Egg Eaters!

[Prestonsloan12]

Today we went to check for eggs and found an egg that had been eaten and we are so worried that this habit will spread throughout the coop. This was our Polish Hens 2nd egg. We aren't sure if it was her that ate the egg or not. We are curious if this is a more common habit for certain breed? These are our chickens.
Our sizzles, Henrietta and Lizard.



Our OEGM rooster, Little dude.



Our Polish hen, Ollie.
\

Our Silkie rooster, Albert


Our Silkie hen, Cyrus


This is our flock, Any idea which one might be our egg eater!?!?

 

[Prestonsloan12]

The egg we found today

 

[Isaac 0]

Do you provide Oyster shells?I would put some golf balls in the nesting box to discourage her egg eating habit.

 

[Prestonsloan12]

Do you provide Oyster shells?I would put some golf balls in the nesting box to discourage her egg eating habit.

No oyster shells, but there are golf balls in the nest boxes. I've had chickens all my life and never came across this problem. We need help!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Cracked or broken eggs will often get eaten. It doesn't always become a chronic problem. I would always keep a separate bowl of oyster shells for the extra calcium needs. It can also help to feed a higher protein feed to prevent them from becoming deficient in protein. 18-22% seems the best amount. Layer feed is only 16% and can cause deficiencies if you feed anything extra.

Collecting eggs often and keeping nests off the floor can help curb curious pecking. All chickens love eating eggs. The problem comes when the chicken makes the connection that eggs in the nestboxes are delicious, than you have problems.

 

[RPClark]

Our layers started laying in early December at 22 weeks of age. Our first "egg eating episode" occurred 30 December. We have 14 layers. Unless we caught someone in the act, we had no way of knowing which one it was, or if it was multiple birds getting in on the act.

We were already offering free choice oyster shell.

Instead of fretting about the culprit and wondering if we really catch the right bird or not, we decided to change out the nesting boxes for boxes with a roll-away design. I built them in an afternoon and installed them on New Year's Day. The eggs roll into a box with wood shavings for protection and the birds can't get to them. It doesn't work perfectly...but I've only lost one egg to egg-eating birds since I put the roll-away boxes in; that egg was laid on the floor of the coop and was out in the open for all to take. We got about 30 eggs in that time. Losing 1 in 30 is a ratio this hobbyist can live with.

 

[aart]

Cracked or broken eggs will often get eaten. It doesn't always become a chronic problem. I would always keep a separate bowl of oyster shells for the extra calcium needs. It can also help to feed a higher protein feed to prevent them from becoming deficient in protein. 18-22% seems the best amount. Layer feed is only 16% and can cause deficiencies if you feed anything extra.

Collecting eggs often and keeping nests off the floor can help curb curious pecking. All chickens love eating eggs. The problem comes when the chicken makes the connection that eggs in the nestboxes are delicious, than you have problems.

This^^^

New layers often lay thin or soft shelled eggs, fair game for eating IMO.
It can take up to a month or so for the 'egg machine' to smooth out.
Gathering eggs frequently at first can help, remove the opportunity to break/eat more fragile eggs, as can ceramic eggs in the nests.

Roll away nests can really help, but won't take care of a nutrient deficiency.