one had a hole on the top pecked out the size of a dime. So I threw the cracked egg away and began to feed my pigeons near by. I put the eggs on top of a rabbit hutch and was feeding roller pigeons and as I walked by a blue jay flew away near the rabbit hutch. Now I ha two eggs and one pecked with a hole in it just like the other one from the hen house. So now I am going to get up early and see if a chicken is doing it or the blue jay or both. I am thinking the blue Jay went in and craked the eggs and the chicken saw it and began to eat them too. My son said he will run out each time they cackel and wait and check each chicken to see who it the culprit. I sure hope its the blue jay only but if not we will have chicken stew soup this winter. Bill C

I found this article a few months back and thought it may help. "How To Store Fresh Eggs Without Refrigeration After my ramblings on egg storage, you will find the USDA information on storing eggs with Liquid Sodium Silicate, known sometimes as the brand name, K-Peg. This is highly informative and very important if you are going to use this product to store eggs. Have you ever wondered how your great-grandparents stored eggs? Perhaps they didn't, perhaps they used only fresh eggs. But many folks regularly stored their eggs and used them throughout the winter months. Chickens normally respond to daylight by laying more eggs. Oppositely, when there is little daylight, there are fewer eggs layed. So in the winter when days are shorter, it's good to be able to depend on a fresh egg supply. There are two ways that I know of to store eggs without refrigeration. They both require cool temperatures, however. A cellar, cool basement or cool room in the house will suffice. The cooler the better the chance that your eggs will last longer. The first method is to coat the eggs with a non-toxic substance, sealing the pores in the shell and thereby sealing out oxygen and moisture. When oxygen is present, many bacteria can grow, thus spoiled eggs. To use lard or shortening to coat the eggs, first melt the grease and cool it til it begins to solidify again. Dip each egg in the melted grease individually and set them on a paper towel to dry. When the shortening or lard is dry on the eggs, rub the eggs with a clean towel, removing excess solid grease. Rub gently and buff each egg. Now repeat the process, before the shortening solidifies. Work fast, allowing the shortening to get almost solid before re-heating it. Line the bottom of a flat box with a clean soft towel. Place the eggs in the box in a single layer. Cover the box with either a lid or another towel. Place the box of eggs in a cool, dry environment. Eggs prepared this way will last up to 6 months, although I have heard people say that they have kept eggs this way for 1 year if they are kept very cool. A product used to coat eggs in this way, but that is supposed to keep the eggs fresh longer is K-Peg. The eggs are coated with this product much the same way they would be coated with the shortening, and prepared for storage the same way. The other way to keep eggs works on the same principle, cover the pores and keep the eggs cool. However, the eggs must be kept immersed in a solution of Liquid Sodium Silicate. It is usually mixed with sterile water. Liquid Sodium Silicate is a non-toxic substance that will cover the pores of the egg shell so well that you will probably be able to keep fresh eggs for up to 2 years! You can buy it as Sodium Silicate Solution at any pharmacy, however they may not have it on hand and have to order it for you. Again, you will have to keep the temperatures very cool and the humidity low. Place clean fresh eggs in a ceramic crock, one layer deep. Pour liquid sodium silicate over the eggs until the eggs are covered and completely immersed in the solution. Place a towel over the crock and tie it into place. Place the crock of eggs in a cool, dry place and don't disturb them til you are ready to use them. To use them, just take out how many eggs you need, wash them off in clear water and use as you normally would. Two tips I would include are; When you crack your eggs after storage, crack them in a cup, not directly into your food. You might get an awful surprise and ruin a dish. Practice these techniques before you think you might really need to store eggs. Practice makes perfect! Here is some information from the USDA on storing eggs in Liquid Sodium Silicate: 'What Uncle Sam Says About Preserving Eggs. These are the months when the thrifty housewife who has her own hens, or who can draw upon the surplus supply of a nearby neighbor, puts away in water glass or lime-water, eggs for next autumn and winter. (These months being Spring time when the chickens begin laying again after winter) To ensure success, care must be exercised in this operation. Following directions are from the U.S. Department of Agriculture: In the first place, the eggs must be fresh, preferably not more than two or three days old. This is the reason why it is much more satisfactory to put away eggs produced in one's own chicken yard. Infertile eggs are best if they can be obtained-so, after the hatching, exclude roosters from the flock and kill them for table as needed. The shells must be clean. Washing an egg with a soiled shell lessens it keeping quality. The protective gelatinous covering over the shell is removed by water and when this is gone the egg spoils more rapidly. The shells also must be free from even the tiniest crack. One cracked egg will spoil a large number of sound eggs when packed in water glass. Earthenware crocks are good containers. The crocks must be clean and sound. Scald them and let them cool completely before use. A crock holding six gallons will accommodate eighteen dozens of eggs and about twenty-two pints of solution. Too large crocks are not desirable, since they increase the liability of breaking some of the eggs, and spoiling the entire batch. It must be remembered that the eggs on the bottom crack first and that those in the bottom of the crocks are the last to be removed for use. Eggs can be put up in smaller crocks and eggs put in the crock first should be used first in the household. Water Glass Method Water Glass is know to the chemist as sodium silicate. It can be purchased by the quart from druggist or poultry supply men. It is a pale yellow, odorless, syrupy liquid. It is diluted in the proportion of one part of silicate to nine parts of distilled water, rain water, or other water. In any case, the water should be boiled and then allowed to cool. Half fill the vessel with this solution and place the eggs in it, being careful not to crack them. The eggs can be added a few at a time till the container is filled. Be sure to keep about two inches of water glass above the eggs. Cover the crock and place it in the coolest place available from which the crock will not have to be moved. Inspect the crock from time to time and replace any water that has evaporated with cool boiled water. When the eggs are to be used, remove them as desired, rinse in clean, cold water and use immediately. Eggs preserved in water glass can be used for soft boiling or poaching, up to November. Before boiling such eggs prick a tiny hole in the large end of the shell with a needle to keep them from cracking. They are satisfactory for frying until about December. From that time until the end of the usual storage period-that is until March-they can be used for omelette's, scrambled eggs, custards, cakes and general cookery. As the eggs age, the white becomes thinner and is harder to beat. The yolk membrane becomes more delicate and it is correspondingly difficult to separate the whites from the yolks. Sometimes the white of the egg is tinged pink after very long keeping in water glass. This is due, probably, to a little iron which is in the sodium silicate, but which apparently does not injure the egg for food purposes.'"

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I love the fake eggs idea! I wonder where I can find some fake eggs that look convincing. I can imagine the kind of funnel nesting boxes that you refer to, Velvet, but I don't think I've seen one in recent memory, so I'm not sure how to go about building them. Does anyone happen to have a picture or plan handy? I'm just wondering how the egg rolls into the funnel. Wouldn't that mean the hen was laying it on a slope? I'm thinking of rebuilding their nesting boxes. Maybe the boxes are too open - that could be part of the problem. I should probably rebuild them anyway, since the hens have the habit of walking on the roof of the nesting boxes. The roof is sloped, but apparently the slope is not great enough because they love to hang out up there and so of course it gets pretty gross with poop. Maybe if I rebuild the entire row of 3 nesting boxes - this time with a greater roof angle and narrower opening in the front, maybe that will help? Sigh... I guess I have high maintenance hens. :-) They get everything they want - a fairly clean coop with plenty of space, they spend lots of time out doors, get organic food, plus snacks of bird food and kitchen scraps. I wonder if the propensity for egg eating is genetic? All the hens that I've caught eating eggs have been from the same bloodline (mixed leghorn, barred rock, RI red). We've had several hens from other bloodlines and I don't think any of them have ever had the taste for eggs. Thanks for the ideas! -Diggity

Bonnie: The hemoglobin A1C test ("A1C" is it's name) is the standard test that we use to monitor diabetes. It gives a really good idea of average blood sugar over the past 3 months. It also turns out that it correlates nicely with the size of your cholesterol particles. The VAP and NMR tests are also measures of particle size. Cholesterol research is currently putting a lot of emphasis on particle size to help understand why not all "high cholesterol" seems to be bad. VAP and NMR are attempts to commercialize that research and it's not clear that they are good predictors. They sometimes contradict each other or have widely divergent results if performed on different days. I only rarely find a use for them. Even if they are good predictors, what do you do with the result? If your blood sugar is high, you go after that, but otherwise there aren't good interventions. Niacin increases Lp(a), but it's a pretty rough ride. Blood sugar will improve with weight loss, exercise and some carb restriction and cholesterol will follow along. Mark's Daily Apple Is an interesting site. My hobby is reading fad diet books (if you have't guessed -- I'm an addict). Some of his advice is pretty good, but some is goofy. For instance, he decided oatmeal was not "paleo" because when he eats he feels "spacey". If you read his book, he gives samples of his daily food intake. An active guy, he eats a fairly low calorie count and maintains a low body fat as a result. If you've got diabetes genetics, it's been my observation that you have a much more, um, "assertive" appetite. Yes, you will have better satiety with some increased fat and protein in your diet and the ADA's low fat guidelines are not good, but I've seen the paleo/Atkins/Taubes diabetics gain weight with too much cheese, meat, and nuts. Additionally, he recommends "play" and condemns "chronic cardio". For those of us who are more fond of sedentary pursuits, establishing a habit of some form of physical activity, even if it's tedious and repetitive is better than never using any body part but our right foot.