Egg eating maddness!!!!

[asthrngal89]

I have two Easter eggers hens out of my five ladies eating eggs as soon as the suckers come out!! So frustrating! I'm at my wit's end with this! I've tried the golf ball as the fake egg for them to Peck and get bored with I also try to get the egs out ASAP but seems as soon has they pop them out they turn right around and eat them! They are basically free range I move their chicken tractor twice a day and they are kept with food and water at all times.... Help!! And I can't eat my babies! I just love them!

 

[BBQJOE]

Do they eat feathers too?
I Started saving shells way before I got my chickens. I I put them in an open container to let them dry. After that, I crush them with a wooden mallet. Then I powder them in a blender. Once a week or so, I put a couple large handfuls in with their wet mash and mix it up.
I haven't noticed an egg eaten yet. The calcium also seemed to correct feather plucking and eating.

 

[aart]

One of my girls is also eating her eggs. At first, I found a sticky mess and thought an egg broke by accident. Then there was a sticky mess w/ shell leftover for two days and tonight I saw her peck it open right after she laid it.
Since she is leaving the shell, I presume this is a protein deficiency. Can anyone provide guidance on what is the recommended amt of protein in chicken feed? My girls eat organic, soy free layer feed w/ 17% protein. Is this low, normal, high?

They get to free range whenever I'm home and they get a variety of fresh veggies that I buy for them including spinach which is their fav. Maybe I should cut back the fresh veggies so they focus on their feed? I have noticed that they have eaten less feed for the past few days...maybe she isn't eating it / getting enough protein.
They already have free choice oyster shell.

Any suggestions for non dairy protein supplements?

16% protein is the most common for layer feed and about bare minimum for egg production.

Any other foods(veggies, scratch grains) dilute that protein amount.....hard to gauge what kind of protein they may pick up ranging.

Non dairy protein supplement?....meat scraps, mealworms.



My Feeding Notes: I like to feed a flock raiser/grower/finisher 20% protein crumble to all ages and genders, as non-layers(chicks, males and molting birds) do not need the extra calcium that is in layer feed and chicks and molters can use the extra protein. Makes life much simpler to store and distribute one type of chow that everyone can eat. I do grind up the crumbles (in the blender) for the chicks for the first week or so.

The higher protein crumble also offsets the 8% protein scratch grains and other kitchen/garden scraps I like to offer. I adjust the amounts of other feeds to get the protein levels desired with varying situations.

Calcium should be available at all times for the layers, I use oyster shell mixed with rinsed, dried, crushed chicken egg shells in a separate container.

Animal protein (mealworms, a little cheese - beware the salt content, meat scraps) is provided during molting and if I see any feather eating.

 

[Amina]

Can you put curtains in front of the nesting box? It can help if the nesting box is really dark, so that they can't see well enough to eat the eggs.

 

[bobbi-j]

Maybe try supplying extra calcium. Sometimes that helps.

 

[chickenslave2]

my chickens dont eat their eggs but one friend of mine had some that did that. they moved their hens from one coop to another each day and made the hens stop laying but after a month or two you shoud be right to leave them in one coop. they should start laying again and may stop eating their eggs.

 

[aart]

I have two Easter eggers hens out of my five ladies eating eggs as soon as the suckers come out!! So frustrating! I'm at my wit's end with this! I've tried the golf ball as the fake egg for them to Peck and get bored with I also try to get the egs out ASAP but seems as soon has they pop them out they turn right around and eat them! They are basically free range I move their chicken tractor twice a day and they are kept with food and water at all times.... Help!! And I can't eat my babies! I just love them!

How big(feet by feet) is the tractor they are confined to?(I assume they are confined to the tractor)
What exactly are you feeding?

Crowding and/or not getting enough protein and/or not getting enough calcium,
are 3 possible reasons you have an egg eater.

 

[asthrngal89]

I was thinking maybe they weren't getting enough roaming space as well maybe... Thought about opening the tractor during the day letting them lose and closing them up at night and see if it improves anything.. I feed them egg laying pellets and they always have grass and almost everyday they get some.sort of kitchen scraps

 

[asthrngal89]

My biggest problem.with this tractor that I'm going to have to rebuild are the nesting boxes...no matter what I put in them the girls scratch every bit of it out...so when the egg is laid it his the board and cracks leaving me with useless eggs and I think leading to the two hens eating them... I've tried everything I'm just going to have to make the boxes bigger and deeper I bought this tractor from a man ..it was pretty much rotten so I re built the wood and just went by his design except I added a front window... This nesting box issue is driving me crazy along with the egg wasting!

 

[asthrngal89]