Help Needed!!!

[Treid98]

Hey everyone!

I recently got 3 royal palm turkey (2 hens, 1 Jake). They just started laying about a week or so ago and for whatever reason they continue to peck and eat their eggs. Ive seen some people suggest that they need more calcium, to try putting fake eggs in their coup as a deterrent from doing this, etc. I'm wanting to raise some turkey but I don't nessasarily want to have to incubate the eggs. Any help would be appreciated! (Note: the turkey I have are still fairly young.)

 

[Emmaloveschickens9156]

They may just be eating/pecking the eggs because theyre young and theyre not sure what else to do. It may be a calcium deficiency though, too. maybe try some mustard injecting in the eggs.

 

[Treid98]

Thanks Emma!! I will give that a shot!

 

[Molpet]

Usually egg eating is a calcium or protein issue.
I have heard They also test an egg to make sure it's sturdy and then clean up any broken to prevent attracting predators.

 

[Emmaloveschickens9156]

They may just be eating/pecking the eggs because theyre young and theyre not sure what else to do. It may be a calcium deficiency though, too. maybe try some mustard injecting in the eggs.

If you are still having problems, after this, I would suggest putting ceramic eggs in there, and always collecting eggs as soon as possible. My chickens have been egg eating for a while, (they don’t now) but I have found that collecting more often usually always fixes it.

 

[R2elk]

Another possibility is the tom having access to the nest. A tom will take a hen sitting on a nest as a invitation to breed. The unwanted breeding attempts often end up with broken eggs or injured hens.

If this is the cause of the broken eggs, the hens will learn to eat the eggs as they try to clean things up.

I had one tom that would hunt for the nests and smash the eggs to get the hens back into the breeding cycle.

 

[Treid98]

Another possibility is the tom having access to the nest. A tom will take a hen sitting on a nest as a invitation to breed. The unwanted breeding attempts often end up with broken eggs or injured hens.

If this is the cause of the broken eggs, the hens will learn to eat the eggs as they try to clean things up.

I had one tom that would hunt for the nests and smash the eggs to get the hens back into the breeding cycle.

The odd thing is, I sat in the coup yesterday with them a while to see what they were up to. Seems like the hens were the only ones interest in breaking the eggs! The tom didn’t really care much about what they were up to.

 

[R2elk]

The odd thing is, I sat in the coup yesterday with them a while to see what they were up to. Seems like the hens were the only ones interest in breaking the eggs! The tom didn’t really care much about what they were up to.

If the tom is breaking the eggs, he will do it by attempting to breed a hen while she is sitting on the nest.

Once they get the habit of eating eggs started then they will break them on their own.

I do not know of any way to cure egg eating hens short of inviting them to dinner.